If we could look 10 years in the future, we could determine whether the strategies formulated by the Chattanooga 2.0 initiative were enough to double the number of Hamilton County residents with some kind of degree or post-secondary certification by 2025.
Chances are, they won’t be. That’s not negative thinking. That’s just reality. It takes years to undo entrenched policy, skewed ways of achieving success in public education and a society that has become lax about education specifically and individual initiative in general.
After all, in 10 years the youngest residents who will be affected by the 2.0 strategies won’t even be out of high school.
That said, we believe if the strategies are followed, if the public buys into the vision, if the community puts a hard press on the need for all students residents to achieve, county residents can be well on their way toward the goal by 2025.
And if they are, we will have made huge – perhaps unprecedented – strides and proven that a city that has reinvented itself over the past 40 years also can reinvent what passes for educational success for its residents.