Pittsford should care and here's why

Note: An edited version of this post was published in the June 17, 2018 edition of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle.

The problem?  We’ve all heard it before.  One of the nation’s worst performing public school districts (Rochester) coexists a mere five miles from one of the best in Pittsford.  

It’s a sound bite, one that is meant to call our attention to a social justice argument.  How can the wealthy residents of Pittsford and other suburbs tolerate such injustice?  It seems unconscionable to some.  There is certainly a social justice argument to be made.  But, that term – “social justice” – has become a linguistic marker for liberals and that leads us down a dark road into divisive politics.

I’d like to take a different approach. 

For a century, Kodak, Xerox and Bausch & Lomb attracted talent to our community.  While it could be argued that there are still talented executives and scientists moving to our area, it can’t be said that the number is sufficient to drive our local economy as it once did.  As our children grow up and go to college, some will settle here and some will not.  For our community to continue to thrive, we need a profile that will attract companies to move their operations here. 

Today, inner city poverty and our broken school system may be the biggest deficiency in that profile.  I am not alone in this opinion nor is it uninformed.  Last month, the American Enterprise Institute released the results of a study that concluded in part that (1) a key element of any successful economy is the quality of its workforce and (2) simply increasing funding for schools is unlikely to improve results.  The study goes on to suggest structural reforms and changes to incentives for teachers and education leaders.

It may be appealing to business leaders and conservatives to embrace this study.  But, those of us who live in our comfortable suburbs can be subject to what psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton called “psychic numbing,” the tendency to withdraw from issues that are too overwhelming to envision a solution or to participate in it.  And, yet, we must participate because failing to do so will undoubtedly lead to a steady decline in our fortunes as a community.  Our renovated airport, economic development initiatives and downtown redevelopment will all be for naught if we don’t have a workforce to attract new businesses.

Rochester has a proud heritage; a culture formed by the legacy of visionary leaders Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony and George Eastman.  Each had a vision the impact of which outlived them.  Now is the time for community leaders, from both inside and outside the city, to develop a new vision, one that will create the momentum to overcome our biggest challenge.  Our future depends upon it.