MAP 150

The New York Times carried a story today that’s a sad, sad reminder of what’s wrong with our public school systems. In Little Rock, which bore the shame of the nation as it refused to integrate its schools, a new also ugly battle has broken out. Its black superintendent is embattled as he streamlines the district. White parents and city leadership support these efforts; black school board leaders do not, for it is black middle class jobs that are being lost. And so the two sides fight.

While this may be a particularly stark example, this same dynamic is being played out around the country: adults fighting for their interests and turf, seemingly indifferent to the effect on students– the ostensible reason any of them have jobs in the first place. There’s a simple question in Little Rock– what do the students think? Are their schools better or not?

In collaboration with policy fellows from the Humphrey Institute with ties to the community, we have started a place to allow students to lead a community discussion of what’s happening in their schools. The Minneapolis school district, and its community, are going through a painful process of closing schools. Enrollment is down. But why? It’s not just demographics. As adults we can wonder all day long about what’s causing students to leave. But we’ll never know for sure until we bring students into the discussion – and ultimately find a better role for them in this process.

In the short week of the website’s launch, we’ve found students to be insightful (closing schools will just lead to more students leaving); open-minded (does having a relationship with your teacher benefit learning? does it benefit the teacher?) and responsible self-awareness (impatience with learning colors and fruits in an English Language course led one immigrant to fail to pay attention, which made dropping out to help with the family income an easier decision).