As a people, we say children are the nation's most precious resource, and yet we actually spend more than twice as much incarcerating a prisoner than we do educating a pupil. We say that children come first, and yet we cram them into overcrowded, ill-equipped facilities that are as outdated as an inkwell, facilities we would never tolerate in our modern workplaces or shopping malls. We preach equal opportunity for every child, we say education should give a child the means of exceeding the limitations of his or her class or family income, but in reality, we practice something very different, we practice social apartheid. It is through community that we affirm the hope, passed down from one generation of Americans to the next, that our children and grandchildren will thrive. And it is in our community schools that hope becomes capacity.
Time pressures contribute mightily to civic disengagement.
Work in America has become more time-consuming. The more time we spend at work, the less time we have for family and community. In addition, the unfettered market, powered by material rewards rather than spiritual values such as compassion, tends to pull us away from community. Consequently, the classic hierarchy of social roles in a democracy has been turned upside down. An increasing number of people think of themselves not primarily as citizens, but as private individuals who pursue their private interests as consumers, jobholders, and investors.