Well put. It’s in no way the solution, but any progress at the local level, given the little funding they’re provided, is better than waiting for foundational changes that aren’t close to being implemented. These programs are clearly helping at-need students and are at least attempting to give them a better chance of succeeding in their goals.

Cyberpunk is the only game in recent memory where I felt like I was not playing into my interpretation of who I wanted the character to be, but rather who I wanted to be as V. Games like Red Dead 2 let me drive the character’s outcome and I definitely has an emotional response to Arthur’s journey (one of my favorite games of all time), but it felt like the character’s story. Cyberpunk did a stellar job at making it feel like my story.