Editorial

Imagine all the people

Putting kids, not lawyers, first

"We started off with a dream that we could have equity and real opportunity for these kids. What we know is that the Little Rock district hasn't done it for 60 years--it can't or won't do it. We know the charter schools are failing these kids, exiting them . . . . And you have a state that seems oblivious to it. The court said that we didn't prove that they don't care about black kids, but the outcome is black kids continue to suffer two years after this blasted takeover."

--Jim Ross, former Little Rock school board member and current plaintiff against the school district

Forgive us for a few moments of daydreaming. It's easy to do as summer fades and the mornings grow cooler. Some days we can't even get the newspaper to the front door without stopping on the porch to just breathe the morning in. And think to ourselves, what a wonderful world.

And how it could be even more wonderful. Imagine . . . .

Imagine if instead of worrying about a school district, and how much money it makes, or how many school board members hold elective office, or how much patronage can be promised to those in good standing with the bureaucrats . . . instead all the people worried about the kids in that school district, and whether they are learning what it will take to be good citizens later on.

Imagine if our betters understood that if a school district has been failing its students for 60 years, as some claim, then something needs to change in that district. Maybe something drastic. Like a takeover. Because failing students for another 60 years, or 10 years, or one month shouldn't be acceptable.

Imagine if all those black kids on waiting lists to get into charter schools in Little Rock--thousands and thousands of them at last count--were given the opportunity to go to a school that provided a better opportunity for college, scholarships, a future. Imagine if instead of just talking about helping black kids in Little Rock, all the people actually helped black kids in Little Rock. By expanding, not denying, schools that work.

Imagine if our betters actually listened to black parents, who sign up their children for these charter schools, and all too many lose out on the blind lotteries that select the kids. Imagine the heartbreak when a black mother gets the news that her child has to go to the failing traditional school down the street because all those who know so much better than her have decided what's best. No matter what she thinks she sees and hears--and knows.

Imagine if all those educated wannabe bureaucrats understood that charter schools that are actually failing can be shut down--and when's the last time that you heard of a traditional public school being shut down for "only" failing its students?

Imagine if, instead of spending money on lawsuits and lawyers, those legal fees and court costs were magically turned into chemistry labs and new math books and computer equipment. Or, better yet (as somebody mentioned the other day) if all the lawyers who claim to really care about the kids worked pro bono on these kinds of lawsuits.

But all of that's just a dream.

It shouldn't be.

Editorial on 10/01/2016

Upcoming Events