Back in the era of the urban blight (which some of you may be old enough to remember), there were (and still are) schools like this in NYC and SF that have served as a beacon to the poor kids there. It's not as if we can't do that here, and it's not as if no small amount of good comes from them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronx_High_School_of_Science

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuyvesant_High_School

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Technical_High_School

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowell_High_School_(San_Francis...

Seven Nobel Prize winning alumni for Joel's alma mater. Stuyvesant has two graduates in Obama's cabinet.

Now just imagine what we could do with one of these schools in every major city.