Obscene Govt Meddling Proposed By Chicago Mayor Emmanuel In Graduating High School Students' Lives
If you pass your high school classes, you should get a diploma. Period.
However, in the Chicago Tribune, John Byrne, Juan Perez Jr. and Hal Dardick write that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to make Chicago public high school students show they have a plan for what they're doing after high school before they can get their diploma:
Emanuel's proposal would add one more big item to the graduation checklist for high school seniors: proof they've been accepted into college or the military, or a trade or a "gap-year" program. The requirement would also be satisfied if the student has a job or a job offer.The point, the mayor said, is to get Chicago Public Schools students in all parts of the city to stop seeing high school graduation as an ending and get them to consider what's next.
"Just like you do with your children, college, post-high school, that is what's expected," Emanuel said at a Wednesday morning news conference. "If you change expectations, it's not hard for kids to adapt."
A top CPS official also acknowledged, however, that every Chicago public high school graduate essentially already meets the new standard because graduation guarantees admittance to the City Colleges of Chicago community college system.
Assuming the idea wins approval from the Emanuel-controlled Chicago Board of Education, the new requirements would first affect the Class of 2020.
The legality of imposing this policy, of course, is being questioned:
There are also questions about how the policy could affect at-risk students in a system where only a fraction of high school graduates enroll and graduate from four-year institutions."I've been doing this for 20 years and I've never heard of anything like that," said Maria Ferguson, executive director of the Washington D.C.- based Center on Education Policy. "The question I would have for Mayor Emanuel is: 'Where did this come from? What informed your thinking to lead you to believe that this was a good plan of action for CPS?'"
But the biggest issue might be whether such a requirement is legal, Ferguson said. While schools often make a point of helping students apply to and enroll in colleges, requiring a plan in order to get a diploma is different.
Also, add another stumbling block to students' graduating -- fantastic idea!
This Chi Trib commenter gets it:
lakecountian
This sounds cliche but this is typical liberal democratic thinking. Control us from cradle to grave. A high school diploma is the result of studies in high school. It is not to be denied by what you might or might not do after you receive it. What give Rahm the RIGHT to with hold a diploma based on what your plans are later? This is the height of arrogance. HE SIMPLY HAS NO RIGHT WHATSOEVER TO DO THIS! That's the problem with people like him. He thinks he has control over human beings when in reality his job is to make sure the roads are safe, the water is turned on and the drain system works. He thinks he's a god.
These two get it, too:
edwardrburton1
Yep...Just another way to guarantee jobs, contracts, etc. to politically connected people, vendors, and others as (at a minimum) the City Colleges of Chicago become a de facto extension of CPS, with 'remedial classes' to pick up the slack of CPS' inadequacies...Oh...don't forget all those 'free' student aid/loan/grant dollars to fund it, too!!ejhickey1
Some words immediately come to mind. Forgery - of the letters of acceptance. Lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of placing another barrier to receiving a HS diploma. Maybe rahm's secret plan is to get more students to transfer out of CPS to other schools. Less students = fewer teachers needed = less money spent on education and less $ spent on pensions
Oh, and Wendy McElroy, whose iFeminists' site I saw the link on, writes:
This means the kids most in need of a high school degree -- the poor who have few options in a tight employment market -- will be deprived of the advantage of a high school diploma. What an asshole.
Sure, there's that community college note: "Graduation guarantees admittance to the City Colleges of Chicago community college system." But that could be removed. And regardless, it's just not okay or government's business to attach strings to graduation beyond doing the work to pass classes.
He should have put this requirement on the school Administrator's objective list for both Middle and High School.
Dumping it on kids who have no idea of what's out there, what their interests/abilities are, or even who is going to text them that afternoon? Typical.
Bob in Texas at April 8, 2017 3:44 AM
This is a ridiculous argument. You can require students to write a research paper about a random subject. I remember deciding between autism and euthanasia. Why not a research paper on your personal plan after high school?
This plan's options are pretty open. You can choose college, a job, or even a gap plan. The gap plan could include travel, volunfeering, or leisure. What else is there? Students aren't signing a contract to follow the plan, just thinking about the future.
We talked to our son about his future in middle school. Once he was focused on a plan, we no longer had to discipline him. We just asked him to think about his goal. Was his current behavior taking him towards his goal or away from it? What did he need to do to get closer to HIS goal? This was applicable to everything from bedtime, to his attitude, to cell phone use. Goal setting is a great technique.
As a special education teacher we interview students about their life plans after high school yearly starting at age 13. We ask stupid questions like "what kind of insurance will you get?" I don't know how you could possibly answer this until you find out what kind of jobs are available with your skill set. I guess it gives kids something to think about that they might not have ever considered. In the other hand, the plan asked for is extremely relevant and timely.
Jen at April 8, 2017 5:50 AM
Take your blinders off Jen. You EXPECT your car to run after a mechanic "fixes" it. You expect a surgeon to not screw up. BUT expect "school" to prepare students and "This is a ridiculous argument."
Hell, they don't even teach the kids how to read, comprehend, research, and discuss things. But a "research paper" is going to expose them to "what job do I want now, 5 years from now, and beyond?
Snort.
Bob in Texas at April 8, 2017 6:10 AM
We covered this one here (see April 5, 2017 4:19 PM), and Jen is a brilliant example of how these things happen.
I think the kids that most need to be thinking about their future are the ones without loving fathers in the house... There's no reason they'd think about the future when there's no example of a man making a life for them to look at.
To Jen, a loving mother with a loving father for her child (see "we" in the comment above), it seems like a minor chore for a politician to handle: Tell the kids to think about the future.
But Rahm Emmanuel is not those kids' Dad. He's a guy on a suit on TV sometimes, a name in the papers. Politicians, especially in Chicago, aren't known for their integrity, but they'll do what their constituencies want.
And then Amy will mock them for it.
A lot of people, especially on the left, want to assign masculinity's intimate functions to government wherever possible.
You don't have to think about it too much to see how that might fail.
Crid at April 8, 2017 6:21 AM
Because this isn't a research paper. It's not a school assignment or a project.
This represents unreasonable government intrusion into the personal lives of these students. We are supposed to teach them about their liberties (and responsibilities) as US citizens. Instead, the Chicago school system is preparing them for a constant and invasive government presence in their lives.
And your options are pretty limited in Emanuel's plan, not wide open at all. The plan gives you four distinct choices:
Note the demand for "proof."
This proposed plan has no self-directed gap year option, no independent travel option, and most especially, no leisure option. No "plans" to go to college in a year or two or to join the military at 21. Nope. Proof of already doing one of these four things must be presented in order to graduate.
What if you're going into the family business or planning to start your own business? Not covered in this plan. Volunteering for, say, the Peace Corps? Also not covered. You must take one of four government-approved paths; and 75% of these paths lead into more government supervision. In loco parentis indeed.
"We talked to our son about his future in middle school." The "We" and "our son" indicates the presence of an involved father in your example.
The references back to your son's goal setting suggest a middle class existence at a minimum. Not all kids outside the middle class are going to be goal-oriented enough for that technique to work. Nor are all kids going to grow up in an environment that facilitates, or at least, doesn't actively attempt to crush, the goals of the most vulnerable.
As Crid pointed out, the government is not a substitute father, no matter how much some try to make it into one. You can't insert a government committee into the father role when a man is not willing or able to fulfill it, no matter how you configure the intrusion.
I'd say it was a noble idea, but Rahm Emanuel is not noted for noble ideas, nor for a sophisticated understanding of complex issues. The only tool "Rahmbo" has is a hammer, so every problem he encounters is a nail to be beaten into submission.
The problem here is not a school system problem. It's the lack of involved fathers in children's lives. And no school requirement is going to fix that. Moynihan pointed this out in the '60s but there are still people who refuse to accept the truth.
Conan the Grammarian at April 8, 2017 7:51 AM
Crid made an interesting comment about this story the other day and it got me to thinking (dangerous, I know) - if the Mayor can require a plan before the diploma is delivered, can't Hizzoner also require a test to see if the school made good on their mission to actually edumacate the graduator/ee/er? And if they failed to impart the basics, then why would they be handing out a diploma anyway (rhetorical question)?
It's seems useless to have this requirement if the seniors can't read, f'rinstance, unless the plan is to die in a turf war over drug sales.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at April 8, 2017 9:19 AM
18-year-old citizens should have full civil rights
tmitsss at April 8, 2017 10:38 AM
As a general matter, when an organization is failing big-time at its primary mission, it does not make sense to give it expanded responsibilities and authority.
David Foster at April 8, 2017 10:44 AM
--- ---
Future News:
June 2020. Rahm Emanuel has dramatically improved the Chicago Public Schools through intelligent management and new thinking.
He took responsibility three years ago for a high school system where only 60% of graduates went on to work or college. Now, all have plans for a productive life when they graduate. The high schools are now teaching critical life skills rather than only dry and often useless theories.
We need such a leader to change the desperate course of our country. Mr. Emanuel should be our next President
--- ---
We not only have fake news, but fake statistics. Every future statement above will be correct, but carefully crafted to ignore other and more important measures of what will be happening.
Governments Left and Right always do this. The trick is to craft a statment which is true in detail with careful parsing, although it may mislead overall.
Rahm is indeed smart. He needs some good statistics and he is arranging to harvest them.
Andrew Garland at April 8, 2017 11:15 AM
"BUT expect "school" to prepare students and "This is a ridiculous argument."
Bob in Texas at April 8, 2017 6:10 AM
~~~~~~~~
The problem is, this proposed requirement just acts as another stick to threaten kids, not schools.
And it's too little too late, for the reasons Gog detailed above.
No kid in their right mind wants to stay in high school a moment longer than necessary, especially not if they're going to be left behind while their classmates go on to better things. Most kids at that age are also chomping at the bit (and lying and sneaking) to get out from under their parents' thumbs, which is developmentally appropriate.
If you want to serve kids, invite them to think about this in the first month of their freshman year. Partner with them to create a game plan to research their interests, and research possible paths to move forward with them. Create a research plan that has them interviewing people, doing research online, going to site visits, writing to people and reading about options in the city, in the US, and abroad. Have a check in every quarter. Make it a quarterly process for all four years.
If the school district is going to require students to present you with a meaningful plan as a requirement for graduation, then the onus is on the school district to teach and support kids in learning how to develop the planning, researching, and network building skills that make the planning process and the plan useful. Planning eventually gets down to identifying resources, including money and time. It prompts people to consider the nature and level of their investment.
A curriculum built around developing a plan could be an incredible learning tool, but as it is currently described it is meaningless and is one more punishment against kids for things that are not in their control and are outside of their native skills set in terms of neurological development (long term planning and rational weighing of risk/ benefit is skewed in the teen brain).
Michelle at April 8, 2017 11:22 AM
Look on the bright side. This will at least block a few of the least prepared students from going on to win "affirmative action" to good universities (which would be a complete waste of their own and everyone else's time, effort, and money, since they could not possibly graduate from there).
jdgalt at April 8, 2017 11:45 AM
That's insane. Hardly anybody knows what their plans will be at that age, ultimately. So what will happen is that plenty of kids will just make shit up to get the diploma.
mpetrie98 at April 8, 2017 12:01 PM
That's insane. Hardly anybody knows what their plans will be at that age, ultimately. So what will happen is that plenty of kids will just make shit up to get the diploma.
mpetrie98 at April 8, 2017 12:01 PM
But the upside is Emmanuel gets to hire a bureaucratic Army of checkers to sign off on student *plans*
A nice new group of Democratic voters on the public dole.
The biggest problem with this is that community and state colleges are so desperate for money a lot of kids enter college without a hs diploma. My daughter hated high schhol so much she did her last semester at the community college.
Once you have sucessfully entered college the high school diploma is meaningless.
Home schoolers have also completely muddied the credentialism waters.
Isab at April 8, 2017 12:53 PM
And what civil rights are 18-year-old citizens being denied?
Conan the Grammarian at April 8, 2017 2:20 PM
> But the upside is Emmanuel gets
> to hire a bureaucratic Army of
> checkers to sign off on
> student *plans*
>
> A nice new group of Democratic
> voters on the public dole.
☑ I think that's precisely correct.
In loathsome, insidious ways, the Commies won the Cold War.
Crid at April 8, 2017 4:31 PM
And, because these kids have had their life plans checked and approved by the government, they'll have been pre-conditioned for the eventual takeover of their lives by the government - and the continued meddling in their lives by the government until then.
Not all of these kids will succeed, not even the ones with a pre-approved plan. But since that plan has been approved by the government, will the government then be responsible for them when the plan fails? Keep in mind that the government will be taking care of them with your money.
Give these kids a decent education and a skill set and set them loose. They'll figure most of it out. And some adults will be available and willing to help them. But w're releasing kids from high school these days with an inadequate skill set and sub-par knowledge. No wonder people are coming up with plans for the government to manage their lives.
Problem is that government management of people's lives won't produce the engineers that put a man on the moon or the scientists that defeated polio, rubella, and measles.
Look at the Soviet Union. It managed every aspect of its citizens' lives and failed to consistently lead the world in science and technology despite spending a large portion of the country's GDP no science and technology. The USSR (and Russia) has 27 Nobel Prizes. The US has 363 while Germany has 106 and France has 68. The UK has 124 and even Poland has 23.
The Soviet economy was in shambles long before Reagan subjected it to a defense-spending stress test. That's despite the consumer section making up 66% of the Soviet economy.
Despite having one of the world's richest grain-producing regions under its control (the Ukraine), it could not feed its own population and had to import food. In 1979, 28% of Soviet agricultural production came from small plots, despite those plots comprising only 1% of the cultivated land.
Venezuela switched to a top-down managed society and is now, after only 11 years of socialism, incapable of feeding itself and barely capable of exploiting the massive oil deposits that should have made the county one of the wealthiest countries on earth.
Cuba had a European-level literacy rate before Castro implemented a top-down management of the economy and society. And it had one of the world's lowest child mortality rates by any measure. Today, its population is impoverished and illiterate. And the country only keeps its self-reported child mortality rate low by gaming the system.
Top-down management of an economy and a society does not work on a large scale. It has never worked. It will never work. We have decades of proof of this, yet we still have people advocating it, saying those who failed didn't do it right. As if somehow they have the secret to doing socialism "right."
Conan the Grammarian at April 9, 2017 10:28 AM
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