If my math is right, NPS is spending 28k per year per student and half of them don’t turn up for school and a majority of those that do can’t read or do math at grade level. The school board has no problem with this and quietly rehired a superintendent who by all accounts has done little or nothing to remedy the many issues the district is facing.

When are we collectively going to face up to the the facts? After 5 decades of failure, has any leader been held to account for the failure of inner city schools? What we have is a crisis of accountability. The parents are not accountable; the district is not accountable; the superintended is not accountable; the unions are not accountable and the students are not accountable. Each party is given a pass by externalizing accountability. It’s always the same tired bogeymen; lack of resources, competition from charters etc. Every problem the schools face are not solvable because the cause lay outside the control of the individuals involved. The parties involved apparently have no agency and are completely at the mercy of the “system”.

Imagine if India or China or any of the Caribbean or African countries like Ghana or Nigeria being able to spend the equivalent of 28k /year per child on education; what do you think the outcomes will be?

We will never break free from this cycle of repeated failure until we come to terms with the fact that no change is possible for the unwilling.