Chicago parents are fed up with the shoddy education many of their kids are receiving in Chicago Public Schools and they’re no longer being silent.
As a part of the DoneWaiting.org coalition – a collection of hundreds of organizations that joined together after the release of the unflinching documentary film “Waiting for ‘Superman,’” parents protested outside the school board meeting last week.
Parents are fed up with the ineffective teachers, violence and adult-first attitude that is pervasive in many public schools. But instead of demanding more money be spent, they’ll calling for options. Instead of fixing it with money, they want out alltogether.
Father Michael Pfleger, who, as a Barack Obama ally, gained notoriety during the last presidential election for saying some eyebrow-raising defenses of Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan, is leading the call for parental choice.
This shows this is an issue that cuts across partisan and ideological divides.
Many public schools are black holes in communities across America. They suck incredible amounts of money from tax-payers wallets and produce astoundingly bad results.
Some actually graduate children that cannot read the very diploma they receive at the commencement ceremony. Imagine how productive that person will be in today’s society.
Parents are standing up to fight back in Chicago and communities across America. The question will be if the adults – union leaders, teachers, administrators and politicians – will put their interests ahead of the parents and keep kids trapped in bad schools, furthering America’s race to mediocrity.