What is wrong with this picture?
A high school student in Connecticut is suing the education department because she graduated from high school and could not read her diploma. She was chosen as a honor graduate and received a scholarship to the University of Connecticut, but she still cannot read.
In the state of Illinois, 80 schools in the Chicago area had zero students who passed the math proficiency test. Their answer to the problem? They are doing a study to consider redefining the word “proficiency”. It is like “what the definition of is is”.
“Research shows that students who lack basic math and reading skills are more likely to drop out of high school, and are less likely to go to college, they end up in jail at higher rates. They are more likely to be unemployed and end up on public assistance programs. They will make significantly less money than their peers who received quality educations. It also found that the areas with the highest rates of income mobility were those with the highest-quality schools, public or otherwise.”
When we look at the increased violence taking place in Chicago, the lack of opportunity has to be part of the problem. If you are a young person who cannot read properly or solve simple math problems, you have to feel depressed and frustrated. This leaves the door open to drugs and crime. This environment leads to a never-ending climate of failure. Just like here in Walterboro, parents are demanding their leaders to allow the money going to these poor performing schools to be used for tuition to charter schools or other better performing schools. So far progress has been slow or non-existent.
Noel Ison
