Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Periodic Atlas: Mapping School & Society, Alton Straub

Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Publications

When communities change economically, culturally, and politically, few institutions are expected to adapt and respond as quickly as are public schools. In part, this expectation is justifiable. Free and compulsory education is a cornerstone of modern democracy. But do we expect too much? Should our public schools, whose funding we always seem to begrudge, be expected to overcome issues of poverty, race, and language that other societal institutions struggle with unsuccessfully? If we leave no child behind, if we save our struggling public schools, if our students achieve, are we addressing those issues in the most efficient and fundamental way? …