Why School Reform Alone is Destined to Fail

Our drug laws, our swollen prison population, and our entire criminal justice system needs to be addressed before young people in this society, especially those growing up in struggling families and communities, can realize their potential. Education reform alone will not work. Efforts to place the entire burden of uplift on schools will inevitably lead to demonization of teachers and a desperate attempt to privatize education which will make matters much much worse. The tunnel vision of school reformers, and their critics, has to be challenged. We need to radically transform law enforcement, raise wages, and create more affordable housing if we want to see true upward mobility in this society. Only then can schools play the role we all want them to in advancing opportunity.