As Eli says (and Vijay commented earlier), one of the difficulties in “fixing” education in the US is dealing with what Eli calls the Ideology of Meritocracy. Which I think is as good a name as any for what I think of as “protestant values”, the idea that hard work and virtue will bring success. I think many Americans deal with the reality of inequality by rationalizing: “I am a success because I deserve it, those who fail must also deserve their fate”. I have been reading more about the problems in California schools, specifically the deep inequality that exists there. Not only are poorer districts actually funded less (about 20% of school funding in California comes from property taxes in the district) but poorer schools and to a greater extent, schools with high numbers of black and latino students are actually funded less* in the same districts. (despite legislation that prevents this) Read the rest of this entry »

Today’s story, Elite Colleges Open New Door to Low-Income Youths, seems to have its heart in the right place. It’s an uplifting story about an African-American kid from a poor family in Miami who got a full scholarship to Amherst, and did well there, eventally being nominated for the Rhodes scholarship. With his 1200 SAT score, he would not have been admitted had it not been for Amherst’s new policy of taking into account economic background in admissions decisions.

Although these programs of affirmative action on the basis of economic class are a step in the right direction, I think that they do more to reinforce an ideology of meritocracy than to address the deeper problems of economic inequality. Read the rest of this entry »