The Fairness Fight

Nearly 500 years ago, Niccolo Machiavelli wrote in The Prince: “It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones.”

This has been true in history, particularly in American political history, since the founding. And it's happening today in NYC.  

Mayor DeBlasio and his new Schools Chancellor recently announced a plan to change the admissions process to NYC's elite public schools (places like Stuy, Bronx Science, etc.). In short, this plan would phase out the "all-in-one" admissions test and instead expand something called the "Discovery" program that would increase enrollment of low-income (i.e. black and Hispanic students) to these schools. It would use a variety of criteria including state exams, grades, and formulas to determine admission (read the details here).

Needless to say, the folks who think their children would lose out under this plan, and the politicians who represent them, are violently opposed to it. They're demonstrating, rallying, and denouncing it with venom. The mayor and schools chancellor are promoting this plan, along with a few allies in the state legislature, but the NYC media, the governor, and many other politicians and special interest groups are either against it -- or punting ("Well, we'll see," "This might not be the right time", "I don't know if there's an appetite for it", "We still need to see the details", etc., etc., etc.).

This is why reform is hard. This is why things don't change for the better. People and politicians are scared of change because they feel they'll be disadvantaged, that they'll lose out, that someone "less worthy" (i.e. poor or brown) will benefit at their expense. 

But sometimes things do change. Sometimes reform is achieved. And what's funny is that, when history is written, the enemies of reform always end of up looking bad.

I hope that's the case here.