Believe it or not, there is actually a phenomenon which affects thousands of communities all across the country, known as white flight. While that might sound like some kind of ridiculous joke, it is not what it first sounds like. White people cannot fly without the aid of machines, and this phenomenon is actually just the process where middle class white people move away from a neighborhood when minorities move into it. It tends to accompany the opposite effect, known as gentrification, in another part of town where the middle class people end up resettling. Essentially, the middle class spends the bulk of its time being chased by poor people, while they simultaneously attempt to chase the rich. The fact that social class figures so strongly in school systems means that there are a lot of problems when people leave a city and sprawl out into the suburbs.

For one thing, as much as everybody pretends that the suburbs and the inner city are completely equal to one another, this will never be the case. There is always going to be a discrepancy between the two places, and their attendant school systems. While a wealthy suburb will have the nicest amenities and the most highly qualified, caring teachers, the schools in the hood will have few of these things. The inner city schools will also tend to lag behind in every measure, with their students coming out far less educated, and generally being far less successful than their more affluent contemporaries. If we are ever going to equalize the school offerings available to everyone, we have got to think in terms of better managing how we use the space in our cities.

Mesa property management is just an example of one city’s answer to white flight and gentrification. We can do a lot to stir the proverbial pot, and add features to our children’s educations through the use of programs such as charter schools.