Public vs. Private Schools

Renowned columnist Clarence Page writes about the dilemma of the Obama's sending their daughters, Malia and Sasha to public or private schools once they relocate to Washington, D.C. in this Real Clear Politics article. It appears that since Malia and Sasha presently attend private schools that they will also do the same when they move to the District of Columbia.

The interesting part of Page's article profiles District School Chancellor Michelle Rhee, who has essentially cleaned house in the school district. Rhee, is a 38-year-old single Korean-American mother with two young daughters in her troubled 46,000-student system. With the backing of Mayor Adrian Fenty, she has closed 23 schools, restructured 27 others, fired more than 250 teachers and dumped about one-third of the system's principals.

In the black community most children are attending public schools. Rhee's approach to cleaning up a major problem may be needed as a benchmark for other cities. The problems of the Washington, D.C. schools only have to multiplied by thousands to illustrate the dire straits of most of our public schools.