Chicago School Fails 60% Of Its Students
I’m sure these children will go on to have spectacular careers as government employees:
A startling number of children are falling through the cracks at one Chicago Public School. More than half of the kids didn’t even pass the eighth grade. As CBS 2’s Jim Williams reports there is fierce debate about who’s to blame.
For once, the blame isn’t cast on lack of access to midnight basketball courts for disadvantaged inner-city youth, or the lingering effects of colonialism, but put squarely on either the school system (surprise) or parents:
Dennis says she had no idea her son was about to fail English; no written notices from Bradwell Elementary, she says, and no warning from his teacher.
Tarrell had failed English two times before, but Dennis thought he was doing better.
“They told me that he was fine. He was starting to come around and his grades were picking up,” Dennis said. “They never gave me any indication that he was going downhill.”
Indeed. I’m sure this fine, upstanding parent had every intention of reading her son’s report cards, but you know how life can get in the way sometimes. If only the government mandated report-card readers that would go to each inner-city home and read report cards to these obviously overworked parents, this crisis could have been averted. But no, *The Man™* is intent on seeing peoples of colour fail.
And phoning the teacher to inquire as to how Tarrell is doing is out of the question, as baby momma is far too busy networking and chasing down leads for those high paying techie jobs she and her family are accustomed to.
Opening up Tarrell’s books, helping him with his homework, and charting his progress is also out of the question, as doing that would insult Terrell, and the worst inner-city crime one can commit is disrepectin’ someone.
How is baby momma gonna know that Tarrell dun failed his grade? He only failed twice before, what’s the chances he’s gonna dun fail again? The chances aint dat good now, aint it?
I guess when Tarrell’s baby momma went to the parent-teacher interview, the teacher plain ole lied and said Tarrell was doing smashingly, instead of telling her that he was failing for a third time. And bad luck would strike again as Tarrell’s teacher was the only educator in America that went a full school year without informing the failing students parent/guardian that their kid was going to repeat again.
So I suppose this is the fault of the school system. No blame whatsoever can be put on the head of the parents.
None. Whatsoever.
Nada.
Zilch.
Zero.
June 21st, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Boy, that sure is true,Mayor! The failure of the child is a failure of the State, and their education system!
Here in MSC (morally superior Canada), our students NEVER fail, they pass on to the next grade, as OUR system recognizes the extreme harm to the self-esteem that can come from failure.
I have one small, really tiny, point,though, and I hope no one will think me cruel or unkind,BUT, FOR F***”S SAKE, CAN AMERICAN PERSONS-OF-COLOR PLEASE LEARN HOW TO SPELL THEIR KIDS NAMES, instead of the nonsensical perversions of Olde English favourites they currently use!
“Tarrel”! WTH is that?! “Tyrell”.
Loetisis Billingsley’s nephew is one of those failing students.
“It’s horrible because these kids were under the impression they were graduating, and they let them know at the last minute that they wasn’t,” Billingsley said.
“Loetisis”? Is that a corruption of “Letticia”?
“They told me that he was fine”. That may have been what the Reporter wrote down, but we’ve all seen and heard enough “ghetto-speak” to know she really said, “dey toe me he wuh fahn”.
A long, long time ago, Jesse Jackson told his people to cut the ghetto talk, and said, “how are you going to get a job if no one can understand you.”
Now, many can’t spell either, so now you can’t understand what they say or write.
President Obama, it’s time to wave the “hope and change” wand again, and make this problem go away.
btw, nowhere in the article does it mention the colour of the persons involved. This is just the kind of racist assumption our HRC’s are sworn to stamp out.
Who,Mayor, is the Mitchieville HRC Commissar? And am I in deep shit with him/her?
Maybe you’d better just delete this racist rant.
June 21st, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Now, dmorris, you should know that the reason American persons-of-non-white can’t spell their children’s names is because they can’t (or won’t) spell.
And that’s because spelling is racist. Just like math. And science.
And don’t even go NEAR history…..
June 22nd, 2009 at 8:17 am
Hmmm. I can see how despite fact that every other word out of little Tarrell’s mouth is “mother fucker” and that he can’t even spell his own name, his failing English three times would come as a surprise.
June 22nd, 2009 at 8:27 am
I’ve got a post coming up on education that will dovetail nicely with this.
June 22nd, 2009 at 8:30 am
There’s a principal that will being getting a promotion…
yes, that’s how it works in education.
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:56 am
Mrs Fish fled a career in public education 15 years ago and has never looked back. The promotion thing is right. We often joke that we’re in the wrong profession when we read stories like this. Besides weather forecasting, where else can you do a consistently lousy job, ruin people’s day, and still get regular promotions?
Take a look at who’s got the biggest shit eating grin.
June 22nd, 2009 at 12:59 pm
I buy the books to show children how to do math etc because I don’t trust the school system.
I mean in Ontario they brought in numeracy and marks fell! They don’t get rid of the numeracy program they dumb down the curriculum.
Now Manitoba is starting it too.
Better they fail him than have an automatic pass. How many parents go to parent teacher interviews? 2/3 of them in a year they want to be student led, in Winnipeg. So that they get to talk to you less, but we have their email, and the teachers know us.
June 22nd, 2009 at 4:07 pm
[...] EVEN AFTER OBAMA & AYERS blew that cool $106 mil on Chicago schools, one Chicago School Fails 60% Of Its Students …. [...]
June 22nd, 2009 at 5:02 pm
I looked up their ISAT scores, and that school has been failing for years. I didn’t compare it with the other schools in the district, but they are probably not much different. With only about 30-50% passing the state’s standards in reading and in math, in grades 3-8.
Low socio-economics does play a huge part; so does the teachers attitudes, but parent’s approach towards their kid’s education can help them overcome any obstacle, take for example Tyrell’s mother, her kid didn’t fail eighth grade by not passing one class.
She didn’t notice?
No, it’s easier being the victim.
98% of the teachers I work with have an excellent work ethic, enjoy children and teaching, and doing whatever it takes to help them learn.
We keep our sense of humor and ignore the other bs.