Better Public Schools Won’t Fix Income Inequality (The Atlantic) is one of those belief-altering articles that completely changed my thoughts around education.

Here are 8 of Nick Hanauer’s most powerful points:

1. Educationism is the idea that poverty and inequality can be solved with education.
2. Education-reform ignores the greatest driver of student achievement: household income.
3. Great public schools don’t create a thriving middle class, great public schools are a product of thriving middle class.
4. Income inequality has exploded despite education progress.
5. The lower the parent’s income, the lower the educational attainment.
6. Educationists ignore the disease (economic inequality) and focus on the symptom (education inequality).
7. Limited family income is difficult to overcome even for students that are naturally gifted.
8. Pay the average worker more, and you will create a thriving middle class that addresses both economic and educational inequality.

See also

1. StackBacks automated budget system
2. Is inequality inevitable?
3. Stop collecting, and start producing