Not too long ago, I think about a year ago, the Washington Post ran a series of articles on the state of the public schools in the District.  I don’t remember all of what the articles said, but I do remember that there was a lot of concern about the quality of education public school kids were getting in the District.

I also remember that a lot of the schools profiled had high percentages of Black students.  This is concerning but not surprising, since inner-city schools with high minority populations often do more poorly than other schools.

The entire thing worries me, though.  Our public schools just aren’t doing the job they used to do, or are meant to do.  The catch 22 is that many of these parents will need to rely on Washington DC private tutors if they want their kids to do well.

Unfortunately, many parents whose children attend inner-city schools also don’t have the money to afford Washington DC tutoring.  In fact, it’s for people like this that our nation’s Founding Fathers established the public school system: They believed that everyone deserved access to a quality education, regardless of how much (or little) money their family had.

Until we have some serious public school reform, there’s absolutely nothing we can do other than to take matters into our own hands.  Even if it’s hard, we need to make sure our kids get the education that will help them get ahead in life — even if that means scrimping and saving in order to pay for Washington DC in-home tutors.  Even if you can only afford it for a short while, isn’t it worth it to make that sacrifice for your child’s future?

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