Introduction
There are numerous schools in Chicago. The district of Chicago has approximately 435000 students and over 600 schools. With such a large number of students studying in Chicago schools, the fact still remains that unless and until a perfect educational program is chalked out, the chances of education being regarded as a “secondary status” cannot be ruled out. In simple words, the schools in Chicago have to be nurtured under a stringent educational regime. Regarded as the third largest school district in the United States, the CPS association has more than 400000 enrollments in a single year. There are a vast numbers of primary, secondary as well as disability schools in its confines. In fact, the schools in Chicago prove to be the second largest employer in the entire district. With special regards to preK-8, middle, secondary and elementary schools, there exists a stringent rule with regards to the attendance boundaries.
With regards to this rule, students are not allowed to enroll outside a given area. It is only the full magnet schools, such as the Gunsaulus Scholastic Academy, which are open to students from across the globe. The full magnet schools ensure that the chosen student meets the required academic criteria and are blessed with exceptional academic as well as co-curricular skills, to be eligible for an admission. The schools in Chicago also offer a variety of academic programs, such as, fine arts, math, agriculture, literature and Montessori. Likewise, the schools in Chicago are also blessed with nine regional gifted centers. It is important to note that having a residence near a magnet school does not ensure that your child would be eligible for an automatic admission. This is a major drawback.
Causes of Poor Educational Standards in the Chicago Public Schools
According to a research conducted in the year 2004, it was found that the schools in Chicago were way behind the national average, when it came to comparing the annual graduation rate. While poor sanitation, racism, health facilities and attitudes of the school authorities, have come across as the biggest hurdles in the overall development of the schools in Chicago, it has also been noticed that regional bias has a major role to play when it comes to assessing the deteriorating educational facilities in the district of Chicago. It has also been reported that six out of every hundred freshmen would earn a bachelor’s degree at the end of the year. This is when the applicant reaches the age of twenty five.
At the same time, when we compare the same ratio with black or Latin American residents, it would not be incorrect to state that the latest findings are alarming and not very good to look at. In accordance to the latest statistical data, only three out of every hundred black or Latin American students, would eventually emerge as valid degree holders by the time they turn twenty five years old. If we talk of the statistics, which included the tracking of high schools students in Chicago between the year 1998 and 1999, it would be a shock to notice that the average rate of earning a bachelor’s degree was pegged at an all time low of 35%. As compared to the national average of 64%, the rate of graduation in Chicago is way below the national average. The decline in the overall educational levels in Chicago Public Schools can be attributed to racial differences, callous attitude of the school authorities and ignorance on the part of parents.
There has often been a lengthy debate regarding the high dropout rate amongst the schools in Chicago. If we are to take a closer look at the data for the last 30 years, we would realize that almost half the students fail to earn a graduation degree. After the statistical data was revealed by the Chicago Tribune, there has been widespread criticism regarding the inflated figures that have been portrayed by the annual Chicago Public School Reports. The school records claims that the graduation levels in Chicago are as high as 71%, which is a blatant lie. One of the main reasons why they achieve such high figures is because they count school-swaps, which eventually drop out, as transfer cases, which in accordance to the educational law is an incorrect procedure. Nonetheless, with time, things did improve for the Chicago Public Schools, with the overall level of graduation rising from 48% in the year 1991 to almost 54% in the year 2004. While there have been widespread criticism regarding the deteriorating educational conditions in the Chicago Public Schools, people have failed to realize the main causes behind this phenomenon.
One of the basic reasons why the education in Chicago Public school has suffered and is considered way below the national average is because parents do not bother to even accompany their children to school. Likewise, parents often shy from picking their child’s report card on a regular basis. On seeing the deteriorating conditions, the school authorities started an ambitious campaign, wherein parents were asked to accompany their children on their first day at school. Surprisingly, the attendance rate rose from 92% the previous year to 92.8%, as per the general statistical data published on September 5, 2006.
In accordance to a recent study conducted by Allensworth (2005), who works as an associate director of the consortium, it was found that almost 54% of the freshmen, who joined Chicago High Schools, graduated in the year 2004. In the study, it was also found that the low rate of graduation was mainly because there was a lot of differences amongst races, the involvement of a particular batch of students in particular school and the callous attitude amongst schools belonging to different neighborhoods. It was also noticed that the graduation rates amongst girls were the highest. At the same time, it was also found that the graduation rates amongst the affluent families were much higher as compared to the less affluent ones. Likewise, the white neighborhoods which were situated in the northwest and southwest side, earned the highest levels of graduation rates (Allensworth, 2005),
Conclusion
According to Chicago Public Radio (2009), there have been reports from various eminent researches and educational analysts, who clearly stated that there was a fifty-fifty chance of individuals graduating from Chicago Public Schools. Regardless of the numerous academic-oriented programs and educational awareness lectures, the fact still remains that the level of education in Chicago has yet to see the light of the day. There have been problems on the part of the teachers as well. They consider the Chicago average as being far below the national standards and the skills of students are also considered deplorable in certain aspects. While the schools in Chicago largely attribute the deteriorating conditions to the lack of basic facilities in terms of infrastructural support, one of the main reasons that have been cited by almost all leading educationists, is the lack of awareness amongst students as well as their parents. Unless and until, students as well as their parents are not aware of their basic rights and the importance of a suitable degree on their lives ahead, the schools in Chicago would continue to suffer and would remain bogged under the mire of ignorance.