Chicago School Boycott Troubles!
Chicago School Boycott!
The first day back to school in Chicago didn’t quite happen as usual.
Instead of heading into their center-city schools, 1400 African American students and their parents loaded buses to travel to the affluent, mostly white New Trier High School freshman campus in Northfield, and one other upscale school.
The purpose of Tuesday’s caravan, organized by Rev. James Meeks, was to protest inequities in Chicago public school funding.
Rev. Meeks, who is pastor of the South Side Salem Baptist megachurch, and a state senator, planned the protest for the first day of school to achieve maximum impact.
Parents are protesting the fact that inner-city schools don’t receive the same funding as more affluent, suburban schools. Also, they wanted to draw attention to the 50% drop-out rate in Chicago inner-city schools.
Chicago Mayor Daley accused Rev. Meeks, the event organizer, of using children as political pawns.
The students and their parents were warmly welcomed at the New Trier campus and the entire event appears to have been handled smoothly. Even so, the protest was mostly symbolic, as students need to have proof of residency in the district to attend classes there.
New Trier officials said an estimated 950 CPS students tried to register.
Rev. Meeks plans to take his protest to the lobbies of downtown businesses, to force the issue of the funding disparities among public schools onto the table. He was quoted as saying,
“We’ve seen the results of three decades of underfunding schools. We under-educated their grandparents, we under-educated their parents … enough is enough.”
The biggest immediate impact of the boycott, other than the disruption of first day classes, appears to be the $100,000 dollars, or so that Chicago schools may lose in state reimbursements.
Seem the parents of inner city school kids want their children to have a fair shot at education.
What do you think? Is a boycott the way to go?
Brennan
Filed under: Education News, Wacky Off-Topics
I think boycott is not a good way out. The school’s leaders should appreciate their student’s parent and ask them to discuss how to find a way out. With boycott, education is sacrificed anyway.
Dear love ely,
I agree with you 100%. This was obviously just a political stunt. There are much better ways to improve Chicago schools - and everywhere across the country - rather than “sacrificing education”.
Thank you for your comment,
Brennan