Posted on 03/14/2008 7:12:51 AM PDT by raybbr
Public boarding schools where homeless children and those from troubled homes could find the safety and stability to learn are being pursued by Chicago Public Schools officials.
Under the plan, still in the nascent stages, the first pilot residential program could open as soon as fall 2009. District officials hope to launch as many as six such schools in the following years, including at least one that would operate as a year-round school.
The proposal puts Chicago at the forefront of urban school reform, as cities struggle to raise the academic achievement of students hampered by dysfunctional homes and other obstacles outside school.
Some districts, including Chicago, have looked for solutions from small schools to single-sex campuses. But residential schools are a bolder -- and far more expensive -- proposition. Long an option for the affluent, boarding schools are virtually unheard of for the disadvantaged.
Chicago Public Schools chief Arne Duncan said he does not want to be in the "parenting" business, but he worries that some homes and some neighborhoods are unsafe, making education an afterthought.
"Some children should not go home at night; some of them we need 24-7," he told the Tribune. "We want to serve children who are really not getting enough structure at home. There's a certain point where dad is in jail or has disappeared and mom is on crack ... where there isn't a stable grandmother, that child is being raised by the streets."
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Think of that? They will ALLOW children to go home....
I put that article you linked to in a thread.
Well, public schools are becoming nothing but junior penitentiaries anyway - this just makes it official.
Orphanages make a comeback as well they should. Parents are on drugs sleeping with multiple partners abdicating on thier obligations to their kids left and left, what other choice is there?
And creating a Public boarding school system where the taxpayers will pay for the full-time educating, feeding, clothing, housing and medical care of these children will a) solve the problem or b) expand the problem?
If "dad is in jail or has disappeared and mom is on crack", these kids ARE orphans.
We need to avoid a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction here. There are other things to consider.
First, it is probably true that the kids will be better educated by eliminating some of the dysfunctional aspects of their home lives.
Second, this is represents a profound and fundametal shift in thinking that the kids will do better if left at home. This argument is used to justify all sorts of welfare for the parents since cutting off welfare benefits would harm the children. That argument goes away.
Third, it takes away one of the principle defenses of the education community that they cannot be blamed for the lack of scholastic progress resulting from the dysfunctional families.
But, OTOH, I’m sure some will see this as a threat to the education of all children and not just those mentioned in the article.
The state owns you and yours. Get used to it.
Nothing, including and especially your children, can be removed from the influence of the state.
The state owns your paycheck. The state owns your property. The state owns the food you buy at the grocery store. The state owns your car. The state owns your job. The state owns your health.
You’re just paying rent.
Pedophiles and pervert teachers having access to children in school sleepovers. Fabulous.
What’s next..Libensborn??
They also keep them away from the drug, hip-hop and gang-banger culture so prevalent in most U.S. urban public schools.
Throw in the cost of a round-trip air fare, and these parents are spending less than $2000 per year per kid. I suspect the Chicago Public Schools are spending ten times that amount for a defective product.
Every government program grows by necessity. Already out there are those who believe that the state can do a better job of raising all children than can the parents.
This is a precursor to state-owned children farms where all children will be submitted by force of law.
Call it 'knee-jerk' if you like, but history has proved that there are no 'knee-jerk' reactions to new government programs ... there are just those who see the immediate implications and there are those who see the ultimate and logical conclusion.
“This is a precursor to state-owned children farms where all children will be submitted by force of law.”
The only way that could happen is after a complete and total abridgement of the Constitution. If that happens, these ‘farms’ might seem rather innoculous. After all, you’ll already be on another ‘educational farm’ especially tailored to your needs and you’ll be pre-occupied with other concerns rather than worrying about things like this.
A complete and total abridgement of our Constitution is well-underway. Our Founding Fathers would be shocked at what we tolerate in our nation: gun control, income taxes, federal spending in almost every arena, judicial activism and on and on and on...
It may seem drastic and I suppose it could be abused, but this is the only way to break the cycle of poverty and ignorance in inner cities.
Explain how puting children in the care of the state helps them out of poverty? I am at a loss to see it.
“A complete and total abridgement of our Constitution is well-underway.”
You’ll feel much better about that when your new prescriptions kick in.
These boarding schools seem to be a way of adressing those root causes, ie, dysfunctional families. I’m just not sure that those proposing these schools fully grasp the implications on the welfare system, etc.
Back in the days of my youth, when Mommy was a drug addicted prostitute, she wasn’t given welfare. She was allowed to go her own way and her children became wards of the state in strictly run orphanages where they were clothed, fed, properly educated, and installed with a spirit of discipline. These boarding schools are nothing more than the state orphanage revisited.
The old orphanages were run by nuns or people that cared genuinely about the future of these children. Can that be said about any govt. social worker today?
The orphanages existed at a time when society looked at the deadbeat parents with a kernel of truth. Now, every excuse is made for them and the children seem to be allowed to manipulate and game the system due to fears of racism, bigotry and political correctness.
How would this school, run by the same people that brought us the failing school, fare any better.
How would it NOT end up looking like a mini prison with gangs and political correctness disallowing true discipline?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.