The further unraveling of Philadelphia city schools

So, the  City has announced layoffs, effective July 1 of this year, for almost four thousand of the District's approximately twenty thousand employees.  Further layoffs are expected, so that 30% of active positions will be eliminated.  As the Philadelphia Inquirer noted, with these cuts:

These schools will not be centers of growth and promise. They will be far closer to custodial houses, where, despite the best efforts of teachers (and the effort will be there), only the most confident students can get the year's worth of learning every child deserves from September to June.

A'ight, let's try this another way.  Imagine that all these students, even the misbehaving ones, are like the kitten pictured below.  Now, what is the right way to raise the kitten?  Put the kitten in a dark room and ignore it?  Or put your face in its belly and feed it treats and play with it with little bouncy toys?  WHICH IS THE RIGHT CHOICE.