Tonight, we went to a dinner hosted by MIT alumni for accepted students and their parents. It was a lovely evening with some really fun folks, good food, etc. And every parent there was feeling the immense relief of “my kid has this wonderful opportunity.”
Then, as we’re leaving the place, we see the collection of flashing lights, which turns out to be first responders taking care of a homeless guy passed out on the sidewalk. And I was struck by the contrast.
It wasn’t superiority I was feeling or on the other hand, any particular empathy. But a question that went through my mind. At some point, this guy and I were both kids in grade school, with our whole lives ahead of us. And I ended up with these daughters and this wife, while he ended up passed out (or worse) next to his grocery cart at the south end of Lake Union.
So, what could we do today, here and now, to help ensure the same opportunities for today’s third graders as have blessed my girls?
This is a test comment by Michael.
ReplyDeleteSecond test comment by Michael
ReplyDeleteOh now you're just trying to get me to stick my neck out, a'la Plato and The Republic.
ReplyDeletePutting aside the possibility that the street person might have been a one-time success who had fallen by his own tragic flaw, possibly criminal, most of us are where we are not just by our industry and talent, but in huge measure by serendipity. It starts with who we're born to, and where, and when. Would Bill Gates have survived childhood if he'd been born to Congolese parents living in central Africa? Would Donald Trump be on television firing celebrities if he had been born with the gene for schizophrenia? That fellow on the sidewalk could just as easily have been you and you him but for some singular stroke of luck.
I point that out not to dismiss your question, but to emphasize the humanity wound through it. When things work well it's because we are recognizing that we ARE our brothers keepers, and THEY are ours. Our basic natures are competitive, but our aspiring humanity comes from collective cooperation. Things work best when we work for compassionately and pragmatically.
How do we best assure all children have a fair shot?
At every level we work as a society, not as warring tribes. We work with our neighbors before we work with leaders.
We pool our resources and insist that those children are fed, medically cared for, that their parents are helped to take care of them.
We recognize that schools in poor neighborhoods will suffer from many complicated handicaps, and we do what is feasible to HELP them do better, as opposed to threatening them for not overcoming impossible odds.
As much as possible we disincentive profit-making in social experiments; it corrupts the process. This seems to be what has happened with some charter schools, and in so doing perverts and invalidates the efforts.
Would this create a welfare state? Possibly. So put in checks and balances.
The most important part would be to realize that there will be no silver bullet. We will never 'get it right' once and for all. It will always be a process.
In essence, we need to get over it and get on with it.
Other than that I have no opinion on the topic.
Wait a minute, this is MY sermonette page!
ReplyDeleteTruly, I think we got affirmative action backwards. Instead of focusing on outcomes at the college / work level, we should build a system from the ground up that truly leaves no child left behind. Ironically, My wife and I were among the PTA parents at Stephensons Elementary who formed the audience when Cheney first announced NCLB and before he was done speaking, there were parents questioning the approach. The Bush folks should have proclaimed less and listened more.