i’m disappointed in the people.
in our political leaders.
with my board colleagues.
and with the press for sure, for not telling the truth.
disappointed that people aren’t more up in arms,
angry that our school kids aren’t reading well.
why are we tolerating this?
why are we tolerating high percentages of kids reading and doing math below level?
look, i know it’s hard.
educating a child is hard.
running a school system is hard.
and we’ll struggle in the pursuit.
but we aren’t even trying.
in fact, we’re regressing.
illinois just lowered education standards.
to make it look like kids are doing better.
more importantly, to make politicians and unions look better.
but even with reduced standards, over 50% of our kids still aren’t reading at level.
i see people protesting everyday here in the city.
for any number of reasons.
spray painting ‘fuck this’ or ‘fuck that.’
but they don’t protest this.
they don’t protest this major societal failure.
they don’t protest this political failure.
why aren’t people up in arms over this?
why the hell aren’t PARENTS marching in the streets?
don’t they care?
we let money get in the way.
we let power get in the way.
we let political gamesmanship dictate.
we let historical narrative get in the way.
we let technology and social media get in the way.
the one thing we seem to not think about is the kids.
why are we not pushing them?
why are we not holding them accountable?
(we aren’t even holding teachers accountable anymore).
we should be raising standards.
not lowering them.
we should be stretching them.
we should be expecting more from them.
we should be teaching them to love learning.
we should be encouraging them to love reading.
we should be teaching them to think for themselves.
we should be encouraging creativity.
we should be encouraging exploration.
we should be exposing them to the bigger world.
instead we’re letting them off the hook.
we’re encouraging conformity.
we’re not opening their minds.
we’re making them live with hands tied behind their back.
we’re giving them excuses to not try.
we’re excusing misbehavior.
we’re excusing poor academic performance.
we’re excusing laziness.
we’re encouraging mediocrity.
illiteracy won’t be easy to fix.
nothing worthwhile ever is.
sadly, we don’t seem up for the challenge.
our political and union leaders don’t seem up to it.
or even interested in fixing it.
but most frustratingly, the people aren’t engaged on the issue.
and this vexes me.
(not the politicians and unions – they don’t want you engaged)
higher literacy rates would reduce crime.
would increase economic opportunity.
increase innovation.
strengthen communities.
strengthen families.
improve the political process.
encourage thoughtful debate.
reduce divisiveness.
increase creativity.
give people a voice.
spark joy and wonder.
why aren’t we doing something about it?
why don’t we care?
or holding anyone accountable?
those are the only things that make me wonder.
todd schnick 