A high school student wrote this letter to Mark NAISON of the BATS, who sent it to me:
Mr Naison:
Hello, my name is Madeline Clapier. I am a senior at Constitution High School which is a school in Philadelphia that focuses on law and history. Currently, we as a school are facing massive budget cuts and our student government is attempting to rally against the cuts. We have put together seven points that we believe are necessary to the “efficient education” due to us by the state constitution. I’m reaching out to you because you have been apart of working for the restoration of schools. I would like to know how to effectively rally for the education we believe is necessary for the future of our city. So, if you have any tips on how we should go forward with our mission that would be greatly appreciated.
Our seven expectations for our city’s schools are attached.
Thank you,
Madeline Clapier
Expectations for Philadelphia Public Schools
“The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth.” -PA Constitution
A counselor should be a reality for all Philadelphia School District students. The counselors should be around for all school days, not just once or twice a month. They are necessary for not only emotional support, but a plethora of other things including (but not limited to) college help, peer mediation, working papers, SAT/ACT waivers, and college recommendations.
We should not be dealing with class sizes where students have to share desks or bring in chairs. It should not be a daily dilemma to find a seat in any classroom. Each and every classroom should be able to fit the expected amount of students and that number should not exceed 33 students.
If a school is a college prep school then students should be able to choose SAT prep classes or other college prep classes to help prepare the student body for their future. Likewise if the school is advertised as a science, history, or art school they should be able to afford their equipment.
After school activities are something that each college looks for on any application. They teach students to critically think, work together and much more.
There is something sickening about the fact that there is not a nurse in every school. It is very clear that students are only expected to get sick on certain days. What about the other days of the week?
Electives are an essential piece of every high school experience. Students should be given the opportunity to pick and choose some things that interest them. This way students have the classes like Spanish and Art History that colleges expect them to have learned.
Most of all we believe the state of Pennsylvania and the School District of Philadelphia need to follow their social responsibility of creating a proper learning environment for Philadelphia students.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
If only the people controlling education were as thoughtful or eloquent as this student, the world would be a far better place.
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See this video about the struggle being waged in Philadelphia.
Our Schools Are Not For Sale.
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Treat yourself to viewing this brief video featuring more Philly students and teachers. Share this video widely beyond Philadelphia because it speaks to the hopes and dreams we all share and the startling “missing link” in the vision of so called education reformers.
To Madeline Clapier,
Please contact me at
eduffeybernt@gmail.com
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“because you have been apart of working for the restoration of schools”
“Restoration of schools” is a wonderful phrase. Good for her. We should use it. It’s a positive counter to the dreadful, overused and (now) devoid of meaning “reform”, or should I say “the r word”:
“The tour is not branded as an education reform effort.”
I bet it isn’t. They’re re-branding reform 🙂
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/18/education-reform-mayors_n_4119868.html
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Good God! Whatever this wonderful young woman lists as needed, is exactly what they now go without. Some of us have seen this repeatedly over the last 40 years in high-poverty classrooms.
Kids doubling up in chairs, at desks, on textbooks or at computer screens, no maps and microscopes that don’t work properly or no lab equipment to accompany the prescribed investigations, foreign languages scrubbed because these youth are going nowhere that will ever require multi-language facility, dirty facility due to insufficient custodian staffing, unsanitary restroom conditions, restricted library access, media lab eliminated, nutritious breakfast and lunch program a bad joke. Really? We are willing to tolerate this in 2014 anywhere in the USA? Have we lost our minds?
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“SQUARE FEET
Philadelphia Schools See Cash in Old Classrooms”
NYT November 11, 2013
Today a big business story on all the money to be made from the Shuttered Philadelphia School Real Estate.
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Basic decency and common sense are what this very wise student calls for in schools. You would think basic school and human needs would be satisfied before we spend billions and billions on corporate nonsense. Shame on leaders who put profit, politics and power before caring for students.
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http://hechingerreport.org/content/in-memphis-city-schools-have-become-a-crucible-for-controversial-change_13650/
I wasn’t aware that reformers in Memphis are actually replacing public schools with charters. The charters “inherit” all of the children who formerly attended the public school.
Doesn’t this fly in the face of what we’re told over and over by these folks? That they aren’t set on replacing public schools with a private system? How can they possibly spin this as not replacing public schools?
I’d love to get a look at the contracts. A lot of the charter operators are out of California. Do the private operators gain ownership or control of the public asset (the property and facility)? The marketers insist the schools are “non profit” but of course “non profit” is meaningless if the school is completely controlled by a for-profit. It’s semantics and a tax status.
Memphis is like the New Orleans take-over on steroids. The public schools just disappear completely.
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Do the for-profit management companies of non-profit charters adopt the tax status of the non-profit charter?
In other words, do for-profit charter management companies pay taxes?
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He makes valid points. No wonder students are not college ready, the schools are not offering the coursework and support they need to provide the background necessary for success. He didn’t mention the school library – I hope that is not an additional need.
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Not only did I teach school in Philadelphia for 31 years, but I went to the Philadelphia schools as a student. I am 65 yrs old now.When I was in elementary school, aside from our regular classroom schedule, each elementary school had an orchestra and the orchestra teacher gave lessons. I played the violin and my sister played the viola. We had a nurse every day and once a year she gave each child an eye exam.This was important to pick out the children who might have had trouble reading or seeing the board. In high school I went to The Phila High school for girls where I received a solid classical education, the kind of education my friends’ son gets now in a private school where she pays close to 16,000 a year. When I ask him what he is doing in English or history class, it is the same thing we learned in Girls High. Now we get to the good part. In the ’60’s, Phila. had one of the best music programs in the country. We didn’t know it then, but it was a rarity. Each high school had a band, an orchestra and a choir. The choir always sang music in 4 parts or more (hardly anyone is doing it now) except the high school for the performing arts. Singing in the choir was my thing, but I also had a chance to take harp lessons. Every Saturday morning we had All City Choir rehearsals. I would say thaw hundred or more students came to rehearsal every week and didn’t dare miss it. The music repertoire that we sang was extraordinary. We sang the beginning part of Mahler’s 2nd symphony on the stage of the Academy of Music. We sang the last act of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger with the Philadelphia orchestra. My high school music teacher sang the tenor part because he was also an opera singer Some of the kids in the All City band and orchestra also had a chance to play some of those parts. Each year every high school would participate in a music festival where each high school choir would sing. And every choir was extraordinary, singing from a vast classical repertoire. There was also a band and orchestra festival each year with participants from each high school. I became a music teacher probably because of the incredible music program then. My good friend went on to get her Phd in musicology and became the head of the music department of of a college. One of my friends in choir worked as music director for Duke Ellington. A girl in all city choir went on to make a movie in France about an opera singer. Another guy went on to become a concert pianist and a good friend played in an orchestra. This, all because of the extraordinary music program in the Phila. schools in the ’60’s.
Need I say more?
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Wonderful post, Judy!
Thank you.
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Ang: I second that!
🙂
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I’m sorry, Madeline, I should have said “she”. I just wondered how the suburban schools stacked up against the city schools. This is not how a school system should be run. Common Core is just a side issue – fix the basics first.
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“Common Core is just a side issue. . . ”
NO, it’s not “just a side issue”. It’s a big part of the push to “quantify” the the teaching and learning process that is not amenable to being quantified. The word “standard” implies measurement. See Noel Wilson’s Chapter 9 “Instrumentation” found at “Educational Standards and the Problem of Error” found at: http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/577/700
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The term “standard” also means about average and found to be that after many repetitions. Our deep-fried concern for “quantifying”, and the repetitive nature of teaching for testing has brought us to a low standard that views human learners as only scores, lists, and charts. Certainly the students of Philadelphia and Everywhere USA deserve to be respected as learners, contributors, and caregivers of the future of our society. I taught outside of Philadelphia for years. We need to demand for an education that counts for much more- one that builds the dignity of all humankind.
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“. . . one that builds the dignity of all humankind.”
Perhaps like Paolo Freire envisioned, eh!
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Now it is mandatory for education to be provided until the age of sixteen, with parents consent. The sources for financing free public education are not as clearly defined. We are being led down a conversion path, to socialist medical benefits, as in England. Will our education system follow a parallel path? Will our students be treated with the same English restraints? Will they be told education is only available, after the age of thirteen, if they pass exams? We are witnessing the deliberate separation of social classes.Those who know history, know the dangers a country faces,when having low numbers of educated citizens. When dictators plan to take over a country, they mass kill anyone who has enough education to make a clear case in court, or an empatheic plea to another country for aid.
It has long been predicted that the United States will allow itself to be taken over without a war, because its values are easily altered, by corruption and propaganda. In what direction are we headed? How are we investing in our strengths? Are the scientists and mathematicians the ones who will defend us, when it is time? Are the big businesses our protectors, or are we returning to the morals of Scrooge’s era?
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Madeline,
You make us all proud as you continually exemplify one the three themes of Constitution High School, that is, ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP. The others are KNOWLEDGE OF HISTORY and DEMOCRATIC DELIBERATION.
For additional information about our school consult:
http://www.philasd.org/schools/constitutiion
Thomas Davidson, Principal
Constitution High School
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Once again your heart breaks as you read Madeline’s piece. It breaks with pride in the accomplishment and passion of this student and it breaks in hurt that our students have to enter this historic moment in time as catalysts of change. The adults in her neighborhood, her school and beyond need to take heed from her passion. We cannot sit by and watch, we must get involved in being part of real change. We the adults in every Madeline’s life need to defend our students while working for real public school restoration. Chiara is right….we can no longer use the other “R” word.
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