Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 9:30 AMBy: no hope Tuesday Morning News I work in what is probably known as one of the good schools. There is a magnet school in the building and several programs to choose from. The climate of the school is horrendous. The heavily connected principal seems to be threatened by any teacher who is intelligent, dedicated and commited to the learning of students, preferring to give her time and involvement to those who parrot her actions, discipline children through fear and who leave the moment school is over and don't do too much to fill their time during the time that school is in session. You can walk down the hall and find most teachers sitting at their desks, grading papers or on the computer, while the students sit silently at their seats doing worksheet type assignments. The gossip and one-upmanship of the staff is at such high levels that I am finally beginning to understand why the better teachers do not choose to share their time and knowledge with other staff members. There are a plethora of programs in place and on paper. The school seems like a vibrant and thriving community filled with innovative learning activity, but lift the veil just a bit and what is revealed is a school community that is barely hanging on at best, with uninterested teachers and an increasingly more angry student body. My disillusionment with teaching in the city of Chicago grows daily. I read the comments on some of the serious situations that face a large amount of the schools, and am saddened. I am also saddened deeply by the culture of passivity that appears to be invading all the schools.

Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 10:15 AMBy: ms g Tuesday Morning News OMG, the above post makes me so sad. And scared. And depressed.

Throughout this past year as I've done more and more research on CPS and just schools in general, I've come to the conclusion that your best bet is to educate your children yourself. I can't homeschool, but I can find books that challenge and make my daughter think--and I can discuss them with her. I can sign her up for theater camp to foster those talents. I can ask her to bring her math book home and google how to do the stuff I no longer remember how to do (ok, ok, never understood how to do).

Luckily for me, I only have one child, I have an educational background, and no real life of my own so that I can do this for my kid. Bless the rest of the kids enrolled in CPS schools...

On a completely different note, I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what the accompanying picture of the corn flake and the dime have to do with the Tuesday Morning News...am i missing something???

Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 12:11 PMBy: 1.04 Tuesday Morning News the cornflake is suppose to look like the state of Illinois
and is for sale on e-bay

Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 4:04 PMBy: Trix are for kids Tuesday Morning News Oh. I thought it was an example of what I could buy with my four percent raise after inflation.