> Having lived in Baltimore and seen the home life of
> youth, I can tell you that you would not even
> believe the appalling, multifaceted dysfunction
> that is rampant in poor urban neighborhoods.
For context, my position on this come from the UK education system. My fiancé has worked as a teacher in poor urban neighborhoods in London (Hackney, etc.) for several years so I hear a huge amount about the politics of working in a school and the relationship between teachers and children. I've also spoken to a lot of her teacher friends about this, and what I've said is more-or-less verbatim what they tell me. 'Spoon-fed' was the literal word someone used to describe teaching in an inner London school to me last night.
Baltimore and the United States might be completely different, and I would love to hear your experience on this and whether you have teacher friends there?
Additionally, you should read "The Achievement Gap Isn't About Teachers" [0]. As it points out "there’s just not good evidence that the gap in teacher quality between low-income and high-income schools even exists."
[0] https://spottedtoad.wordpress.com/2016/10/27/no-the-achievem...