ABSTRACT
In the language of social science, a troubling causality quandary exists—the chicken and egg problem—when linking atrocious schools to shoddy academics. More modern educators seem especially partial to instructional materials as the culprit: antiquated boring “irrelevant” textbooks, non-inclusive “too white” curriculums and lousy pedagogy such as whole-word reading instruction, teaching mathematics by rote learning, or one-size-fits-all lessons. Violence explodes, more students flee, more schools receive the death penalty, the buses roll with refugees, turf wars intensify, and like an atomic chain reaction, enrollments sink. Protests against “bad schools” can have a 1950s civil rights flavor when African-Americans were forced to accept second-rate back-of-the-bus facilities while whites received first class treatment. Haplessness in the face of “bad schools” misconstrues the problem. Complaining about “bad schools” probably began with formal education. Zero guarantees exist that government-certified deplorable schools are atrocious for all students or parents.
