Hopelessness of Homelessness and Hopelessness of Schools

Discussion
1

Dear Everyone;

Steve DeKorte and Rob Power mentioned the Chronicle article on homelessness and how the story of woe was depressing.

I read this story in Sundays Chronicle 11/30 on the life of a grade school teacher in Richmond in the East Bay. This story was sad and depressing because it wasn't basically about adults who did have some choices to make and the capabilities to make those choices. It was about young school children who wouldn't have the basic skills to be able to make a choice. If they survived the trek to adulthood.

It was about the same tenor as a brief column filler in the Chronicle. In the Oakland schools some 3500 students entered 9th grade and some 1500 ultimately graduated with the class. What happened to the other 2,000? This is sad and depressing.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/30/ING8L39SL21.DTL

Ron Getty
SF Libertarian

2

Fortunately, charter schools, vouchers, and other reforms to the school system
are finally starting to take hold. We're making progress with those kids in
Richmond. It may take many years, but at least we're on the right path. But
with the homeless issue in San Francisco, every time we start to get on the
right path, our "progressive" Board of Supervisors or judges stop such reforms
dead in their tracks. Of course, they tried to kill the school reforms, too,
but enough parents are willing to fight hard for their kids, so the reforms
happen. We don't see that kind of effort on the homelessness issue,
unfortunately.