A blog or two earlier, I cited this quote:
"Despite the fact that nearly 80 percent of seniors state that they expect to graduate from a four-year college, only about one-third enroll in a four-year college within a year of high school graduation, and only 35 percent of those who enroll received a bachelor’s degree within six years." (The University of Chicago CPS College Study)
These statistics beg a question (thanks you Alli for having the nerve to voice it):
How much of this is the school system breakdown? How much of this is individual responsibility?
Recently this has been a huge topic of discussion in Chicago. One of our state senators has recently proposed a boycott of Chicago public schools for the first few days of school. He encouraged parents not to send their kids to school in order to bring attention to the disparity of funding between suburban Chicago and Chicago proper. You see schools in our state our funded by property taxes. The more the value of the property, the more funding for schools. In our neighborhoods we have an issue. Although property values of moderate, we often have more than 2 or 3 families living on each property due to subdivided renting. That means the property taxes don't adequately cover the finding needs of schools.
"Those urging the boycott cite the example that a Winnetka school receives about $17,000 for each student. A Chicago school gets about $10,000 for each child. Property taxes fund a large part of education – and taxes are higher in more affluent areas." (CBS2News)
How much does funding impact quality of education? How much money does your school get for each child and where does that money go? Is our senator right is the only way to push for more equal funding to boycott school? Is this a person issue or a systematic issue, or both? What do you think?
2 comments:
It seems to me like it's both, but it's way beyond both.
If schools don't have adequate funding, what can they do? And funding is extremely important to stay current with textbooks, technology, etc.
I don't know if boycotting school is the answer. Does it send the message, "Hey, if you're not happy with the system, don't go"?
Individual responsibility is a huge issue, but not the only one. Children are not raised in a vacuum and are impacted positively and negatively by family and community (woohoo for a Family Studies minor! lol).
Not for these reasons, but we're probably going to homeschool. But we are able to do so. We're educated, can *probably* afford curriculum, and live in an area with a very active homeschooling association.
:)
I'm not good with "movements" or "social action". I never have been...
So I don't know the first thing about raising a fist in the air and demanding "our rights". Because I'm naive and don't understand why anyone would treat someone unfairly, I don't understand why the powers that be don't say "oh look, this school system doesn't have appropriate funding" and then shuffle things around.
What I do know is that no one ever advanced toward their goals by blaming the system. I was disturbed by the stat that you posted. If these seniors (months away from graduating) have expectations of college...why aren't they attending? shed light on the subject for me.
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