Interesting how liberals who used to defend freedom of ideas are now those that want to stop any ideas that don't align with their agenda. This is exactly what totalitarian communist regimes like the USSR, North Korea, China and Cuba did when they imprisoned their intellectuals and killed those that would debate.
When you said poverty is more than family income you hit the nail, but we need to did down deeper to hit the nail on the head. Poverty is a mentality and becomes cultural. More money doesn't solve the problem. Raising the minimum wage will not bring people out of poverty. The war on poverty, as declared by LBJ, was a failure. The more money that poured in to "help" people created more dependency. The cure to poverty is creating independence and good stewardship of time, resources and money. Folks rise from poverty through traditional education to improve their skills and value to an employer and by learning life skills that will enable them to rise up the ladder.
Gates dropped out of college and became wealthy because free enterprise allows for the freedom to create. That doesn't lessen educations value. And to say that the Walton's, Devos, and Koch clans have an agenda is true; they want kids to get and education and rise from poverty. You skin color doesn't determine weather you will be poor or rich, but the family structure and culture does. We can pour more money into education, but until we reach into the soul we won't be effective. It is a moral crisis where the absence of faith and fathers are filled with drugs, gangs, violence and poverty.
It is fascinating that public charter schools pay less to teachers and yet teachers are going to them in droves. Perhaps they like the culture and trade that for pay?
One of the things that is missed in this discussion is how the affluent, better educated parents got there. For example first generation Asians and Africans come here with nothing, yet their kids are among the highest scoring according to data I have seen at Cradle to Career. Then the second generation becomes affluent and better educated and legacy begins. My family was farmers and we had no one in my family that had a college degree until me. I served in the military and got the GI Bill. That's what makes America great is opportunity not some egalitarian myth or utopian socialism. It is freedom and opportunity to climb the ladder and give your kids a better life than you have. That is what needs to be emphasized.
The key is what you finally said in the article; congress needs to provide a permanent solution. The memo President Obama did now termed DACA wasn't sustainable. Encourage congress to do their job.
David, your premise that Basis makes a living catering to advantaged students twists a fundamental part of the American Dream. You can start in America with nothing and through hard work give a better life to your children and they do better than you. That is the basis of Basis. When you look at the students at Basis in OV many if not most are from second generation Asian or Indian families. They want their kids to have opportunities so they put their kids in the best school possible. Perhaps we should encourage good parenting where kids have advantages because of that? That doesn't mean we ignore kids who don't have that advantage, but you shouldn't punish good behavior.
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