Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here

The recent actions of the people charged with the care of Chicago's public school students accentuate how dire the situation has become for that system.

First, there is Illinois state senator James Meeks and his traveling medicine show. Senator Reverend Meeks, or Reverend Senator Meeks, or both of him, took a bunch of students up to New Trier High School, supposedly to try to register them in order to draw attention to what RevSen believes is an inadequate funding system for the Chicago Public Schools. Congratulations to the New Trier community that received the uninvited guests without incident. Showboating RevSen Meeks chose to stage his self-serving stunt on the first scheduled day of school for those children who spent their day riding buses and being used as pawns in Meeks' absurd theatrical production. Part of the funding mechanism for the schools is based on days of school attended, so by driving the kids around instead of sending them to school where they belonged Meeks was actually working against his supposed mission of improving the financial support for the schools. This guy is squirrely.

The other grandstand play in the CPS is the announcement of the program by which students are going to get paid for grades. It's like the tooth fairy decided to get involved in the Chicago Public School system. There are qualifying conditions and partially deferred payments and it's tarted up to look like a corporate incentive program, but this pay for grades program is one of the most pathetic schemes that has ever been foisted upon the education system.

Ostensibly, this program has been introduced to encourage and reward students. Practically, the CPS gives the appearanance of having abandoned hope and decided instead to bribe students to do what students are supposed to do. Forget about learning, get kids focused on the grade. Because the payment amounts are based on grades, the pressure to earn grades is very likely to be turned into pressure to give grades, transferring the responsibililty from the student to the teacher.

Imagine the argument when the student finds that he or she has received a "C" instead of a "B". The discussion won't be about GPA, it will be about COD. Seeing Arne Duncan sporting a big foolish grin as he endorsed this program was a fitting punctuation mark.

The annointed "community leader" is driving kids around in buses and stealing their classroom time, while the man running the system is throwing cash at the them.

Johnny still can't read, but he got a nice ride up Lake Shore Drive, and some spending money to boot.