Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago has proposed that students will not be allowed to graduate from high school unless they can demonstrate their post-high school career plans, including college acceptance, a job or the military.
Since he has been unwilling to fund what is needed to help students succeed (small classes, a full curriculum, school libraries, etc.), it does seem unreasonable to require that students achieve success without a fully funded school experience.
Here is a modest proposal: Suppose he were to fund all public schools in Chicago to match the same resources and opportunities at his own children’s school (the University of Chicago Lab School)? Higher expectations won’t get you very far without the opportunity and resources to meet them.
We will keep an eye on this.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
That’s just ridiculous! What if a kid wants to take a year off to go tool around the US or hike through Europe for a year? It’s not the mayor’s job to tell kids how to live their lives. Please tell me this is fake news?
We all know how sure 17 and 18 year old kids are about their long-term plans and futures! Wonder if Rahm planned to ride coattails into a cushy one year investment banker gig to become independently wealth so that he could tell everyone else how to live? It gives me more than the heebie jeebies that he’s supposedly a Democrat.
Gee when I graduate, I want to be mayor of Chicago. Seems the requirements are minimal.
Joel,
Like the plan to be mayor. Like.
What about kids who are LDS (Mormon)? The boys often leave soon after high school graduation for two year missions. Will he accept that?
TOW, well, that’s a plan.
But not HIS plan.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education and commented:
Once again a politician poking their nose into something they shouldn’t be. He should be more worried about usable life skills like:
1. being able to wash their own clothes
2. cook a meal for themselves
3. fill out a job application correctly
4. How to open a bank account
5. How to write a resume
6. How to dress for an interview
7. How to iron clothes
and a many other day to day skills that are a necessities.
I like all of those suggestions, drext727.
In fact, we made sure that our kids had all those skills (as well as growing their own food and canning and preserving it, basic tool use to make repairs, and some basic care for their cars) before they left home.
To give the schools they went to credit, they did learn stuff about bank accounts, job applications, etc, from a couple of their teachers, as well. (And to put on a plug for 4-H, they learned a lot from there as well about growing their own food, including raising food animals.)
drext72i7 : I agree. I think all students should demonstrate their ability and proficiency in reading, writing and arithmetic skills, in addition to those non-academic skills you noted. Eg- ,For instance, how to calculate sales tax might be helpful and it cold also transfer over to discount sales specials in the real world. And they should know how to write a cover letter and resume that is grammatically correct and all of the words spelled properly. Since those skills would be the sort of skips that are useful to have for say when you have children and need to figure out how much over the confer meds to give them per the directions! The “3 ‘R’s” are still important skills to have in order to find meaningful employment. (Without them they most likely will end up in another cycle of generational poverty, on welfare, or worse yet, involved in the criminal justice system.)
Oh pls, drext 727 & Zorba, you are talking about skills to be learned at home! This is not what I’m expecting my kids to learn in K-12! In K-12 I’m looking for them to learn Eng, Math, Soc Stud, Science, Arts & Music!
Bethree5, You’re missing the point. My point is that if the “mayor” is going to require extra requirements to graduate, then let’s make them relevant and useful.
You are correct that those skills should be taught at home, but we all know that is not happening or they would not have to be part of the conversation. The structure of the family in this country is gone. Far too many homes are single parent homes in which that parent works 2 or 3 jobs to make ends meet and those skills are not being taught. (no this is not a blanket statement that all single parents are bad because they are not). It is just like many things that educators are being forced to teach because they are not being taught at home.
drext727, I agree. Parents should be doing most of this, and we did with our own kids, plus with the additional help of 4-H, but many kids are not lucky enough to learn essential living skills at home.
My kids, as I said, had a couple of teachers who did teach the kids about balancing checkbooks, comparison shopping for prices, how to write resumes, etc. Even, astoundingly, how to look at investments and calculate interest rates and returns (but then, they were in a gifted program, although this type of stuff should be available to all kids). And the high school they went to also required each student to take one vocational class in basic skills such as using tools, growing a garden, making things out of wood, etc. That was very useful, but the high school doesn’t require that any more.
If we limit the schools to just the academic subjects, along with the visual and performing arts, then what about all the business classes? The vo-tech classes? And the kids who need these skills?
If we stop all this nonsense about the standardized testing and all the “teaching to the test” time spent, there would be time to teach other skills, as well.
You are correct.
In Texas, about 15 years ago they got this bright idea that “all students” are going to college. With that idea came the infamous 4×4 degree plan. All students were required to have 4 year of ELA, 4 years of science, 4 years of math and 4 years of social studies. The end result was lots of dumbing down of the curriculum to get students through 4 years of math and science. We are in recovery mode now. We still have counselors that still think as if they 4×4 is in effect and try to force kids into 4 years of math and science when they don’t need it. The curriculum is still at the dumbed down level and I don’t see any recovery in the near future.
With the 4×4 came the elimination of many vocational courses. These are the same programs that kept many borderline students in school and helped them to graduate with some skills they could use after graduation.
What’s his plan for those who don’t graduate? Nevermind, I probably shouldn’t ask. Forced conscription or something, I’m guessing.
Good gosh this man is a liar. I listened to the interview. He starves the public schools, shuts them down and then talks about how great it is to have after school activities and how school doesn’t stop when the afternoon bell rings.
Reblogged this on BLOGGYWOCKY and commented:
Well, I propose that Chicago start electing mayors who are humane, care about public schools and all children, and don’t have their brains shoved up their nether regions.
Diane needs a like button: Like
Thanks, Joel.
But way, way too many of our politicians- local school boards, mayors, governors, and legislators, both state and national, have their heads where the sun does not shine.
And sadly, far too many of the voters keep re-electing these people. 😔
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Amen to that, Zorba! And, BTW, GregB, he is NOT a Democrat–he’s a DINO (Democrat in Name Only).
LOTS of these. Too many, in fact.
And that’s how Trump became prez.
DINO, Blue Dog Democrat, whatever you want to call him, you are right.
Way too many of them. 😟
Ohio’s political minions of the rich, did what Mayor 1% proposes. (Ohio’s Senate Education Committee Chair is, reportedly, the sister of the President of Gates-funded NCTQ.)
The wealthy always expect, to profit, by imposing performance standards, without regard to realistic achievement, and then, to exact punishment.
When Ohio’s plan backfired, as state board member, A.J. Wagner predicted it would, the state had to relax the standards.
It’s time to get rid of the rich and their minions.
It doesn’t seem like much of anything based on the article.
They just have to present “a plan”. He can’t require them to get a job or join the military.
Honestly, what it really seems like is Rahm Emanuel is running for something again 🙂
Yes, he is, Chiara–he’s running for mayor again.
What purpose could this possibly serve? This country gets more insane by the day!
I’m sorry- I was wrong. He IS actually requiring them to go to college, the military or a trade:
“That means that, in order to graduate, members of the Class of 2020 and beyond will have to present a letter of acceptance, either to a four-year college, a community college, the military, or a trade. Without a “post-high school education plan,” they won’t graduate.”
I love how people who spend their entire political careers bashing trade unions now all love training in skilled trades.
Labor unions train workers for skilled trades. That’s where the electricians and plumbers came from- labor union apprenticeships. If they want more electricians and plumbers they should stop decimating labor unions.
Too bad if a kid is like Steve Jobs who spent some time tinkering around with wires and computer components in garages, dropped out of college, got a clue about what could be done about those awful green pixels that made up grid-based lettering on a computer screen. The clue? He took a non-credit course in calligraphy–and so it is that you have a choice of proportional fonts in many styles on your computer.
I have a batch of these stories, and not all of them are about “famous” people. Rahm has been fed too many dumb ideas from Arne Duncan, Bill Gates with his compulsive insistence on “college and career” readiness beginning in Kindergarten.
It’s not the government’s job to proscribe 4 particular ways kids must proceed after high school (college, community college, vocauional training, or military) and demand that kids pick one or be denied their rightfully earned diplomas. This is a crazier extension of the high stskes testing plan imposed to make kids “career and college”ready. Or maybe craziest? What’s next–kids can’t graduate college without particular jobs?
I also see a set up to funnel kids to the military and into diploma mill/on line schools–perhaps run by former DOE employees or charter pals of Betsy’s or tech companies? It’s a bad proposal all around and offensive to progressives and conservatives both on grounds of government invasion into private life decisions.
It could be helpful if it were handled differently. There’s nothing wrong with making them come up with a plan. I didn’t get any guidance at all at that age and I could have used a plan. Voluntary. A plan that was not enforced with a draconian punishment.
But it’s ed reform so they went completely overboard with it, like they always do.
They seem to operate under the assumption that no one will ever do anything willingly- all things must be mandated with specific, punishing sanctions attached.
“There’s nothing wrong with making them come up with a plan.”
Yes there is. A diploma is a diploma. Is it earned, or isn’t it?
I don’t care whether you could have gotten better guidance at that age, needed a post-hs plan or didn’t. Immaterial.
I wonder if this denies students FAPE. I can not determine how this plan is appropriate for graduation. I guess the courts can decide.
Agree, Christine!
I think politicians need to unpoke their noses from serious matters like education and stick to whoring for corporations, which seems to be the only thing most of them are good at.
Maybe we need new requirements for mayors, and we should start with Chicago, a city with an out of control murder rate. For starters, mayors should have to represent all of the people in their city. Maybe when they want to close a public school, they have to put it up to a public vote which would reduce the amount of hijacking of democracy and its ugly cousin, corruption. Maybe we should be reducing the authority of corrupt elected officials that dance to the tune of corporations and billionaires.
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off-topic- The Badass teachers have an article at Truthout. Please give the piece some clicks and, add comments. They are working for all of us, students, communities, taxpayers, ,,,
Well this just dovetails rather nicely with a $54 Billion increase in Military spending and complaints from various quarters, including the Air Force about “critical personnel shortages.” Does anyone else here detect the beginnings of a plan to solve these shortages?
Ray–YES! Just recently, P.T. said that our soldiers are fighting harder than ever (not direct-quoting, here, ’cause I didn’t get to write it down, but it’s the gist of what he said). I remember (I was working on my computer w/the news on), because I jerked my head away toward the tv, & said “WHAT?!” Plus–looking at Prince/Blackwater & recent statements by Cheney (Halliburton), the Military-Industrial Complex is more than alive & well–it’s booming.
And will be further fed by the Education-Industrial Complex.
Either that or pipeline to privately-held prisons.
KA-CHING!!
Who enabled these political creatures to intrude on an institution they don’t even understand?
Who sanctioned their warped logic and their astounding ineptitude?
Who empowered them to supersede the professionalism of teachers and school leaders?
Who permitted these chief saboteurs of public schooling to become the new pedagogical messiahs?
Who anointed the clueless as the possessors of the lost Holy Grail of education?
Who among us lowly professionals long for such an enlightened epiphany … so that we, too, might see what only the genius can comprehend?
Who made these bumbling public sector magistrates lord and master over those who’ve spent lifetimes balancing the social, emotional, and academic well-being of children from all walks of life?
Who are these people? And why do we tolerate their madness?
Denis Ian
Q:
Who enabled these political creatures to intrude on an institution they don’t even understand?
The civic government set up the public schools, therefore, the political leaders are in control of the various public educational establishments in our nation.
Who sanctioned their warped logic and their astounding ineptitude?
These people, are only representing the citizens who elected them.
Who empowered them to supersede the professionalism of teachers and school leaders?
See answer 1. The political leaders who are in control of our public education departments, are empowered to run them. Even if they are not professional educators, and even if they have no children.
Who permitted these chief saboteurs of public schooling to become the new pedagogical messiahs?
See answer 1. Politicians run the school districts, the school boards, the state education departments, and the federal Department of Education.
Who anointed the clueless as the possessors of the lost Holy Grail of education?
See answer 1. The people who elected them.
Who among us lowly professionals long for such an enlightened epiphany … so that we, too, might see what only the genius can comprehend?
I pass.
Who made these bumbling public sector magistrates lord and master over those who’ve spent lifetimes balancing the social, emotional, and academic well-being of children from all walks of life?
See answer 1. The problem with a republican form of government, and having politicians in charge of education, is that you are stuck with them, until the next election.
Who are these people? And why do we tolerate their madness?
Our citizens have chosen to empower the politicians, to supervise the education departments/school boards. We tolerate these people, because we have chosen them.
‘Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…’
Winston S Churchill, 11 November 1947
If you are truly unhappy with the way that the politicians have run the education system in this nation, then you should consider supporting school choice, and vouchers. With school choice/vouchers, parents have the ability to select the school for their children, and not have to depend on the politicians.
If legislators intruded into medicine the way they intrude into education, we would all die much much sooner.
Diane, they already intrude upon medicine to a great extent. That’s why drugs cost so much, because the government refused to bargain with the drug companies for more reasonable drug prices (and this goes back to Medicare Part D, passed under Bush II) and why the insurance companies are still the main “providers” (if you can call it that) of our health care (or at least the main payers, except of course for our monthly payments to them, our deductibles and our co-pays, plus whatever the refuse to cover)- the politicians refused to even consider universal health care or anything like “Medicare for all.”
People are dying, and have died, because Obamacare was far from a perfect solution. Certainky better than what had gone before, and many more people are covered, but still not the best solution.
And it’s only going to get worse.
My suggestion? Don’t get sick. 😦
These politicians are bought & paid for by a cadre of wealthy business people who use their unaccountable dark money to advance personal agendas. Money buys hegemony over the rest of us. As Grover Nordquist once said “All we want is for someone to hold the pen.”
If tax dollars go to private schools like the one Trump attended, Charles will make the case that the public can intrude on the ineptitude of private schools, e.g. teaching that judges sign off on laws, that the vulnerable are suckers to be cheated and, that contributing to GDP is unnecessary- buy a politician enabling money to be taken from those who are productive i.e. Wall Street?
Charles’ thinking is hamstrung.
Q If legislators intruded into medicine the way they intrude into education, we would all die much much sooner. END Q
Amen. It is called “Obamacare”.
Charles, you really are deluded. “Obamacare” does not tell doctors how to practice their profession. Any more than Medicare, Medicaid or the most socialist medical system (and most popular), the V.A. You obviously don’t have the slightest clue about the Affordable Care Act.
Yes indeed, we are the folks who elected them. We the people can also enact legislation that reins in fed/ state power over ed policy, & brings it back down to the municipalities that pay the lion’s share of our districts’ cost of public ed. We don’t need to resort to bandaid policies like school choice, which siphon off publiced funds to provide dubious unmonitored privatized alternatives.
OMG, Rahm is totally out of touch. Ask him if he knew what he wanted to do right out of high school. Wonder who are the people PAYING RAHMBO to make these claims?
Rahm studied dance in college. He should have stayed with it
He’s certainly is dancing to a different tune!
To the tune of a devil.
His partners apparently dropped him on his head one too many times.
Actually, even before college, he was accomplished at ballet &, in fact, was offered a space in the Joffrey Ballet–as we all know, extremely prestigious.
And, right, Diane–he could have done all of us a huge favor by sticking with that. Like another politician I know who is an accomplished vocalist, & would have done far better to have pursued that as a career.
Can’t these people ever leave we, the people, alone, & let us vote for the people who will actually SERVE us (which is what legislators are SUPPOSED to do)?
BTW–just saw the tragic documentary “Newtown” (sigh–yes, it was on PBS), &, in a heartbreaking speech in January, 2013 (just a month after the school shooting), a parent of a deceased 1st Grader beseeches Congress to just do its job–which is, at the very least, “to protect those who elected you.” But, no, they couldn’t even do that by bucking the NRA lobby to restrict guns. And, in fact (& correct me if I’m wrong), doesn’t new federal legislation allow mentally ill persons to purchase guns?
Anyway, the message of your next post RE: WI elections is most assuredly a bright spot in all of this. Yes, WE can…& WE WILL.
If he studied dance, then I wonder if he could count to 8.
If he can count to 8 then he probably has a teacher to thank for it.
I’m sure he forgot all that.
Up to Denis Ian–it is, in such enormous part, the ghastly infusion of private & corporate money into elections, even local ones. I had to do some real research to uncover info. about candidates (ILL-Annoy had local elections yesterday)–their backgrounds & “mission” statements are easy to find, & can be hear at local candidate forums & debates, but voters also have to know who funded them. Nationally, we can blame Citizens United for this, but locally, it’s incumbent upon each one of us to dig up the Dark Money (& that’s why it’s called dark–sometimes, extremely hard to uncover). On all of the candidates I researched, I could only find a contribution source for two of them, one REALLY bad (an extreme right-wing PAC that’s underwritten other puppet candidates), & another questionable.
I voted for neither of them…nor did I vote for those lacking any info.
And, in that vein, many thanks to Diane for shining a light on the dark, & to all of you who comment & help inform our votes.
I wonder what he expects them to do if the local economy has fewer jobs than ‘qualified’ candidates. And in such a case, how is the individual expected to pay for post-secondary education? BTW, there is no reason to believe employers will get on board with the idea of hiring before the diploma is granted. Of course, if you can’t graduate without finding employment… Quite a conundrum.
The concentrated wealth of Gates and the Walton heirs, guarantees there won’t be enough jobs. Economist Picketty documented it.
Six Walton heirs have money equivalent to 40% of Americans combined and, their share is growing.
Not enoughjobs is correct. That is why some economists are not joking when the say that a guaranteed minimum income for everyone is one way to sustain “an economy.”
It’s heartening that some educated people make plans, with the future of the nation in mind, unlike college dropout, Bill Gates’s schemes, that enrich parasitic tech industry owners and Wall Streeters.
Conundrum, schmunundrum. This is just Rahm Emanuel shifting the blame onto his own K-12 CPS ed sys for the shameful lack of job opportunties for hs grads.
This is where 12th graders and their families get creative and create jobs for their children so they can graduate.
For instance, high school students can become indie authors and claim they are pursuing their passion to write or join a Network Marketing company as an associate and start selling Mary Kay, Tupperware, or supplements. Networking would also help. Using six or is it seven degrees of separation, families find someone who owns a business to sign off that the high school senior has a job waiting for them after they graduate even though there is no job.
Or, a family member of friend goes through the motion to get a fictitious name for a future planned business venture and then hires future high school graduates for these future jobs that will never happen. The fee to file for a business name isn’t that much. You fill out an application and then run ad ad in a local paper.
and start selling Mary Kay, Tupperware, or supplements.
…..or Amway products?
Laura, that comment made me laugh and laugh. (Considering that the DeVos fortune comes from Amway.)
Mr. Zorba thought that comment was hysterical, too. Kudos!
Amway is a pyramid scheme, and what DeVos, Trump, and a whole heck of a lot of states are doing to education amounts to a pyramid scheme, as well.
I don’t his plan is legally binding and it doesn’t seem to differ that far from the current system in place. (The students fill out a survey about their plans after high school and choose: Attend college or vocational school; Jon the military, enter the work force or none of the above.
Thanks for the laughs, Lloyd & Laura. I nearly fell off my chair!
I had some of those funny books that a teacher published with real test answers–real & funny. I also saw a Scantron where a student had penciled in all the circles so that the sheet read out, *&#@ this test–!(You all know what that first word was.) I should think our very clever CPS students could come up with some veeerrry imaginative “plans.”
e.g., “Well, I plan to follow the school-to-prison pipeline, in order to help the private prison owners (your friends) profit!” or “I plan to work for Pearson Publishing as a test scorer!”
Ooops–forgot the obvious–“I plan a career at Walmart, never receiving benefits & always receiving minimum wage!”
Oy!
What do all these billionaires and their enablers think will happen later on, after they have made their profits on the backs of students? What does Rahm think will happen to kids who do not have extensive “plans” post-high school? Will they be living under a bridge or in tent “cities”?
The more and more kids there are who are not served well by all this testing, all these requirements, etc, the fewer and fewer future citizens there will able be to afford anything more than the very basics (if that), and the less and less money the big companies will make as fewer people can afford to buy their products.
If they cannot find their empathy, at least maybe they should think about the future economic impacts, since they seem to be more interested in economic impacts than they are about the general welfare of all of us.