NPR did a series a while back about school segregation -- it turned out (no surprise) that, coupled with red-lining on real-estate, it was used to further reinforce America’s racist policies. When you throw in racist policing and judicial system, you’ve got “soft apartheid”
Charter schools are nothing more than a gloss on “separate but equal nudge nudge” as are school vouchers. The whole trick is to let white parents choose good schools or get their kids into a completely different school system, while leaving public schools in disrepair. BTW, gerrymandering isn’t just to reduce the effectiveness of minority votes -- where school districts can be blocked by race you’ll get nice schools in nice neighborhoods. The excuse they used to use in Baltimore was that the quality of the schools tracked the tax-base, which was another way of saying that the rich neighborhoods got better services and everyone else could fuck themselves. I noticed the same thing is going on in Chicago, where Rahm Emmanuel is channelling services toward the neighborhoods that got him elected, promoting special schools and vouchers -- meanwhile his kid goes to a private school outside of town. The NPR article points out something glaringly obvious: wealthier parents have better options to move their kids to schools that are better (i.e.: more segregated) It’s the parents doing it, not the kids. But that’s where the kids learn racism.
At a minimum, school budgets should be entirely per-capita based, and there should be no “out” for religion or the rich. If the rich had to send their kids to the same schools as everyone else, you bet everyone’s schools would be a little bit better.
hyphenmansays
Good morning Mano,
We here in Ohio are the poster child for this problem. In 1997, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in DeRolph v. State that the property-tax based school funding scheme in Ohio was unconstitutional and directed the Ohio Legislature to fix the problem.
Nearly 20 years ago later the Ohio legislature has failed to do so and local property taxes are still the primary source of funding for our schools. Since property values vary greatly among communities, so too does the quality of education.
Ideally a national tax base would resolve the issue by allotting funds—proportionally at first until the systems were equal to address past inequalities and then gradually bringing funding into homogeneity on the national level—so that a student in Ohio has access to the same quality of education as a comparable student in Vermont.
Barring a major tax revolution, this will not happen.
Do all you can to make today a better day,
Jeff Hess
Have Coffee Will Write
hyphenmansays
Nearly 20 years ago later the Ohio -> Nearly 20 years later the Ohio…
Mattsays
I live in the Raleigh/Durham area. Wake County (Raleigh plus surrounding suburbs) used to have a national model for economic integration of their school systems. Then Republicans took over in 2010 and destroyed it, to very predictable outcomes (http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2010/0324/Busing-to-end-in-Wake-County-N.C.-Goodbye-school-diversity). Not quite the extreme outcome of the South Carolina example in the video, but give it some time.
Mattsays
My favorite (if you can call it that) thing about this particular segment is the comments it is getting on YouTube. If you to believe some of them (and you probably shouldn’t as they are YouTube comments), this is where Oliver lost people who he had previously held in the palm of his hand. Opiod problem -- no problem blaming the pharmaceutical companies. Civil forfeitures -- no problem blaming the cops and politicians. Defacto school segregation -- big problem blaming northern whites (ie themselves), despite the argument being laid out just as thoroughly in this segment as in earlier segments.
secondtofirstworldsays
As someone who does comment on YouTube in the similar manner as here, I feel offended. Have your second inform my second of the place and your weapon of choice 😀
On a more serious note, yes, it’s obviously false to claim that “I’ve been with you all the way”. People with democratic mindsets argue from different viewpoints, so this statement quite openly reveals an authoritarian mind, who just chooses who to follow indiscriminately.
Speaking of trivialities instead of focusing on the subject, the social consciousness theater. The way I see it, the only thing both major parties agreed on was to appease minorities before subversive communist elements can entice them. The second the Cold War ended, so begun the reversal of civil liberties wherever possible. This is where I’ll possibly partially biased here, but there’s a reason why Western Europe still has these ideals, because not only did it fear communism (with good reason) but also to not repeat policies of Nazism. Since you had neither, nor any everlasting memento of it, it’s no wonder, that not even Northern liberals don’t get where the problem even starts.
NPR did a series a while back about school segregation -- it turned out (no surprise) that, coupled with red-lining on real-estate, it was used to further reinforce America’s racist policies. When you throw in racist policing and judicial system, you’ve got “soft apartheid”
The NPR story: highly recommended
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/562/the-problem-we-all-live-with
Charter schools are nothing more than a gloss on “separate but equal nudge nudge” as are school vouchers. The whole trick is to let white parents choose good schools or get their kids into a completely different school system, while leaving public schools in disrepair. BTW, gerrymandering isn’t just to reduce the effectiveness of minority votes -- where school districts can be blocked by race you’ll get nice schools in nice neighborhoods. The excuse they used to use in Baltimore was that the quality of the schools tracked the tax-base, which was another way of saying that the rich neighborhoods got better services and everyone else could fuck themselves. I noticed the same thing is going on in Chicago, where Rahm Emmanuel is channelling services toward the neighborhoods that got him elected, promoting special schools and vouchers -- meanwhile his kid goes to a private school outside of town. The NPR article points out something glaringly obvious: wealthier parents have better options to move their kids to schools that are better (i.e.: more segregated) It’s the parents doing it, not the kids. But that’s where the kids learn racism.
At a minimum, school budgets should be entirely per-capita based, and there should be no “out” for religion or the rich. If the rich had to send their kids to the same schools as everyone else, you bet everyone’s schools would be a little bit better.
Good morning Mano,
We here in Ohio are the poster child for this problem. In 1997, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in DeRolph v. State that the property-tax based school funding scheme in Ohio was unconstitutional and directed the Ohio Legislature to fix the problem.
Nearly 20 years ago later the Ohio legislature has failed to do so and local property taxes are still the primary source of funding for our schools. Since property values vary greatly among communities, so too does the quality of education.
Ideally a national tax base would resolve the issue by allotting funds—proportionally at first until the systems were equal to address past inequalities and then gradually bringing funding into homogeneity on the national level—so that a student in Ohio has access to the same quality of education as a comparable student in Vermont.
Barring a major tax revolution, this will not happen.
Do all you can to make today a better day,
Jeff Hess
Have Coffee Will Write
Nearly 20 years ago later the Ohio -> Nearly 20 years later the Ohio…
I live in the Raleigh/Durham area. Wake County (Raleigh plus surrounding suburbs) used to have a national model for economic integration of their school systems. Then Republicans took over in 2010 and destroyed it, to very predictable outcomes (http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2010/0324/Busing-to-end-in-Wake-County-N.C.-Goodbye-school-diversity). Not quite the extreme outcome of the South Carolina example in the video, but give it some time.
My favorite (if you can call it that) thing about this particular segment is the comments it is getting on YouTube. If you to believe some of them (and you probably shouldn’t as they are YouTube comments), this is where Oliver lost people who he had previously held in the palm of his hand. Opiod problem -- no problem blaming the pharmaceutical companies. Civil forfeitures -- no problem blaming the cops and politicians. Defacto school segregation -- big problem blaming northern whites (ie themselves), despite the argument being laid out just as thoroughly in this segment as in earlier segments.
As someone who does comment on YouTube in the similar manner as here, I feel offended. Have your second inform my second of the place and your weapon of choice 😀
On a more serious note, yes, it’s obviously false to claim that “I’ve been with you all the way”. People with democratic mindsets argue from different viewpoints, so this statement quite openly reveals an authoritarian mind, who just chooses who to follow indiscriminately.
Speaking of trivialities instead of focusing on the subject, the social consciousness theater. The way I see it, the only thing both major parties agreed on was to appease minorities before subversive communist elements can entice them. The second the Cold War ended, so begun the reversal of civil liberties wherever possible. This is where I’ll possibly partially biased here, but there’s a reason why Western Europe still has these ideals, because not only did it fear communism (with good reason) but also to not repeat policies of Nazism. Since you had neither, nor any everlasting memento of it, it’s no wonder, that not even Northern liberals don’t get where the problem even starts.