[Marianne]

(emphasis mine)

[Mind-numbed Robot]

If the assumption is that increased spending is intended to increase student learning then this article is correct on that point. However, the true purpose of increased spending on education is to pay off labor unions, including the NEA and AFT, and that is working well. Poor student performance, just as welfare increases poverty, is the goal of the left. If the problem is ever solved there is no need for them.

Studies by economists have shown that had the money spent to equalize educational opportunity over the years instead been given directly to the poor, more opportunity would actually have been created.

This is very naive thinking. The reason behind poor student performance is an absence of principles that value education, whether instilled at home or at school. Simply giving money to the uneducated poor is folly at its highest and would add nothing to the benefit of social advancement.

[Orangedog]

Each year, it is estimated that over one-half million students graduate from American high schools with only rudimentary academic skills.

And those are the one that DO graduate. There are a lot more who don't. It was "only" 25 years ago that I was in 4th grade, but then even the "F" students could read.

[jimkress]

The title of this 'article' is completely deceptive. The agenda upon which this article is based is completely Liberal. The authors basically maintain that people are unable to advance their socioeconomic condition because they are helpless in the grasp of forces outside their control and education does nothing to save them from their helplessness.

BS!

One need only look at the Italian, Irish, Chinese, Jewish, Hungarian, Russian, Polish, Japanese, and, yes, even Black immigrants to the US to see that the author's basic, Liberal assumptions are worthless. These immigrants lived in some of the worst socioeconomic conditions this country has ever seen. Yet they and their descendents worked and educated themselves and become economic leaders of this nation.

These Liberals continue to try to rewrite history. They must not be allowed to succeed.

[FourPeas]

LIONEL S. LEWIS is professor emeritus of sociology at the University at Buffalo.

Wow, someone who "gets it". I never thought I'd see the day I'd agree wholeheartedly with a professor of sociology.

[Intolerant in NJ]

POURING MONEY INTO SCHOOLS DOESN'T HELP STUDENTS...quickest, dirtiest way to demonstrate this is to recall the multiple studies which show students from relatively poor countries such as some in Asia consistently coming in first on standardized tests, while kids from the wealthy US typically come in near the bottom of the group.....