Comments on: Woman Jailed for Sending her Daughters to the Wrong School

By: Snow

Snow — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:39:13 +0000

One thesis of “The Two-Income Trap” by Warren and Tyagi (2003) is that families take out mortgages that are beyond their means not because they want a giant house in a fancy neighborhood, but because they want their children in good school districts.

By: rodriguez

rodriguez — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 14:55:24 +0000

1) educate everybody for everybody’s benefit, obvs, right?

2) we need to stop worshiping the magical constitution: education is not a local concern, it is at least a state wide concern, and the money should likewise be pooled.

3) I would say national in point 2 but truth be told I worry about some state’s ideas on education: eg Texas, Kansas.

By: tharaven

tharaven — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 13:03:49 +0000

Im shocked and all i can think of is this poor woman trying to get a good education for her daughters while getting one herself which she can no longer use thanks to the bullshit.

By: baraqiel

baraqiel — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 01:46:51 +0000

This is fucked. I had a friend in high school who is now going to Harvard without having to pay tuition because his mother makes less than whatever the cutoff is. However, his mother is in a longterm, committed relationship with a guy who makes quite a lot of money, and had been for years before this friend went to school, and the *only* reason they haven’t gotten married is so they don’t have to pay his tuition. And nothing is ever going to happen to correct that situation. But then again, this friend is white and male.

@BearDownCBears – Amen!

By: BearDownCBears

BearDownCBears — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 00:24:11 +0000

@Cimorene: Hell, I’d outlaw private high schools and make multi-school districts in city centers. I’m not above blackmailing the rich with the welfare of their own children.

By: Cimorene

Cimorene — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 23:16:59 +0000

“The funding base should be collected at the state or federal level and allocated by specific need (books, swimming pool, computer lab) and enrollment, and since school systems must inevitably be geographically based so as to keep kids close to their families and foster community involvement, the poorer ones should be flooded with antipoverty measures in an attempt to neutralize the learning obstacles presented by hardship.”

Don’t be ridiculous. This makes far too much sense for the ruling class to do it. If we leveled the playing field, then those at the top would have no automatic right or “ability” to stay at the top, and everyone knows that maintaining the current power structure has everything to do with maintaining the current bureaucracy and institutional set up. Doing something like this–the decent thing to do–is asking the powerful to divest themselves of their own privilege.

By: yvanehtnioj

yvanehtnioj — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 22:26:42 +0000

I remember reading that Arizona (?) funds schools on a per-pupil basis: just adds up the taxes collected statewide for that purpose, divides by the total number of students in public school that year, and sends checks to the schools. That was almost ten years ago, and I’ve still never met anyone who can explain why this isn’t the policy for all states. “Our” tax dollars, indeed.

By: mischiefmanager

mischiefmanager — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 22:25:28 +0000

@BearDownBears: Exactly. Vouchers prop up parochial schools, take funds away from public schools, and depend on the energy of parents to get the kids involved. But the problem with that latter is that it leaves out the very kids who need help the most-the ones whose parents cannot or will not seek the best they can find for their kids.

We all pay when kids don’t get the education they need and deserve, so this is not just a neighborhood problem. It’s a state and national problem.

By: BearDownCBears

BearDownCBears — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 22:02:30 +0000

@mischiefmanager: My brain went straight to that too, because Williams-Bolar seems like a poster parent for the “involved” caretakers voucher advocates want to help out. If you were to ask her, she’d probably LOVE a voucher for each kid.

I guess the progressive response is to say no, vouchers create brain-drained, defunded hellholes after expatriating the tops of their classes in failing schools, so that’s a non-starter. The funding base should be collected at the state or federal level and allocated by specific need (books, swimming pool, computer lab) and enrollment, and since school systems must inevitably be geographically based so as to keep kids close to their families and foster community involvement, the poorer ones should be flooded with antipoverty measures in an attempt to neutralize the learning obstacles presented by hardship.

By: olivia0330

olivia0330 — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 21:24:11 +0000

I was one of the kids who went to a different school than the one in my district. I went to the school where my grandmother worked, which was one of the better schools in our city. My grandmother was the cafeteria manager. We lied on the paper work and said that I lived with her. Thing is, everyone knew! Her boss knew, the principle knew, my teachers knew, and no one cared or made a stink. Oh, but we’re white.

My heart breaks for Ms. Williams-Bolar. She was doing whatever she could to make sure her daughters had the best start in life. Seriously, ten days in jail? Three fucking years probation? I’m too filled with rage to add anything constructive to the conversation.