Inner City School Choice

David Reinhard:

Fuller, for his part, now believes school choice is the most important civil rights issue for African Americans today. That's no small claim, considering he started as a "Black Power" advocate in the 1960s. But he didn't get there by applying a market-oriented philosophy to the problem of underperforming inner-city schools. He got there from the ground up. He witnessed firsthand the failure of earlier school reforms, with all their good intentions, bursts of civic concern and, in the end, unmet promises. "At a certain point in time," he says, "you have to say that you have to try something radically different."

Some African Americans in the Jefferson cluster are ready to try. Smith Williams is the father of five and a Black Alliance for Educational Options member here. His kids have attended both public and private schools and even been home-schooled. As Williams told The Oregonian editorial board, "We know there are desperate parents out there."

Dr. Howard Fuller is the former superintendent of the Milwaukee Public Schools and founder of the Black Alliance for Educational Options. Howard Fuller Clusty Search.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at June 5, 2006 4:06 PM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas