By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
Just a few sentences recently written by the Chicago Sun-Times shed light on why education in Chicago’s public schools fails so miserably. The paper described what was at stake in the Chicago Teachers’ union’s recent leadership election:
“The CTU election comes at a pivotal moment for education in Chicago, with schools still grappling with the effects of the pandemic, a mayoral election looming and the city’s first school board elections nearing. And it leaves teachers and support staff asking themselves a vital question: Should the union continue its role as a progressive force fighting for wider social justice issues inside and outside the classroom, or should it instead solely focus on classic teacher concerns such as pay, preparation time and pensions?”
So, it was a choice between more social justice activism vs. more pay and benefits. Student outcomes and welfare weren’t even part of the equation.
For sure, a teachers union is about teachers. We get that.
But after decades of getting everything they’ve wanted – to the point where Chicago teachers are now the highest paid of any big-district educators – we would hope the union would spare a thought for their members’ actual job: teaching children.
Instead, the union has used its state-granted powers to strike or walk out, most recently in 2012, 2016, 2019, 2021 and 2022.
It’s done everything it could to keep children trapped in remote learning during COVID and continued to demand mask wearing for students long after masking had been abandoned in a vast majority of districts nationwide.
The union has worked to eliminate any objective measures of educational achievement to hide the extent of their failures – most recently demanding the end of CPS’ School Quality Rating Policy.
And it has continued to celebrate meaningless numbers. For example, the fact that 84 percent of Chicago seniors graduated in 2021 despite only a quarter of those students meeting grade standards for English and math.
The union is more than happy to let tens of thousands of Chicago students leave school neither college nor career ready so long as the district’s topline numbers sound good.
Unfortunately, Chicago parents shouldn’t expect any changes from the CTU any time soon. The membership has already voted it wants to keep meddling in social justice causes.
Previous VP Stacy Davis Gates ended up getting elected president of the union last week with 56 percent of the vote, far more than the two other “reform” candidates on the ballot. Gates was the candidate of the Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators, or CORE caucus, which has been in power since 2010, when Karen Lewis co-founded the group. That means no change in attitude, focus or tactics.
CPS has already lost nearly 25 percent, or more than 100,000 students, since 2000. Expect even more families to flee as the CTU digs its heels in deeper.
Read more about the failures in Chicago education:
- Replace CTU leadership, but expect no changes until school choice is implemented in Chicago
- Chicago’s public schools are broken. It’s time to give parents school choice
- Why the Chicago Teachers Union Always Gets What It Wants
- Chicago teachers are paid some of the highest salaries of any big district in the nation. What do Chicago parents get in return?
- Give in to the most militant teachers union in the country and this is what you get: Another walkout
Appendix
Ted joined Tom Miller of WJPF to talk about Illinois’ highest-in-the-nation property taxes, why lawmakers don’t want to touch the tax’s cost drivers, just how much Illinoisans’ tax burden has grown over the decades, why Gov. Pritzker failed to meet his promise to reform property taxes, and more.
Ted joined Dan and Amy to talk about the free speech controversy brewing in Wilmette due to the city’s refusal to fly a religious freedom flag, the city’s left-wing excesses and the growing culture war, the latest money spent on the illegal immigrant crisis, and more.
Weekly crime statistics from the Chicago Police Department: Report through 4/14/2024.
Chicago Public Schools is failing its students in almost every way. What can be done to save the educational futures of Chicago’s children? Join Wirepoints’ Ted Dabrowski as he participates in an education roundtable discussion hosted by Seeking Educational Excellence (SEE).
Here is an article from 2013 by John Stossel on public education or the “Blob” as he calls it.
https://www.creators.com/read/john-stossel/03/13/the-blob-that-ate-children
What has changed from his perspective 9 years ago? He says that education costs have tripled since his college days probably around 1970 or so but without improving achievement.
I believe the ctu’s basic game plan for all the fake social justice bs is to use social justice arguments to get cps to commit to hiring more ctu members as school social workers, librarians, etc. And keep empty schools fully staffed.Which has worked for now even as schools continue to empty. Also, the taxpayer/ homeowner is never mentioned in any of thier phony upperincome socialist fantasy world for me /endless debt for thee on the taxpayers dime rhetoric
They also want to rid the system of well off families who they assume will leave the city and be replaced by singles or DINKS. The property taxes get paid either way but now more of the budget goes to lower income kids. Or at least that’s the theory among low iq simple minded communists. And it might work that way for a couple years. They always forget the part about makers vs takers though and eventually you run out of other people’s money.
Take a look at the chart above that compares black, Hispanic and white students’ ability to meet or exceed their respective grade levels for reading. If the CTU and its teachers are so hellbent on chasing social justice, why are they so neglectful of their students? Black and Hispanic students are woefully underprepared for life after high school compared to white students, whose numbers are also awful on their own. How is any of this acceptable? Why aren’t the social justice warriors inside and outside of the school system demanding justice? Look in the mirror, CTU!
Not all CTU members are onboard the crazy train. 30-40% didn’t even bother to vote in their own union election. Combine that number with the others that voted for the other two parties, and maybe one out of every three teachers certified Stacy as their leader.
Exactly right. It’s a TEACHERS union. Don’t forget it. It exists solely for the benefit of teachers and, of late, particularly for advancement of their radical social agenda. Children and education do not come into it at all. Repeat—children don’t come into it at all. Don’t forget it ! The good news is that students are leaving—being educated in either other school districts or private schools. Between ‘woke’ indoctrination and the inability/unwillingness to teach academic subjects, I cannot fathom why any parent would choose ‘government’ schools. I know very well that private education is not free or even cheap, but many private schools will work to find a… Read more »
What you are promoting here applies largely only to the largest school systems in the country, the ones who have regimentation for everything done within the schools. Where teachers are less shackled by such large bureaucratic managers to “follow the rules” things are more creatively done and with a far lesser attention to the liberal agenda of the left since the smaller communities in most such cases are not so heavily liberal as they are in the inner-city areas. Yet, you and many others state your point of view as if the liberal agena covers all school districts in this… Read more »
You’re correct that my perspective is jaundiced by my location near a big city like Chicago. That said, large blue cities have large student populations that are being indoctrinated. Makes a great argument for local control of school boards AND involved parents. One of the only good things to come out of the pandemic school lockdowns was parents seeing via Zoom exactly what was being taught.
And I also realize the availability of private schools can be an issue.
Some teachers and some districts will take essentially good ideas to bad extremes. I think most people like the concept of “inclusivity,” hoping to bring people of different backgrounds and belief systems toward a place where common goals can be amicably achieved. That’s the goal and probably most would say its a good goal. Now, how that’s implemented will vary teacher by teacher and school district by school district with some soft-selling it and other giving it the old hard-sell. Apparently you are talking about those who are into the hard-sell it approach; “its my way or the highway.” That… Read more »
https://www.the74million.org/article/analysis-powers-that-be-triumph-in-union-elections-in-nyc-chicago-and-ma/
Public employees shouldn’t be able to vote to unionized . The citizen should vote to see if we want to hire union workers or not.