In America, you purchase your education when you purchase your house. If you want your kids to go to better schools, you move out of the city and into a better school district or pay for a private education. In a few cases, there may be a charter-school or test school option. But otherwise, you are stuck. This system drives healthy families out of cities, and pigeon-holes the children of the poor into poverty.
For parents who want better for their children, they can apply to bussing programs and participate in lotteries for charter schools. But these options are limited. Not every child gets into a better school. When some ambitious parents who wanted better opportunities for their children falsified their address so that their child could attend a better school, they were arrested. When these parents were caught, instead of rewarding their ambition, states arrested them and the school districts pressed charges for "education theft." To make matters worse, some school districts are spending tax dollars to spy on children that they suspect do not live in the district in order to kick them out of their schools.
For the whole story, see the Wall-Street-Journal Post : http://online.wsj.com/article/
America is a nation that loves choices, and claims to provide the tools to climb the socioeconomic ladder, but as long as parents need to "buy" their way into better schools, we will never achieve equality.
