The Fallacy of School Competition

Yesterdays front page lead in the Chicago Sun Times was a piece entitled 'City's great elite-school race.' And there's plenty of proof that there is a race, to be sure, more like a sprint, to get into the elite magnet schools and selective-enrollment schools in the city of Chicago.

I understand that parents want to have their children get the best education possible but the process of going through that is simply ridiculous on a number of counts.

For one, parents complain about the rules changing from year to year regarding admissions. That, in and of itself, would be a daunting task to keep up with. Worse yet is the fact that people are hoping against hope that they can get their son or daughter into one of the elite schools. Last year 13,065 teeens took a test for 2,942 seats at the selective-enrollment high schools. For elementary schools the scenario was much the same. 10,050 students applied for just 1,787 seats. The above situation holds true for enrolling in magnet schools.

Most damaging of all are the effects of this overly heated competition to get into selective and magnet schools. As therapist Christine Whitley noted, "most people are feeling overwhelmed." Misty Lake and her husband, who live in the Austin neighborhood, commented that "this is just such a ridiculous process." In their case they have been going to CPS programs since their daughter was 18 months old, "trying to make sure they knew everything before applying for kindergarten."

This is simply crazy! Sure parents want their children to attend excellent schools and to not have to attend less than adequate neighborhood schools. The cure isn't more frenzy of this type, the solution is to upgrade neighborhood schools in need of assistance.

Let's be frank, the vast majority of magnet and selective schools have many exellent students, siphoning-off those children from neighborhood schools. The fix can't be more siphoning, it has to be finding all sorts of ways to 'lift up' neighborhood schools. That process will be long and hard but it has to be done otherwise we will simply continue to have a school competition race that essentially boils down to the 'haves and have nots.' And that is something no American should tolerate.

Thanks,
Dick