"why don't you just fail?" re: vouchers

[ulysses]

A direct quote from the principal of the school in which I work, a private, Christian institution. The comment was directed at a 9-year-old African-American child on the occasion of his turning in, last Thursday, a homework sheet that had gotten somewhat folded and spindled in his book bag.

"If you're going to turn in homework like this, why do you even try? Why don't you just fail?"

To my eternal shame - this happened in front of me, in my classroom - I said nothing. I should have pissed on her leg. I did (along with the creationist science teacher, who overheard the event and who also recognizes that the owner of the school is a nutcase) help the student in cleaning out his book bag. I also accepted the homework (mine), which was done correctly.

Can someone please explain to me, again, how it is that private schools are supposed to be so much better for students, especially African-American kids? "Why don't you just fail?" This is an improvement on the great disaster that our public schools represent?