State Senator Meeks (Chicago, Springfield: homes, luxury, school districts)

[Anthera]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

I do agree with Meeks that public school funding should be equalized, and should be higher than it is now across the board to match New Trier (and not lowered anywhere!). And funding should not come from property taxes, which is a terrible system. But spending more alone will not turn CPS schools around.

Case Study: Evanston Township High School spends more per student than New Trier, and has many affluent students mixed with many poor students. While the middle-class and affluent students at ETHS do quite well overall, the lower-class African-American students still do very poorly as a whole (a phenomenon they call the "Achievement Gap". The same phenomenon can be observed at OPRF. Sure, the chance to succeed is there for all of these kids if they are smart and take initiative, which is a big difference from a CPS school. But CPS schools are a problem because of the people going there, not because of the funding. A school filled with only poor students will never be a good school.

I agree with you completely. You could offer nothing but AP classes at Meeks HS, taught by UC phds, and equip each student with a laptop, but you wouldn't get any different results. These kids don't live in a culture where academic sucess is valued, and a school can't do everything.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

I do agree with Meeks that public school funding should be equalized, and should be higher than it is now across the board to match New Trier (and not lowered anywhere!). And funding should not come from property taxes, which is a terrible system. But spending more alone will not turn CPS schools around.

Case Study: Evanston Township High School spends more per student than New Trier, and has many affluent students mixed with many poor students. While the middle-class and affluent students at ETHS do quite well overall, the lower-class African-American students still do very poorly as a whole (a phenomenon they call the "Achievement Gap". The same phenomenon can be observed at OPRF. Sure, the chance to succeed is there for all of these kids if they are smart and take initiative, which is a big difference from a CPS school. But CPS schools are a problem because of the people going there, not because of the funding. A school filled with only poor students will never be a good school.

I want to clarify that being poor and black has nothing to do with one's natural abilities and talents. But kids with parents who value education, have an expectation that their kids will go to college, and who went to college themselves are just more likely to succeed in school. Statitistics back this up. If I were a poor black parent living in the city, I would certainly still try to get my kids into a school where there was a mix of incomes and social classes in the hope that they could see another route in life. This is another reason that letting people rot in a ghetto that is racially and economically segregated is a total disaster.

[InformedConsent]

[mod cut]

It's not just about the money. Here's the Trib's Op-Ed piece on Meeks' plan...
Squeezing lousy schools -- chicagotribune.com

[St.Patrick]

Sorry if this is off-topic as i'm not i'm not too familiar with local-politics yet (only been in IL for 4 weeks). I have many relatives as well as my parents that work in education. I went to public school K-12 + City College, and have done volunteer work with "disadvantaged" people of all walks of life (old, young, black, white, and so on). It doesn't matter how much money anyone spends on education, in my opinion the single factor that always holds back "disadvantaged" students is: home. The only reason students excel when placed in private schools is the separation of the student from their home-life. How can someone expect a person to do homework when they don't have a safe, quiet, or clear space to do the work? I think a lot of the problems with low test scores and student dropouts could simply be resolved by removing home from the equation. With the elimination of homework and adjustment of class length to provide the time necessary for teachers to teach and students to learn, I believe that test-scores would improve and students would do better not only academically but socially as well.

There is one exception to this, in that the amount of money being spent on maintenance of schools should be examined. I once did a contract where I got to go to every single school in a district to do maintenance on their computers over the summer. The schools in the poorest neighborhoods were in appalling condtion. Floor tiles popping up off the floor, ceiling tiles sagging or missing altogether, cracked windows, chipped doors. Meanwhile the schools in the better parts of town had brand new roofs, fresh paint, new lighting, and more. Either administrators were squandering their maintenance budgets for other purposes, or the schools were not being treated equally by the district.

This was in Santa Clara, CA by the way (heart of Silicon Valley).

[Anthera]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

I want to clarify that being poor and black has nothing to do with one's natural abilities and talents. But kids with parents who value education, have an expectation that their kids will go to college, and who went to college themselves are just more likely to succeed in school. Statitistics back this up. If I were a poor black parent living in the city, I would certainly still try to get my kids into a school where there was a mix of incomes and social classes in the hope that they could see another route in life. This is another reason that letting people rot in a ghetto that is racially and economically segregated is a total disaster.

I agree that being poor and black has absolutely nothing to do with one's natural abilities. But unfortunately, the one thing that will help these kids leave poverty is involved parents, and many of them lack that for a wide variety of reasons(lack of information, fear of schools, disabilities as well as indifference).

I also fault Chicago for not having more trade/coop programs available, not everyone has the ability or inclination to go to college. Those kids should have easy access to trade apprenticeships (do you know how much electricians and plumbers make? More than your average college grad)or other training programs. Every student in every high school should be able to leave prepared for college or the work world.

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by Anthera

I also fault Chicago for not having more trade/coop programs available, not everyone has the ability or inclination to go to college. Those kids should have easy access to trade apprenticeships (do you know how much electricians and plumbers make? More than your average college grad)or other training programs. Every student in every high school should be able to leave prepared for college or the work world.

Hear hear!!

[cdc3217]

So if the real strategy is educational reform (per the Tribune article),
why bus the kids to New Trier?

That reduces the argument to haves vs. have-nots and we all miss the substance of his reform proposal.

I get that we're all paying attention - but I think most people aren't getting the whole message.

[InformedConsent]

While I agree that the trades are a very good option for those who are interested in pursuing a profession in the trades (and yes, they do pay very well!), they still require basic academic proficiency - which is where many of our poorly-performing public schools are falling short. Many of the trades require community college or other types of training or certification classes. Reading and math skills are paramount!

[InformedConsent]

Originally Posted by cdc3217

So if the real strategy is educational reform (per the Tribune article),
why bus the kids to New Trier?

This short passage from the Trib Op-Ed piece explains it...

"Meeks is demanding a new and, in our opinion, appealing agenda. He wants Senate President Emil Jones, House Speaker Michael Madigan, and Gov. Rod Blagojevich to join his effort—and commit to paying for it—by Friday at the latest.

You can guess the rest of the ultimatum: If Jones, Madigan and Blagojevich stiff him, Meeks will take busloads of Chicago students to wealthy North Shore schools Tuesday—and let the state's top Democrats explain to the national news media why these Chicago kids are hostages to city schools that soak up billions of tax dollars—but aren't held more rigorously accountable for actually educating anyone."

What we're seeing is the joining of forces among business leaders, education activists, parents groups, and taxpayer watchdog groups to put an end to the multi-billion dollar support of non-accountability and business as usual failed practices among the state's educrats and public education industry.

[cdc3217]

Originally Posted by InformedConsent

This short passage from the Trib Op-Ed piece explains it...

"Meeks is demanding a new and, in our opinion, appealing agenda. He wants Senate President Emil Jones, House Speaker Michael Madigan, and Gov. Rod Blagojevich to join his effort—and commit to paying for it—by Friday at the latest.

You can guess the rest of the ultimatum: If Jones, Madigan and Blagojevich stiff him, Meeks will take busloads of Chicago students to wealthy North Shore schools Tuesday—and let the state's top Democrats explain to the national news media why these Chicago kids are hostages to city schools that soak up billions of tax dollars—but aren't held more rigorously accountable for actually educating anyone."

What we're seeing is the joining of forces among business leaders, education activists, parents groups, and taxpayer watchdog groups to put an end to the multi-billion dollar support of non-accountability and business as usual failed practices among the state's educrats and public education industry.

I'm sorry, but wasn't there a similar meeting of the minds a couple years (2 or 3) back and the state did not enact any reforms? I am mad too, but then bus the kids to Springfield (or a CPS site as others have mentioned) and have a teach-in/test-in or something.

I still don't think busing kids to New Trier is the best way to illustrate the issue. Marrying government waste and non-accountability with racial and economic inequities muddies the issue.