When tragedy strikes, we are often at a loss to explain the whys of the violence that cuts lives shorts and strips families of their loved ones. But in the case of the 36 Chicago Public Schools students who have succumbed to violence, so far, this school
When tragedy strikes, we are often at a loss to explain the whys of the violence that cuts lives shorts and strips families of their loved ones. But in the case of the 36 Chicago Public Schools students who have succumbed to violence, so far, this school year, the whys are clear, and they all start with the lack of opportunity and access to a quality education and to jobs.
In recent weeks, two groundbreaking reports substantiate what education and youth advocates have been saying for years – that when young people are denied a quality education and job opportunities are scarce, violence is a byproduct. One report, “Left Behind in America: The Nation’s Dropout Crisis” jointly released by Northeastern University in Boston and the Alternative Schools Network revealed that a startling 6.2 million largely African-American and Latino youth dropped out of school in 2007. Nearly 250,000 of them come from Illinois. The report was released in early May at a forum co-sponsored by the Chicago Urban League in Washington, D.C., to announce support for a proposed $2 billion annual federal incentive grant program to re-enroll 480,000 high school dropouts per year.
We cannot be satisfied with simply writing off 6.2 million young people. Re-enrolling high-school dropouts is an urgent need and would be a good start toward repairing the damage that has been done in our public schools. But I believe lasting solutions have to go beyond graduation to connect young people with employable skills and jobs. Congress has the opportunity right now to rewrite two important pieces of legislation – the No Child Left Behind Act and the Workforce Investment Act – to achieve these goals.
Currently, the sole measurement of a school’s success under NCLB is testing and nothing else. In order to measure a school’s true success, you have to look at other factors such as the student- counselor ratio. Currently, in CPS schools, the rate is about 400 students to every one counselor. We have to initiate longer school days and cutting-edge, after-school programs through the community – and faith-based organizations that will hold youths’ attention. Then, we have to complete the equation by restoring incentives and training dollars under WIA, which currently de-incentivizes job training and makes it instead the last resort.
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