Public schooling hurts when you're not the majority

There is a widespread belief that public schools are the glue that holds diverse America together. As political theorist Benjamin Barber has described them, “They are the forges of our citizenship and the bedrock of our democracy.” Of course “democracy,” at its most basic level, means majority rule. But what happens when the majority does things the minority doesn’t like, even despises? We learn the sad answer constantly: conflict, repression or mush.