"said Chan had grown distant in recent years as the school’s academic performance faltered" If Chan's experiment isn't working, why would we expect her to keep

"said Chan had grown distant in recent years as the school’s academic performance faltered" If Chan's experiment isn't working, why would we expect her to keep funding it? The part at the end about it taking 20 years or whatever makes no sense, a child is not in school for 20 years.