Challenges in the availability
and accessibility of higher education are exacerbated by challenges
in maintaining the quality of K– 12
education. A combination of No
Child Left Behind legislation and
the charter-schools movement has
turned K– 12 education into a “do
your own thing” enterprise, with
quality varying widely among elementary and secondary schools.
The education writer Jonathan
Kozol has written about differences
in urban public education and suburban education and makes the case
that the African-American and
Latino youngsters who are the
dominant population in these
inner-city schools are being left
behind, despite the optimistic title
of Bush’s flawed education legislation. For example, New York City
spent $11,627 per pupil in
2002–2003, while suburban
Manhasset spent nearly twice as
much, $22,311, on education.
Black and Latino students make up
72 percent of New York City’s
schools but just 9 percent of
Manhasset’s. Chicago spent $8,482
per pupil in 2002–2003, while
Highland Park, Ill., just 10 percent
black and Latino, spent $17,291
per student. As long as schools are
financed by property taxes, there
will be inherent inequalities in the
way that education is funded.
A growing proportion of our
population is African American
and Latino, with the Latino population being the fastest-growing
minority group in the nation.
African Americans and Latinos are
younger than the general population, which means that more of
the future of the nation relies on
their ability to work, to participate, in our nation’s best jobs.
Yet, we aren’t funding education,
either at the K– 12 level or higher
education. While India and China
are focused on ways to make their
workers more competitive, we are
ignoring the competitiveness
imperative, especially for diverse
populations in this country.
What must we do? The same
country that rebuilt Europe in less
than a decade ought to be able to
rebuild our educational system! The
same country that prevailed in the
Cold War ought to be able to tell
and others? Indeed, the NAACP
ACTSO (Afro-Academic Cultural
Technological and Scientific
Olympic) is a model that could be
used more broadly to promote educational excellence. Programs like
this already exist in suburban
schools. These are the kind of programs that must be instituted in
inner-city schools. Many will say
that parents must play an active
“The same country that rebuilt Europe in
less than a decade ought to be able to rebuild
our educational system! The same country that
prevailed in the Cold War ought to be able to tell
the world ‘why Johnny can’t read.’”
the world “why Johnny can’t read.”
If competitiveness really was a
national priority, we’d rain money
on education, especially K– 12 education. There are those who say
money won’t solve the problem, but
all you have to do is walk through a
blighted school with peeling paint,
not enough books, burnt-out teachers and broken windows to know
that while money won’t solve all the
problems, it certainly would solve
some of them.
More specifically, we should
fund K– 12 education through the
income tax, not the property tax.
Per-pupil spending should be
equalized, at least regionally, and
the tools for comprehensive education should be available in all
schools. This means computers
and labs as well as adequate textbooks and committed teachers. We
should embrace excellent teachers
with the same vigor that we
embrace excellent basketball players. The public visibility that
spelling bees are getting is exciting.
Why not extend that theme to lift
up math wizards, inspired poets
role in promoting this kind of education, but when parents are too
young to appreciate the value of
education, the community must
encourage mentors along the lines
of “each one, teach one.” Equally
important, all of us must be advocates for inner-city education.
Our divestment from education
signals the end of our nation’s eminence. Our most valuable resource,
always, has been our people and our
willingness to invest in them. Our
second most valuable resource is our
diversity and our willingness to
embrace it. If we are unwilling to
invest in education and embrace our
diversity, we signal our willingness
to warm the bench of the global
economy while others, more sanguine, play the game. DI
Dr. Julianne Malveaux is a noted
economist and author. She received
her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in
economics from Boston College, and
earned a Ph.D. in economics from
MIT. She was Bennett College for
Women’s first professor-in-residence.
