Don't Blame the Public Schools : A Bronx Tale

In the 1950's and 1960's, Factories started closing and moving South, taking tens of thousands of jobs Bronx residents depended on with them:

The public schools stayed open.

In the 1960's and 1970's, landlords started burning their buildings leaving parts of the Bronx looking as if it had suffered aerial bombardment

The public schools stayed open.

In the 1980's and 1990's, the crack epidemic hit the Bronx, raising the murder rate to unprecedented heights and causing fearful residents retreat to their apartments

The public schools stayed open

Then, when the new century hit, crime rates started to go down, the Bronx's economy began to slowly recover, and many of its residents started to feel safe again

The public schools stayed open

But politicians and the press began to blame them for poverty and inequality.

Think that's fair?