Finally, there's Texas. School reform began in 1993 under Democratic Gov. Ann Richards and continued after George W. Bush's election in 1994. From 1994 to 1998, the proportion of students passing the exam rose from 53 percent to 78 percent. The attacks don't wash. Which brings us back to the lesson.
All advanced societies strive to protect the vulnerable and uplift the downtrodden.
The problem is to discriminate between those who truly require help and those who can, with some prodding and perhaps assistance, do for themselves. This is rarely an easy call. The impulse is not to make too many demands, because that would seem insensitive and cruel. The effect is to subvert personal responsibility. We encourage this when we assign the moral high ground to those who simply shout the loudest for the downtrodden.