"To single out only concentrated poverty as an obstacle and to single out only money as a solution is a cop-out." No, actually to pretend that RCSD convoluted and dysfunctional bureaucracy is anything but the result of the crushing and distorting burden of upholding modern educational standards, with the insufficient funding and outdated methodologies inherent in a school-districting system dating at least as far back as the 1800s is the real cop-out. None of Ms. Towler's laundry list of faults, carried out by the usual list of parties at which to point the finger of blame, will be fixed without the ability of those parties to act according to their consciences, rather than within the narrow range of outdated and powerless options currently being touted by those who do not face the same challenges personally.
I'll leave out (almost) entirely that improving the neighborhoods in question, and turning them from blighted to beautiful, is a form of wealth to be desired in its own right, regardless of its lack of impact on education. A better educational system *might* have a powerful effect on those neighborhoods eventually, but that is a change that would take generations in the making. Rochester neighborhoods, students, and citizens throughout the City do not have the luxury of waiting that long, and the argument lacks the explanatory power of putting the horse before the cart: invest the slopping-over ocean of capital where it provides the best return, which is in hard-working private citizens and their children, the Strategic Force of tomorrow.
Re: “URBAN JOURNAL: Still seeking solutions to city school problems”
"To single out only concentrated poverty as an obstacle and to single out only money as a solution is a cop-out." No, actually to pretend that RCSD convoluted and dysfunctional bureaucracy is anything but the result of the crushing and distorting burden of upholding modern educational standards, with the insufficient funding and outdated methodologies inherent in a school-districting system dating at least as far back as the 1800s is the real cop-out. None of Ms. Towler's laundry list of faults, carried out by the usual list of parties at which to point the finger of blame, will be fixed without the ability of those parties to act according to their consciences, rather than within the narrow range of outdated and powerless options currently being touted by those who do not face the same challenges personally.
I'll leave out (almost) entirely that improving the neighborhoods in question, and turning them from blighted to beautiful, is a form of wealth to be desired in its own right, regardless of its lack of impact on education. A better educational system *might* have a powerful effect on those neighborhoods eventually, but that is a change that would take generations in the making. Rochester neighborhoods, students, and citizens throughout the City do not have the luxury of waiting that long, and the argument lacks the explanatory power of putting the horse before the cart: invest the slopping-over ocean of capital where it provides the best return, which is in hard-working private citizens and their children, the Strategic Force of tomorrow.