I take that to mean that we have a certain situation and it can't
change. I have never taught in an inner city or otherwise poor-
socioeconomic school, but I have worked with teachers, and observed
the goings on, in such schools. I recently visited a school in
Nashville where there were feces in all the urinals. The students who
helped me in setting up for my workshops (this was an honor position
for the students) could not, for the most part, compose a
grammatically correct sentence. I agree with most of what you said in
your post, but that doesn't mean we should just sit back and say
that's the way it is. Why should any teacher have to do his or her job
in a "war zone"? If you don't want motivated students to receive
vouchers to escape their situation, then why should we not work to
clean up the schools they're in, so they can learn without major
disruptions? Not only are schools pressured to accept students who
have been expelled, it is almost unheard of for students to fail
classes and have to repeat a grade. We end up "graduating" students
who can't read and write. If students graduate without even being able
to function in society, what's the point in keeping them in schools to
the detriment of students who want to be there?