In an American education course last autumn, students found that access to a public school in Chicago was equivalent to rolling a dice in a casino. Through a seemingly random process, at the high school level, one student might gain access to a highly selective school where the facilities are first rate: commodious rehearsal spaces, plenty of curricular options, and an array of study-abroad opportunities.
Another student might find entry into a charter school where the classes are small, the teachers matriculate from fine colleges, and the staff counsels students into selective educational institutions. Yet, another student might experience non-functioning classrooms, heavily gated school grounds, and certainly no one promoting a college-bound culture...