my response to the Executive Summary of a Portrait of Mississippi

From the Executive Summary:

What will it take to improve MS’s Human Development rankings?

Ensure that working families can make ends meet.
Reduce infant mortality by improving the well-being of girls and women.
Improve the health of African American men.
Improve the quality of public education in Mississippi.
Connect at-risk boys to school.

I agree, but HOW??  Let’s take one specific issue-- keeping boys in school.  Why would a boy stay in school without encouragement from home?  sports and activities?  An engaging curriculum?  a sense of purpose and meaning to school?  Our school systems are already overburdened, understaffed, and underfunded.  All of our districts struggle to do the minimum of busing, feeding, and babysitting students.  To do more than the minimum-- to have multiple sports and inspiring teachers-- requires more than the minimum in staff and funds. 

Bullet point solutions like these frustrate me.  It’s like telling me that I need to have a designer wardrobe to improve my fashion.  Um... okay.  Where do I get the money and access to buy a designer wardrobe?

I know this Executive Summary was meant to be exactly that: a summary, not a solution.  I think it did a great job of clearly displaying what is going on-- white vs black, male vs female, county vs county.   It would be nice, though, to someday read a colorful and well-researched report proposing how to improve, instead of what to improve.