Last night was my crochet meeting. One person showed up. I expected a real low turnout since I am just starting back up and it takes awhile to get it going. We were having a good conversation and enjoying the time together. Since it was just the two of us, we let a group of young men and young women use the room that we would've used.

Since we were sitting in an open area, people felt free to join us and that was an interesting experience. Private conversation halted and we turned to more public topics. At one point a young woman sat down and started talking to us.

She is a striking young African American, on her schools track team, a junior in high school, and is disgusted with her education. Her mother moved the family at the beginning of her high school career to DC. This young lady can tell that she is lacking and that she will be at a disadvantage when she goes to college. She is in pre-calculus this year, and the teacher has spent the whole year review basic algebra to catch the students up. They have not covered anything new. They do not have books for the class. And she has a 3.8 GPA.

This young lady is talking about trying for a private school track scolarship for her senior year, taking a post graduate extra year before she attempts a freshman year in college because she knows her basic education is substandard. In her words, "I live in the Nation's capital. I should have the best education. When I look at my classrooms, I do not see diversity. I do not see teachers engaging the students. I see nothing. And I know that I will have to make up the difference somehow."

This is a major problem in DC. If the students know the problem and can articulate it so well, why doesn't the school system? Why don't the teachers? And how does it get fixed?