Nope, not yet. At least, not for Miles - he starts next Tuesday, the 6th.
I've been following a local argument in the Chicago Tribune....Background: Chicago Public Schools are among the worst in the nation. Really. Only 57% of the students graduate from high school. Only 17.4% of 11th-graders can pass a college entrance exam. To any college, including community vocational schools. For the third largest city in this country, that's abominable.
Rahm Emmanuel ran for mayor on an education platform. As you probably know, he won and is now mayor of Chicago. (If I lived here, I'd have voted for him.) He has proposed an addition of 90 minutes to the school day and an additional 2 weeks of schooling for all Chicago Public Schools. This has the overwhelming support of parents. Teachers, however, are furious. They are threatening strikes, etc. Keep this in mind: Chicago teachers are paid more than almost any city in the country. The children in Chicago public schools are among the worst, in terms of test scores. Children in elementary schools here do not have recess......those of you with sons will know how insane that idea is. I have two. Either one or both of them would've driven their teachers crazy if they hadn't been allowed outside to run and chase and use up some energy. Instead, though, children here are supposed to color quietly after lunch, I guess so that the teachers and/or lunch ladies can enjoy their coffee and chat. How nuts is this?!
Anyone who doesn't think accountability is a good thing just never had Miss Mary Frances Word for English. She'd've taught 'em. (It's thanks to her that I know how to contract "she would have," and that the quotation marks always go outside the punctuation. Thanks, Miss Word. You scared the bejeezus out of us, but we are better writers because of you.)
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That's an intriguing argument. Obviously the mayor and parents need to take a stand and vote to increase # of school hours. However, I see the teachers side too. They are being asked to work more for the same money. True that they haven't been doing a great job, but I doubt that Chicago's poor education is a new phenomenon that can be attributed solely to the current teachers. It's probably a culture that they were hired into. If my company wasn't making enough money compared to other similar companies and I was asked to work that many more hours per year, I would go crazy. But in the end I would probably do it because in the end, I am making decent money for my line of work and I don't feel like relocating.
ReplyDeleteUgh. I should have edited that more closely. Ms. Meyer-Zelda would be upset
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