[BLOG] The conditions/purpose of many inner-city schools.

[Saxtonite]

I found this when clicking links from international relations class. one link to another and here it is.

http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/0 ... y-schools/

[RedImperator]

The point about training menial workers is spot-on. If there were still assembly line jobs for those kids to take after they graduated, it might not even be that bad. But there aren't. We have a public school system designed in the late 19th century for a late 19th century economy, and most attempts at reform don't address that.

[Saxtonite]

The point about training menial workers is spot-on. If there were still assembly line jobs for those kids to take after they graduated, it might not even be that bad. But there aren't.

yeah, IIRC the Us Public Education system was based of the Prussian one wasn't it?

We have a public school system designed in the late 19th century for a late 19th century economy, and most attempts at reform don't address that.

it depends on the area I believe. There is an economic (and arguably racial) gap, some parts of the public school systems are doing better than others. As a personal example, at least from debate team performance there is a difference in some areas. For example, for me when I was in the Chicago Urban Debate League the leagues were divided up into two leagues; Single A and Double A. Single A tended to be the schools and the like on the North Side and the better/magnet schools, Double A tended to be South and West Side schools. Unless it was Mid-Season or City Championship debates we did not debate each other due to the gap in skill and resources, etc (when we did it was often a one-sided massacre and overwhelming defeat in favor of Single A). I was in AA and seeing how the Single A teams debated scared the shit out of me (well more like showed it would be hard; not surprised though), though I already knew they were that way (they had more team members, dedicated debate classes, more money for laptops and the like, a shitload of evidence tubs (containers full of printed evidence, news stuff, etc) and they flowed (spoke) their evidence much faster and better than double-A did showing more training and skills. And some of their 'hacks' of the purpose of debate/etc.

The article is focusing on the lower-income area schools in the South and West Side. The north side is different so it also depends on the region of the city and othe fsactors regarding the public school system so often its not just that.