How would I fix our schools? I’d start by listening to [serial], then I’d end summer school (gasp), I’d give children actual textbooks, and I’d work on changing attitudes.

I’m still trying to get a hard number on that private school pullout rate for you, but the original source is keeping mum so far. However, simply from my own anecdotal experience, I can reasonably predict that public school enrollment in Seattle is going to start increasing soon.

The reason why Seattle has had such a high private school enrollment is not at all mysterious. It’s because the Seattle public schools mostly suck, seeming to be systemically incapable of performing their core mission, and most people who have the choice flee from the public system as they can.

It’s not a funding issue either. The public school system in Seattle is roughly at parity with private schools for funding levels per student. The problem runs far deeper than just money.

But I’ll take this opportunity to toss this stone into the soup and you can watch it sink without a trace because it’s some kind of new-fangled thinking:

Schools should be in integrated campuses that provide education for all ages and also include dining facilities for meal programs, libraries, clinics, transit stops, mini police stations, social welfare offices, public restrooms, parks, and low-income housing.

These campuses should be fairly busy for 18 hours a day and comfortable and safe 24 hours a day. Instead of regarding schools as a sort of prison in which children are segregated from society, schools should be regarded as a core value to which we all return throughout our lives.

Naturally, you might hope to see some synergy here, with older people helping in the classrooms before dinner, transit serving riders of all ages, and younger people sampling vocational training, such as cooking or facility maintenance, while in high school.

Almost all of the activities listed are already funded, but geographically dispersed, increasing transportation costs, and located in older buildings that are not energy efficient. And there’s no time like the present! The largest population cohort we’ve ever known is beginning to retire and looking to trade that family lifestyle for some serious empty-nester living.

You may now resume your regularly scheduled tunnel hating.