Putting aside the isolated incidents of student violence within the educational setting in predominantly white suburban communities, it is fair to say that urban students, for some time now, have been subjected daily to acts of physical violence, racial bigotry, and other bias-motivated incidents. There has been none to speak of. America is rather fortunate that there have not been more Columbines. While the Republican Party and other conservative voters look to school vouchers as the quick fix for failing publicly-financed schools, the Democratic Party, led by its standard bearer, President Clinton, is proposing the expenditure of billions of more tax dollars to fix a system some people believe is irretrievably broken, and should be simply blown up and rebuilt. Though clearly wrong, that sentiment is understandable, given the resistance by the existing educational bureaucracies to any true reform of education in this country.
Education is our passport to the future.
For tomorrow belongs to people who prepare for it today. The main issue in the present educational crisis is not money, although the money spent on education is enormous. An often over looked area of educational reform efforts is the necessity of addressing the cultural and historical roots of the present crisis in education. The present educational system, in both the urban and suburban areas, operates in the interests of maintaining the status quo. In America, the status quo, for hundreds of years of its colonial and independent existence, was founded on the premise of maintaining the Slave Economy.