This article is an attempt to start a conversation about where we find ourselves in the plight to help our most challenged public schools. It is not intended to be a comprehensive solution to the problem, but rather a hard look at how, after decades of many efforts, we are further away from the equal education contemplated by the United States Supreme Court's historic decision in Brown v. Board of Education. This article does not desire to simply cast blame for the failures of our children, but to send a reminder that, as Frederick Douglass would say, we can hardly have "rain without thunder and lightning."

Change always comes slow in the educational setting because of the great power education creates in the most ordinary human beings. There are too many stories to repeat about the transformational power of education in the lives of those who had little hope otherwise. Even our financial priorities currently indicate that much of our resources are dedicated to public education. Our taxation and spending in this regard provides ample confirmation.