In 2003, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor stated, “Race-based preferences will no longer be needed to balance out school admissions in 25 years.” That was the only reason the Supreme Court Justice gave for her deciding vote in a 5-4 Supreme Court decision that established affirmative action for Black students in college admissions. Without that expectation of improvement in public schools, she would have voted against the University of Michigan’s Law School admissions policy.
Twenty years later, the Supreme Court decided, 6-3, that leaders in charge of raising the education level of minorities, especially in big cities, had had enough time to achieve Justice O’Connor’s goal. (For those too young to remember, Sandra Day grew up on a ranch, which Will Rogers would say is an ideal background for any Justice. She was the first woman on the Supreme Court, appointed by President Reagan in 1981.)
Unfortunately for most Black students, political leaders in those big cities totally failed. Grade: F-. Close to Zero. For example, in Baltimore and Chicago, high school “graduates” can’t read or write well enough to get a decent job, let alone succeed in college.
Here’s a solution. Baltimore spends $21,000 per student, $7000 more than the U.S. average. That $21,000 should be allocated to the student, payable to an accredited school, whether public, private, or religious. Wow, with that much money, a private school could hire the best teachers, provide 3 meals a day, and invite parents to join their student for at least one of those meals a week.
Providing a similar choice in every school district, including Chicago, would set the stage for meeting Justice O’Connor’s goal of equality in education.
Along with teaching the 3 R’s, schools, and especially parents, should teach children that it’s against the law to steal. (The 8th Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Steal.) Most of you already did this and your kids wouldn’t even think of walking into a store and running out with bags full of clothes, steaks or jewelry.
The example needs to be set with how adult thieves are treated. Anyone who steals from a store should be sent to jail. Make ‘em pay back double for whatever they stole. If they don’t have any money, let ‘em work it off by cleaning toilets in the jail. Today, we see too many ludicrous examples. Thieves are seldom caught or prosecuted and store employees who record or try to stop the robberies are fired.
Meanwhile in Washington, President Biden is counting on “Bidenomics” to win the 2024 election. But Bidenomics provides nothing to brag about in a campaign. Prices have inflated 15% and interest rates jumped. The Federal Reserve issued $5 Trillion of “printing press” money. We’ll likely have a recession in 2024. Despite Biden’s claim he created 12 million jobs, last month 161.0 million people were employed compared to 158.6 million before the Covid shutdown. That’s an increase of only 2.4 million, not 12 million. Any growth in wages has been wiped out by inflation. Gasoline is $0.75 a gallon higher than 4 years ago.
Speaking of President Biden… Do you know who brought cocaine into the White House? How’s this for a guess: It was the same young person who 18 months ago leaked the draft of the Supreme Court decision on abortion. Ok, even if it’s different culprits, they have one thing in common with the thieves above: they likely won’t be caught or prosecuted.
Historic quotes by Will Rogers:
“Robbing is one profession that certainly has advanced in this country… We spend billions of dollars on education, and we are no smarter today than 30 years ago, and we spent nothing to foster robbing, and here it is one of the most skilled industries we have.” WA #176, Apr. 25, 1926
“Every Guy just looks in his pockets and then votes. And the funny part of it is it’s the last year that is the one that counts. You can have three bad ones and then wind up with everybody having money, and you will win.” WA #196, Sept. 12, 1926