U.S. Department of Education: 79% of Chicago 8th Graders Not Proficient in Reading

Shouldn't really upset anyone.

Most everyone is barely literate.

Consider papers like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal (the papers idiots who play smart like to claim to read) are written at 6th-8th grade levels.

When "high brow" is junior high what does that say about both that 79% illiterate and those who would label them so?

My conclusion: everyone is stupid as #.

reply to post by xuenchen


Well, thank God that they have such strict gun laws, as who knows what would happen when the illiterate try to purchase a firearm and mass amounts of money and time are poured into it.


Is anyone really surprised about the education standards in that cesspool?

reply to post by Indigo5


Good thing they have the teachers union and Department of Education to assist those students.

Oh wait, forgot. Those are there just to keep teachers in a job, at the expense of the student.

Public Schooling = Assembly Line-Like Teacher mentality
Not that smart, bad teaching skills and always wants more money despite huge vacation times.

This is a perfect example why they should abolish the public school system

Now with that said, I realize not every kid has parents, but where are the parents?
If my kid had reading problems I damn sure would know about it and I would help him/her.

Most likely everyone in this thread will blame politicians, but they are not to blame when the solution is to exclude them.

I feel this is a really complicated subject. I'm from Texas, and most teachers here are not paid very well. I have two cousins who teach in the same city, one in a wealthy school district, and the other in a poor school district. The one that works at the wealthier school district used to teach ESL at a poor school district, and she makes much more money at the wealthy school district. She has identified parental involvement as a huge factor as to why the children in the poor school district struggle so much. She has actually had to purchase supplies from both districts from her own funds, but that is another story.

Both of their jobs are dependent on results of the students test scores, so guess which one worries more about job security?

I just watched a video on abc on comparing public schools to charter schools in Chicago, and it was very interesting. The success rate for these children is so much better than the public school. The charter school teachers are paid bonuses for their children's success, and I can see how this would work well. The other differences though, are just as important. Differences such as fostering a sense of competition between students for academic achievement. Another HUGE factor, is that the teachers are not union. Their salary and bonuses are solely dependent on student acheivement, they can be fired for lackluster performance.

Charter schools are supposed to be open to any student. I wonder about the parents that go out of their way to send their children to a charter school, perhaps they are more worried about their children's education? Obviously the students are more motivated.

I think the whole public school culture in Chicago needs to change from the ground up, and it is about a lot more than higher salary for teachers, since this obviously is not working for them.

After a quick once-over on the latest census demographics for Chicago I can see nothing indicating a connection to income, race or other data. There seems to be no combination of census data that comes close to indicating that 79% of of the population is causing the problem. That seems to support the idea it is a problem with in the public school system.

79 percent success rate is no accident. That number is so high, it indicates, very clearly, an effort to make sure about 25 percent can read. Folks think that this is happening by accident, a number that high shows fortitude, effort and success at the given goal - no education of the masses.