Education

What Would Schools Look Like if We Actually Cared About Kids?

We’re wasting the potential of millions of promising young people

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I recently had the pleasure of watching my 10-year-old granddaughter perform in a school production of 101 Dalmatians. It was my first visit to my grandchildrens’ new school. (She was adorable, and Hollywood will no doubt be calling).

The difference between this school and their previous one was as stark as the two colors of Cruella de Vil’s hair, but not for the reasons you might think.

Their old school was just a couple of blocks from my daughter’s house, and I visited it many times. The dedicated teachers there did a fine job and dressed up the ancient, squat building with lots of colorful art. But you could tell at a glance that the school was not well-funded and neither were many of the families whose children attended there. So many of the children didn’t speak English that the school had to provide classes in Spanish.

The new school is a charter school. Nestled within a forest preserve with beautiful buildings, mature trees, rolling lawns and gardens, it resembles a college campus. I researched the school’s history and its former name included the words “Country Day School,” if that tells you anything. That…