On November 6, 1987, then U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett was reported saying that Chicago’s public school system was the worst in the nation. Bennett had been invited to speak on the issue by an organization of business leaders called Chicago United. In the meeting Bennett was quoted saying “if it’s (CPS) not the last, I don’t know who is. There can’t be very many more cities that are worse. Chicago is pretty much it” (Banas). Following the meeting, publications released statements and articles containing the phrase “worst in the nation” and despite being misquoted, the phrase stuck. For days and weeks after the fact people continued to refer to Chicago as the worst public school system in the country. This title received criticism
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By the early 20th century schools were already becoming over crowed with the ratio of students to teachers growing every year. In 1900 there were 250,000 students in the public school system and by 1918 that number had grown to 400,000. During the great depression excessive borrowing to pay for necessary changes to schools and teachers salaries lead to fiscal problems. For the first three decades of the century the school board tried to keep up with the new reforming systems of other American cities while dealing with disputes between the Chicago Teachers Federation (CTF) and the corrupt political environment of the city. During his time as mayor, William Hale Thompson and his political allies appointed supporters to non-teaching positions in public schools in order to gain control over the system. This trend continued with his successors and caused teachers to become frustrated with the working conditions. The janitorial staff and clerks were protected against budget cuts while teachers suffered. During this time teachers began their long subsequent history of protesting budget cuts by the school board and bad working conditions. These political and administrative issues had a profound affect on conditions in the classrooms. Many teachers were still using rudimentary methods of teaching that were considered ineffective even by the standards of the time. …show more content…
In 1969, teachers went on strike for the first time, establishing the beginning of a period of unrest between teachers and the city government. The three largest, most influential strikes happened in the 80s during Harold Washington’s service as Mayor of Chicago. The first strike occurred in 1983 and lasted 15 school days. Teachers demanded a 10% raise but ended up settling for a 5% raise and a 2.5% bonus. In 1984 teachers went on strike for 10 days over frustration with salaries and a possible decrease in benefits. They ended up with a 4.5% increase in salary and a promise from the district that their benefits would not be affected by budget cuts. The last, and longest, strike of the decade occurred in September of 1987 at the peak of the school systems financial troubles. Teachers asked for a 15% raise that would be distributed in a period of 2 years. The school board was less cooperative than ever before because of the public’s growing dissatisfaction with the board’s weakness in previous disputes. The strike lasted 19 school days, which was an all-time high, and kept 430,000 children away from class school for 19 school days. Over the past decade the public had grown frustrated with the strikes that many believed had no real positive effect and plunged CPS into deep financial turmoil. People were especially
By the early 20th century schools were already becoming over crowed with the ratio of students to teachers growing every year. In 1900 there were 250,000 students in the public school system and by 1918 that number had grown to 400,000. During the great depression excessive borrowing to pay for necessary changes to schools and teachers salaries lead to fiscal problems. For the first three decades of the century the school board tried to keep up with the new reforming systems of other American cities while dealing with disputes between the Chicago Teachers Federation (CTF) and the corrupt political environment of the city. During his time as mayor, William Hale Thompson and his political allies appointed supporters to non-teaching positions in public schools in order to gain control over the system. This trend continued with his successors and caused teachers to become frustrated with the working conditions. The janitorial staff and clerks were protected against budget cuts while teachers suffered. During this time teachers began their long subsequent history of protesting budget cuts by the school board and bad working conditions. These political and administrative issues had a profound affect on conditions in the classrooms. Many teachers were still using rudimentary methods of teaching that were considered ineffective even by the standards of the time. …show more content…
In 1969, teachers went on strike for the first time, establishing the beginning of a period of unrest between teachers and the city government. The three largest, most influential strikes happened in the 80s during Harold Washington’s service as Mayor of Chicago. The first strike occurred in 1983 and lasted 15 school days. Teachers demanded a 10% raise but ended up settling for a 5% raise and a 2.5% bonus. In 1984 teachers went on strike for 10 days over frustration with salaries and a possible decrease in benefits. They ended up with a 4.5% increase in salary and a promise from the district that their benefits would not be affected by budget cuts. The last, and longest, strike of the decade occurred in September of 1987 at the peak of the school systems financial troubles. Teachers asked for a 15% raise that would be distributed in a period of 2 years. The school board was less cooperative than ever before because of the public’s growing dissatisfaction with the board’s weakness in previous disputes. The strike lasted 19 school days, which was an all-time high, and kept 430,000 children away from class school for 19 school days. Over the past decade the public had grown frustrated with the strikes that many believed had no real positive effect and plunged CPS into deep financial turmoil. People were especially