New Hope in Harlem

It seems that it is one of the platitudes that we hear over and over again: education is the solution to poverty and in the minds of some, just about every other social ill. Education (so the story goes) provides people with the means to climb up and over the obstacles that surround them and transforms their lives. For years, it seemed like this was just an empty promise. Education reform failed to deliver. No Child Left Behind resulted in thousands of failing schools and threats, but nothing actually happened to significantly improve educational outcomes.

That just might be changing. An informative piece in the New York Times discusses a new system of charter schools in Harlem that seems to be doing what some have thought was impossible: taking disadvantaged students who scored twenty points or worse behind their peers and bringing them up to grade-level---in some cases, even surpassing their well-heeled peers in test scores. This report was somewhat inspiring--there is a way to close the achievement gap between students and to undertake genuine educational reform that actually works. I still wonder how the schools work. I am skeptical of schools that are overly "military" in style, or that fail to provide a lot of options and enrichment to students; schools are supposed to exist not just to drill in facts and knowledge or to "socialize" students to societal norms, but also to provide a safe environment for students to be creative and to apply what they are learning. That is why America leads the world in terms of technology; innovative education and innovative citizens have opportunity in this country. I hope that education reform encourages innovation and creativity and does not stifle it.

What do you think?