Shocking and Dismaying - Cutting School

Though I have just cracked open 'Cutting School' by Noliwe Rooks there's already much in her well researched book that should provide for a good deal of conversation not to mention that it ought to be a call to action. Rooks pulls no punches in tracing the long and harsh history of segregated schools right up to the present where economics, privatization, and segregation have joined forces to lead to what Rooks says is 'the end of public education.'

This is a book that delves deeply into the economics of school segregation and the vast number of experiments done in economically deprived areas, many operated by for-profit firms. The book makes clear that many federal plans by Democratic and Republican administrations have completely missed the mark.

Our charity has long worked in some of the poorest inner city schools and I have always found it distressing to see firsthand how the above forces have damaged public education in poor and largely segregated neighborhoods.

I want to make it a point to share some of the work of Rooks in the coming days and I hope you will take an interest in not only her work but the efforts that will be needed to overcome and erase some of the harm being done right now.

Dick