Whither (Wither?) the Public Schools

Somehow, a random internet search brought to the homepage of the New York City Board of Education, where there is a prominent button marked "No Child Left Behind". Presumably, this leads you to a page extolling all of the things that the NYC schools are doing to comply with NCLB, or "Nickleby", as education insiders apparently call it.

Something that struck me is a conversation I had with my wife about what to do for our son, who's 2, when the time comes to enroll him in school. We both agreed that we would not be comfortable sending him to the public schools in New York City, where we live, and even in any of the suburbs we would consider living in, we're concerned that the public schools, as good as they might be, are being diverted from teaching to "teaching to the test". As a result, we've agreed that private school is likely to give him the best education.

But ah, what we've lost if that's the answer. It wasn't always the case that the New York City Public Schools were places to be avoided. To the contrary, the public institutions in New York have bred incredible amounts of talent. Just reading a short list of alumni is astounding, particularly when you think about where the schools are today:

John Wells, founding partner, Rogers & Wells (an international law firm)
Hal Linden, actor
Al Shanker, former president, American Federation of Teachers
Sol Shoenbach, principal bassonists for the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy
Robert Siegel, senior commentator, National Public Radio
Joseph Naccio, former CEO, Qwest Communications
Jerome Nadler, member of Congress
Bernard Nussbaum, counselor to President Clinton
Paul Reiser, actor/comedian/writer
Tim Robbins, actor/writer/activist
Nick Meglin, editor, MAD Magazine
Thelonius Monk, jazz musician
Dick Morris, counselor to President Clinton
Robert Moses, organizer, Freedom Summer 1964
Howard Goldin, former Brooklyn Borough President
Eric Holder, Assistant Attorney General
Roy Innis, activist
Robert Alda, actor
Lucy Liu, actress and photographer
James Cagney, actor
Denny Chin, federal judge
Bob Frankston, co-inventor of Visicalc (the first computer spreadsheet program)
Bobby Fischer, chess grandmaster
Barbra Streisand, singer/actress
Harvey Pitt, former chairman of the SEC
Colin Powell, Secretary of State
James Baldwin, writer
Judd Hirsch, actor

I could go on for much longer, but the point is, the New York City schools have been great and could be again, but we're not putting the resources in the right place to foster that...