As the school year comes to a close I think it is important to remember that good schools and poor schools are no accident.
Often people will say to me “I was blessed to grow up in a neighborhood with good schools.” Actually, this was not a blessing from God at all, rather it was the result of a system WE have set up.
We pay for schools through property taxes. Therefore, if you live in a high income or higher cost property community you will pay more in property taxes and your schools will have more property tax dollars to spend. By the same token, if your neighborhood is poor or low income the schools will have far fewer dollars available.
The long term effect is that this system we have created keeps most poor people from having a better education – thus they are more likely to remain poor. They face other daily challenges as well, by virtue of being poor, but a good education will not likely be available to them.
So – I benefit from a short-sighted system that is designed to benefit some at the expense of others. This is systemic injustice. Overall of course, when people are poorly educated, everyone suffers. We are all connected. A well educated society benefits everyone in the long term.
Some things may actually be blessings, but more often than not they aren’t. They are the result of systems we have created. It’s time we start speaking about things truthfully, as they really are.
We set this system up and we can change it. Use your voice. Educate, vote and volunteer.
