Chicago just boarded up 49 public schools, because of too many empty desks. The Catholic schools, which used to be a huge presence in Chicago, shut down many of their schools years ago, also because of low enrollment. (My dad is a product of Chicago’s parochial schools.)

Public school advocates are up in arms. Diane Ravitch is losing her mind about these closings, which she says were retribution for last year’s union strike.

Why does it matter? The phraseology removes the truly historic destruction that Rahm Emanuel is inflicting on children and schools in his city. He is wantonly destroying public education. He is punishing the teachers’ union for daring to strike last fall. He will open more charter schools, staffed by non-union teachers, to pick up the kids who lost their neighborhood schools. Some of them will be named for the equity investors who fund his campaigns.

Rahm and his friends will laugh about the way he displaced 40,000 kids.

A little much, perhaps.

Cities are changing. Most cities don’t look like New York City, which teams with people and shops even in the poorest neighborhoods. Most cities are vast emptiness of broken buildings being reclaimed by nature. Liquor stores and churches are the only sign of life in these areas. Piles of broken appliances and old sofas. There’s no public transportation.

Schools are very much needed in those areas, but not in the same quantity and size as before. There are 145,000 fewer kids in Chicago than ten years ago. Perhaps this is an opportunity for urban kids. Consolidation might improve the quality of the schools, even if it means a longer trip on the school bus.