RE “For Boston’s pupils, a lost opportunity” (Op-ed, Feb. 23): Twenty years ago Lawrence Harmon’s book “The Death of An American Jewish Community” demonstrated a nuanced and empirical understanding of the devastating consequences of residential segregation along racial lines. Harmon seems to have forsaken those lessons.
One consequence of Boston’s longtime residential segregation is the unequal distribution of quality schools, with the lowest-performing schools unevenly concentrated in high-poverty neighborhoods of color. Yet Harmon would restrict Boston’s children to schools closest to home, without regard for quality, in the assignment process.
Comments
Well said! Every child should have an equal chance to attend a great school. The plan approved by the EAC skirts this by not addressing the inequities in each family’s basket. Some addresses have 37% good schools in their basket and others 75% of their schools are quality. The EAC chose to continue privileging the already privileged not only with better baskets but also by keeping the same old antiquated algorithm and walk zone preference. Choosing to support continued inequities while not addressing where promised resources would be placed is a disservice Boston’s children.
All the teachers are extremely well paid...so are there bad teachers in these bad schools? Out of control students? Let's not just try to find ways to make those terrible "priviledged" kids go to the bad schools so the poor kids can only have the best...