Thoughts and links

Last night I read this NYT Magazine story--about what it would really take to leave no child behind--and can't stop thinking about its implications. The real innovators in educating highly disadvantaged children are, according to Paul Tough, not the public schools, nor the federal agencies mandating but not funding their improvement, but charter and privately-funded schools, in which non-union teachers regularly put in 15-hour days, and teach 11 months a year. The article's main thrust, though, wasn't that we must turn away from the public school system, but that we need, as a society, to recognize that it's indeed possible to close the education gap, but only if we choose to make it happen. Which means, not only implementing rigorous new pedagogical methods, but agreeing to pay for them. Which means, actually giving a shit about poor people. When's the last time you heard a politician really talking about poverty? (There was a brief moment there, after Katrina, but hardly any one seems to care about what has happened to all those displaced Ninth Ward residents now that they're on dry land.)

Then, this morning, I read this NYT story, which focuses on the recent trend among high-paid professionals (doctors, lawyers) who aren't satisfied with earning a mere $400,000/year, and are choosing to go for the truly big bucks on Wall Street. One doctor (or former doctor) explains that, as a multi-millionaire he can rest assured that his children, as adults, will be free to pursue careers “they have a hunger for . . . and not feel a need to do something just to pay the bills.” Heaven forbid his children should go hungry.

Just before turning away in disgust, I came across this plea (by my favorite columnist, Jon Carroll of the SF Chronicle) for support of a wonderful Bay Area project bringing used children's books together with children who need, but can't afford, books. Merely scratching the surface, yes, but Carroll reminded me, as he often reminds me, that there are people in this country who are able to think beyond their own immediate desires and interests.

Do you think it will take another Great Depression, though, for the problem of poverty to gain any real traction in our country?