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One BILLION Dollars
Spencer Overton wants to know: If you were given one billion dollars to spend on eradicating racial disparities in America, how would you spend it? What would be the most efficient way to reduce disparities over the next 25 years?
I don’t know the answer, because I’m not sure the problem is monetary. But I’m sure he’d welcome your contribution over at BlackProf.
3 Responses to “One BILLION Dollars”
I would immediately file suit in an attempt to erase the requirement that I use it “eradicating racial disparities in America.” Not sure my suit would succeed, but still …
–|PW|–
Inner city schools.
I feel certain that the destruction and despair created by the failed public school system is the entire reason blacks continue to suffer while other groups move ahead. The children are trapped in a vortex where failure breeds more failure and despair and yet people think the solution is to force colleges to admit more blacks.
College is too late. These children need to be saved when their 6, not 21.
Mike Heinz -
I agree with you that the kids need help while they’re still kids. However, it’s been proved already that pumping money into the schools doesn’t mean you get better results. Washington DC public schools get more money per student than any other district in the country, yet they consistently rank near the bottom in student achievement. The problem with inner city school kids isn’t with the schools – it’s with the parents and neighborhoods.
There’s a proposal making the rounds in Baltimore to open a public boarding school for city kids. They want to see if taking the kids out of dangerous neighborhoods and putting them in an environment without drugs and abuse and violence will allow (and encourage) them to do well in school. I think that without the distractions of a bad home life and a scary neighborhood, a lot of these kids might do really well. If it works out in Baltimore, I hope a lot of other cities try it out.