Policy Can Never Overcome Everything

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Sally Kohn: Have you looked at how much of a difference public policy can make in elevating the performance of historically disadvantaged groups? Kohn: There is there's definitely a role for policy to play and policy can be very impactful. She says if we invest more strategically, invest more on the more disadvantaged students, that it makes a huge difference.

Raise yourself up by your own bootstraps. This is a refrain we hear all the time, especially as Americans catechized in the dogma of personal responsibility. But what if some people don’t have bootstraps? What if some don’t even have boots?

This week David and Curtis welcome educational expert and Rice University sociology professor Ruth López Turley. Raised on the U.S./Mexico border, Ruth’s own educational story is fascinating and lends special weight to her observations about educational equity and how the scriptures (including Mary’s Magnificat) might lead us to some surprising and challenging conclusions.

Show Notes:

-$50M Kinder Foundation grant will expand Kinder Institute’s work to solve challenges facing Houston

-Claire Cain Miller, Josh Katz, Francesca Paris and Aatish Bhatia (The New York Times) - Vast New Study Shows a Key to Reducing Poverty: More Friendships Between Rich and Poor

-Cynthia M. Allen - Want economic mobility? Make friends at church

Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org

Produced by Kris Carter