Throughout this presidential campaign year, much has been said about what needs to be done to improve education for children in our inner cities.
Many proposals focus on more money - for teachers, for buildings, for computers, for supplies.
But if money alone were the answer, our school problems would have been over long ago. But last Wednesday, Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush visited the Cornerstone School, a private school in Detroit's inner city, which serves 625 mostly African American students in grades K-8. There, he found a vibrant, thriving learning community where most students score above the national average on standardized tests and routinely go on to elite high schools and colleges. By that, he means that many public schools serving minority or low-income students fall into the trap of thinking that the children they serve can't learn and expect little from them. Everybody must understand the American Dream is for them.