Another Chicago Appointee

[Guest guest]

, how to Chicago's school rate?

+++

NEWS ALERTfrom The Wall Street JournalDec. 15, 2008President-elect Barack Obama is expected to name Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan as education secretary, in his first hometown cabinet pick.For more information, http://www.wsj.com?mod=djemalertNEWSMake your life easier with all your friends, email, and favorite sites in one place. Try it now.

[Guest guest]

That's rather what I figured. I haven't been impressed with his choices and its getting me quite worried that they are going to be more about grabbing power and crushing opposition than trying to fix things in the proper way.

In a message dated 12/16/2008 12:57:35 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

As much as this appointee has "turned around" Chicago schools, the Chicago Public School System is still a colossal failure any way that you look at it and this appointee is just another failure in a long line of them that Obama is appointing to his staff.

AdministratorMake your life easier with all your friends, email, and favorite sites in one place. Try it now.

[Guest guest]

posted the following:

Dec. 15, 2008

President-elect Barack Obama is expected to name Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan as education secretary, in his first hometown cabinet pick.

For more information, http://www.wsj.com?mod=djemalertNEWS

And he asked:

", how do Chicago's school rate?" My answer:

http://www.windycitizen.com/news/wrightwood/2008/06/18/chicago-schools-drop-in-on-dropout-problem

Chicago schools drop in on dropout problem

by Pollock | MEDILL NEWS SERVICEPublished June 18, 2008 - 1:25 AM

"Since 1999, Chicago Public Schools' five-year cohort dropout rate has decreased from 50.1 percent to 41.6 percent in 2007 - an improvement of almost 17 percent.

"Chicago's one-year dropout rate statistically ranks last. Despite this, Chicago's 2007 one-year dropout rate is 10 percent - a vast improvement from its 1999 figure of 13.8 percent."

Bt contrast, I went to a suburban public school with a population of 2,800 in my high school. The high school district at that time (more than 20 years ago) had three high schools in it with maybe 8,000 kids in total. The dropout rate was less than 1% with most of those being unwed teen moms who were forced to leave so as not to embarrass and corrupt the rest of the students.

Something like 90% of all graduating students planned to go to college with about 80% of those planning to go actually making it there. Our ACT and SAT scores out-performed all of those in the nation and my own school earned the Presidential "Excellence in Education" award.

As much as this appointee has "turned around" Chicago schools, the Chicago Public School System is still a colossal failure any way that you look at it and this appointee is just another failure in a long line of them that Obama is appointing to his staff.

Administrator

[Guest guest]

True on all counts. The public school system has been a dismal failure and our current economic problems are a symptom of it. I mean, when something like 1/4 of students can't do enough basic math to work in a factory or make change at a register, something is wrong.

Teachers can also be part of the problem. Rumor around town here is that some didn't like the push to reform and so dragged their feet to make things worse in an effort to get the reformers fired. Not sure how true that is, but it would explain why the schools didn't reform after years of warning.

In a message dated 12/16/2008 7:01:23 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

To be fair, Duncan can only do so much when he is dealing with apethetic kids who have apathetic parents. He has worked hard, and perhaps with time we would have seen a further improvement in the Chicago Public School System. However, he can only go so far before hitting roadblocks set up by kids and parents that do not care - and this is a roadblock that is causing the failure in public school systems across the nation.AdminisrtatorMake your life easier with all your friends, email, and favorite sites in one place. Try it now.

[Guest guest]

" That's rather what I figured. I haven't been impressed with his

choices and its getting me quite worried that they are going to be more

about grabbing power and crushing opposition than trying to fix things

in the proper way. "

To be fair, Duncan can only do so much when he is dealing with

apethetic kids who have apathetic parents. He has worked hard, and

perhaps with time we would have seen a further improvement in the

Chicago Public School System. However, he can only go so far before

hitting roadblocks set up by kids and parents that do not care - and

this is a roadblock that is causing the failure in public school

systems across the nation.

Adminisrtator

[Guest guest]

Perhaps I should clarify.

Yes, the parents and the students are part of the problem. If they have no respect for learning then of course the school won't do well.

But the teachers and staff take part of the blame.

Really though I put most of the blame on the politicians. Lots of counterproductive programs exist the keep the disruptive, dangerous and bullying kids in classes with regular kids. There they take up much of the teachers' time and resources and also are a negative influence wearing the rest of the kids down. Back in the day, these kids would either be in reform school or have the special bad kids' schools. Weeding those kids out would help improve the rest of the school.

In a message dated 12/17/2008 1:53:27 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

I agree that the school systems are a failure. But I also believe that the kids themselves and their parents are partially responsible. There were times in my childhood when I was disinterested in learning, but exposure to the real world taught me that I had a vested interest in learning as much as I could if I wanted to survive in it. These days, it doesn't seem like kids are interested in learning to survive in the world. I do not know how they expect to live with that mentality. But that seems to be the direction things are headed in. AdministratorMake your life easier with all your friends, email, and favorite sites in one place. Try it now.

[Guest guest]

" The public school system has been a dismal failure and our current

economic problems are a symptom of it. I mean, when something like 1/4

of students can't do enough basic math to work in a factory or make

change at a register, something is wrong. "

I agree that the school systems are a failure. But I also believe that

the kids themselves and their parents are partially responsible. There

were times in my childhood when I was disinterested in learning, but

exposure to the real world taught me that I had a vested interest in

learning as much as I could if I wanted to survive in it. These days,

it doesn't seem like kids are interested in learning to survive in the

world.

I do not know how they expect to live with that mentality. But that

seems to be the direction things are headed in.

Administrator

[Guest guest]

I have to agree with in this case, for the most part: I came from a

rather excellent

school system, far better than most, and I had many peers that had parents that

knew the

system, and had everything they theoretically needed to excel, and I myself,

found myself

rather distracted by other things during a lot of my school time, where part of

it was

boredom, admittedly, on my part, amongst other things. However, there were many

I

think could have done far better, if they'd kept out of trouble along the lines

of being party

animals, or just applied themselves a bit more. How do you explain the

long-term

prognosis of a student in an excellent school system with (to the best of my

knowledge)

no learning disabilities, a sufficiently wealthy family, that ends up in prison

at age 19,

because they got involved in the wrong extracurricular activities (partying)

that ended up

causing (I forgot how many, minimum of one) death? Especially with the yearly

emphasis

on " don't drink and drive " with the inevitable wrecked car where someone was

killed on

the front lawn, and the biggest purpose of the " Senior All-Night Party " on

graduation

night sponsored by the school, on school grounds, to give a good place to go for

a fun

time without any such thing, it's clear that there was no end of good examples

to live by,

and bad examples to choose to die by, if desired: students had to take personal

responsibility for their own welfare, as suited their age and presumed maturity.

All this, in

a high school that (at that time) didn't lack for academics, from college AP

Calculus to AP

English, etc. and for the most part, excellent, dedicated teachers.

Beyond a certain age, it should only be the parents responsibility to provide a

sufficiently

stable home environment for kids to be students in, while strongly urging them

to

consider their long-term futures, after teaching them what's most probable with

various

choices: the kids need to grow into responsible adults, and too much coddling

often

results in kids (or adults, for that matter!) becoming too reliant on others.

I'd argue that

not even the best public educational system will save a group of people from

themselves,

if they've become too accustomed to having others motivating them to be

self-responsible

and self-reliant.

>

> " The public school system has been a dismal failure and our current

> economic problems are a symptom of it. I mean, when something like 1/4

> of students can't do enough basic math to work in a factory or make

> change at a register, something is wrong. "

>

> I agree that the school systems are a failure. But I also believe that

> the kids themselves and their parents are partially responsible. There

> were times in my childhood when I was disinterested in learning, but

> exposure to the real world taught me that I had a vested interest in

> learning as much as I could if I wanted to survive in it. These days,

> it doesn't seem like kids are interested in learning to survive in the

> world.

>

> I do not know how they expect to live with that mentality. But that

> seems to be the direction things are headed in.

>

>

> Administrator

>

[Guest guest]

" Back in the day, these kids would either be in reform school or have

the special bad kids' schools. Weeding those kids out would help

improve the rest of the school. "

In my mother's day they were whipped with rubber hoses. Literally.

Administrator