Waiting By The Mailbox
If you see anyone loitering around the mailbox over the next few days, it's probably an anxious Chicago parent (or chidl) waiting to find out if they got into a selective enrollment high school. The acceptance letters start going out today -- have you gotten yours? -- and make a big difference in kids lives. That is, assuming the gap between an SE and a regular CPS high school is as big as everyone says. In extreme cases, families whose kids don't get into an SE school will change neighborhoods, pony up the money for private or parochial or -- I've seen ads on this before -- pick up and move somewhere else. However, most parents can't afford to make such big changes, which means that the SE acceptance is a really big deal. I wonder if it's harder to get into a CPS magnet or a SE high school. Anyway. Mailboxes.
Digg
Del.icio.us
Fri Feb 22, 2008 at 1:39 PM
Waiting By The Mailbox
Saw interesting figures (accurate?) on www.selectiveprep.com that showed Jones had most apps per seat. ACT scores were listed. --- This system of se high schools is pitiful.
Fri Feb 22, 2008 at 3:21 PM
Waiting By The Mailbox
not sure which is easier to get into (HS or Magnet elementary), but I do know it is MUCH EASIER to get into college. what is wrong with this picture?
Fri Feb 22, 2008 at 4:02 PM
Waiting By The Mailbox
I don't think there are as many bad colleges as there are bad CPS grade and high schools. Parents and students are trying to find good schools in this city. This is not to slam the school folk who are trying their best with a bad situation, however.
Sat Feb 23, 2008 at 4:08 AM
Waiting By The Mailbox
If Chicago hadn't allowed Mayor Daley and Arne Duncan to sabotage the city's general high schools -- while massaging Yuppie angst and status pretensions for the past decade or more -- nobody would be talking about how many "bad" schools (especially high schools) there are. The general public high schools in Chicago have been the victims of a campaign of sabotage and disinformation for more than a decade, all of it a part of the Daley myth of the school turnaround "miracle."
The details of the sabotage are infinite, but they are also cumulative. This year, they began coming out to the public when Duncan cut dozens of teachers from the general high schools -- and nowhere else! -- in October! But every day and every month there are a hundred heartbreaking examples from the general high schools of being made to bake bricks without straw, while this overwhelming (and often racist) elitist attitude about THE DEADLINE has families in an uproar.
The day Chicago returns to the policy of promoting good public schools in every community and finally exposes how the Daley administration has been destroying the general high schools (and with them, in many cases, whole communities), that will be the day we begin to return to sanity.
Meanwhile, people should give it a rest. The teacher bashing and kid bashing that's done about Chicago's "bad" high schools should be directed against the men who have created them, orchestrated the campaigns of slander against them, continued those campaigns to the extreme by attacking and closing them. The number will reach six this year if Arne gets away with his latest two proposals -- Austin, Calumet, Collins, Englewood, Harper and the Orrses. Eleven years ago Ros Rossi wrote one of those breathless "turnaround" stories in the Sun-Times (featuring Fred Bates and "hearing officers" and the usual teacher who denounced her own colleagues to save her own job for a couple of more semesters during the show trials) about the "Reconstitution" of Englewood High School. Today, Englewood has been reconstituted, reengineered, interventioned, and now chartered and -- in half of it -- single sexed. Harper and the Orrses will be turnarounded. And if Ros Rossi is still around in ten years, we can read all the glowing propaganda about "turnaround" schools from today and return to find that the same schools have to be messed with again.
Once Chicago has separated its high school students into the minority of sheep and the majority who are the goats, the rest of this is inevitable. Instead of complaining about not being able to get your kid into a "good" high school, why not join those of us who worked for decades to force the city to take responsibility to repair the damage Chicago (and this society) has done to the general high schools.
No.
Instead, you cheerlead Arne Duncan every time he fires 60 or 70 teachers and sabotages Julian, Schurz, and Wells (where at least the kids protested) and a dozen other schools at the same time.
The details of the sabotage are infinite, but they are also cumulative. This year, they began coming out to the public when Duncan cut dozens of teachers from the general high schools -- and nowhere else! -- in October! But every day and every month there are a hundred heartbreaking examples from the general high schools of being made to bake bricks without straw, while this overwhelming (and often racist) elitist attitude about THE DEADLINE has families in an uproar.
The day Chicago returns to the policy of promoting good public schools in every community and finally exposes how the Daley administration has been destroying the general high schools (and with them, in many cases, whole communities), that will be the day we begin to return to sanity.
Meanwhile, people should give it a rest. The teacher bashing and kid bashing that's done about Chicago's "bad" high schools should be directed against the men who have created them, orchestrated the campaigns of slander against them, continued those campaigns to the extreme by attacking and closing them. The number will reach six this year if Arne gets away with his latest two proposals -- Austin, Calumet, Collins, Englewood, Harper and the Orrses. Eleven years ago Ros Rossi wrote one of those breathless "turnaround" stories in the Sun-Times (featuring Fred Bates and "hearing officers" and the usual teacher who denounced her own colleagues to save her own job for a couple of more semesters during the show trials) about the "Reconstitution" of Englewood High School. Today, Englewood has been reconstituted, reengineered, interventioned, and now chartered and -- in half of it -- single sexed. Harper and the Orrses will be turnarounded. And if Ros Rossi is still around in ten years, we can read all the glowing propaganda about "turnaround" schools from today and return to find that the same schools have to be messed with again.
Once Chicago has separated its high school students into the minority of sheep and the majority who are the goats, the rest of this is inevitable. Instead of complaining about not being able to get your kid into a "good" high school, why not join those of us who worked for decades to force the city to take responsibility to repair the damage Chicago (and this society) has done to the general high schools.
No.
Instead, you cheerlead Arne Duncan every time he fires 60 or 70 teachers and sabotages Julian, Schurz, and Wells (where at least the kids protested) and a dozen other schools at the same time.
Sat Feb 23, 2008 at 4:11 AM
Waiting By The Mailbox
"I don't think there are as many bad colleges as there are bad CPS grade and high schools..."
Just how do you know what's "bad" and what's other, options? Most of the "bad" general high schools in Chicago (as well as all the ones that have been closed by Arne Duncan since 2004 -- Austin, Calumet, Collins, Englewood, Harper, and Orr) have had one thing in common. Every one of them served a population that was 100 percent poor and 100 percent black.
Before we got the Daley miracle and management by Data Heads, we used to call those things segregation and racism.
Have you considered the possibility that you've been programmed to use the word "bad" when in fact you're seeing a result that was created to channel your thinking in a very ugly way?
Just how do you know what's "bad" and what's other, options? Most of the "bad" general high schools in Chicago (as well as all the ones that have been closed by Arne Duncan since 2004 -- Austin, Calumet, Collins, Englewood, Harper, and Orr) have had one thing in common. Every one of them served a population that was 100 percent poor and 100 percent black.
Before we got the Daley miracle and management by Data Heads, we used to call those things segregation and racism.
Have you considered the possibility that you've been programmed to use the word "bad" when in fact you're seeing a result that was created to channel your thinking in a very ugly way?
Sat Feb 23, 2008 at 7:50 AM
Waiting By The Mailbox
To CPS Parent: I do agree that the process to get into a magnet school is more difficult than getting into college. As a graduate of a magnet school, I remember getting up going to the admissions testing at all of the schools. Getting into college was much easier.
Sat Feb 23, 2008 at 11:36 AM
Waiting By The Mailbox
The problem is that there are many talented, high achieving students in Chicago and not enough seats to accomodate all the talent. I agree that the selective enrollment and magnet process is unnerving. I went through it last year for my son who is now in Kidergarten at a selective enrollment grammar school. I ran to the mailbox everyday after work. I dread going through it again, although it will be a while, I don't look forward to it!
Sat Feb 23, 2008 at 12:46 PM
Waiting By The Mailbox
Really, George, you've got to read more closely before you jump on your keyboard. I wasn't blaming the victims (the students and staff of "bad" schools). I lay that blame on the spineless backs of the school board members, Duncan, Daley, and those CPS staff who willingly sell Chicago students and teachers down the river. George, stop trashing your friends, and read more closely.
Sat Feb 23, 2008 at 12:49 PM
Waiting By The Mailbox
George: Do you really think you're the only person who sees racism and classism? Get a clue. Signed, an active supporter of excellent education in all neighborhoods for ALL
Mon Feb 25, 2008 at 6:24 AM
Waiting By The Mailbox
why not join those of us who worked for decades to force the city to take responsibility to repair the damage Chicago (and this society) has done to the general high schools.
Why assume that all of these concerned parents are not also working for meaningful change? The current situation is extremely unfair to ALL the city's children. As the parent of a selective enrollment high school grad, and also a teacher in a general high school, I do my best to support my students and make the best of a bad situation. I did the same as a CPS parent. True, that the choices were much more attractive for the latter, but in both instances, this is my job.
Why assume that all of these concerned parents are not also working for meaningful change? The current situation is extremely unfair to ALL the city's children. As the parent of a selective enrollment high school grad, and also a teacher in a general high school, I do my best to support my students and make the best of a bad situation. I did the same as a CPS parent. True, that the choices were much more attractive for the latter, but in both instances, this is my job.
Mon Feb 25, 2008 at 6:43 PM
Waiting By The Mailbox
A friend relayed to me last Saturday night that her daughter found out on the same day (last Friday) that she was accepted to St. Ignatius and not accepted to Walter Payton. So, I guess the season has begun...
I'm fascinated with the cooridination of these acceptance/non-acceptances processes as they play out across Chicagoland.
I can appreciate the ironic duality of the sadness from knowing thousands of 8th grader parents/guardians are not as engaged in this process as they should be, combined with the pride and exhaultation of others who are intensely excited over the outcomes.
I'm fascinated with the cooridination of these acceptance/non-acceptances processes as they play out across Chicagoland.
I can appreciate the ironic duality of the sadness from knowing thousands of 8th grader parents/guardians are not as engaged in this process as they should be, combined with the pride and exhaultation of others who are intensely excited over the outcomes.
Mon Feb 25, 2008 at 7:27 PM
Waiting By The Mailbox
Yess, because only those who hype and buy their way into private and magnet schools care about their children. Eveyone else is the great unwashed.
Do you read your sanctimonious, self-serving comments before you post them, or are you so completely out of touch with the problems of working class families?
God help us if you are an educator.
Do you read your sanctimonious, self-serving comments before you post them, or are you so completely out of touch with the problems of working class families?
God help us if you are an educator.
By using this service you agree not to post material that is obscene, harassing, defamatory, or otherwise objectionable. District 299 reserves the right to delete or move any material that it deems to be in violation of this rule, and to ban anyone who violates this rule. Reader comments are limited to 500 words.
