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So we should keep them in failing schools?

If the school is truly rotten sure maybe let’s close it. But the problem isn’t the schools.

Probably the best thing we could do to produce better educational results is to correct the damage done to city centers by rapid deindustrialization and the war on drugs, and invest in rural communities left behind with infrastructure like broadband. Obviously I don’t think either will happen. But just shifting kids around isn’t going to do anything (but there is money to made in sectors like edtech)

So we should close failing schools, but schools aren't the problem? Just trying to make sense of your argument.

The argument is the general problem is the negative synergistic feedback loop of poverty, over-policing, drugs, and local culture. These are the problems to solve.

I don’t say never so I suppose a school could fail for endogenous reasons in which case action is needed. But there are less drastic actions than shutting it down, such as firing all the admins.

Shutting a school down would be easier than firing the admins.

Would you consider the possibility that the negative synergistic feedback loop you describe is actually caused by failing schools, instead of the other way around?

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