Minneapolis School Mess

Minneapolis has it all: violent crime is high, education is low, the mayor is weaving fabric, and the police chief is celebrating diversity. Unfortunately, "all" may not be desireable.

By all appearances, the Minneapolis government schools are about as dysfunctional as can be. They are run, top to bottom, by liberals and activists. Sure, there are well-meaning teachers, but even the strongest of them can't overcome the machine. That machine is liberal philosophy, "tolerance", "diversity", and social engineering in many forms.

Now they can't even retain their base - the minority population: "Minority students continue Minneapolis schools exodus".

Steve Brandt, Star Tribune

Minority students continue to leave the Minneapolis School District faster than white students, pushing up the white share of the student body for the third straight year.
A discouraging sign is that Hispanic student enrollment has plateaued; Hispanics were the only major racial or ethnic category to grow over the past five years.

"I think folks are exercising options," said Carlos Mariani Rosa, executive director of the Minnesota Minority Education Partnership.

This doesn't necessarily mean that more white students are entering the district. It just means that as minorities leave, all else being equal, the share of white students is higher while the absolute numbers remain static. Even if both white and minority student numbers drop, but minorities drop faster, the percentage of white students would rise.

White students now make up 27.8 percent of district enrollment, up almost 2 percentage points since 2002, when the share of white students bottomed out after a slide of at least 30 years. That's despite losing more than 1,300 students since 2002.

The white share is up because more than 6,400 minority students have left the district in the same three-year period. Blacks, who make up the largest bloc of students at nearly 42 percent, are leaving at more than twice the rate for whites.

Here's an important figure that shows the trend in Minneapolis:

The numbers are in the latest enrollment breakdown released by the Minneapolis district. Total enrollment dropped 5.5 percent this school year.

People of all races have had it with the Minneapolis Public Schools. This tracks closely with the city in general - people are tired of high crime and dysfunction caused by liberal "leadership". They can't blame conservatives, because there aren't any in positions of power in the city. They own the results, lock, stock, and barrel.

Public school enrollment, including charters, is down less than 2 percent in Minnesota over the past five years, while the percentage drop in Minneapolis has been 11 times greater.

Should this be a sign for liberals? Should they now practice what they preach, and diversify the ideology of the power structure to include conservatives and independents?

Balance can be healthy; it doesn't appear that they have much choice.