Schools closing, teachers going on strikes, budget cuts. These are all headlines that have been surrounding the Chicago Public School System over the last few years and especially this past October. In 2013 Mayor Rahm Emanuel approved the largest school closure in Chicago history by closing 48 elementary schools and one high school. This massive school closing is still affecting Chicago residents today. Children are being forced to take longer walks to schools through bad neighborhoods. School closings that have heavily hit Chicago’s poorer neighborhoods the most. These kids are being deprived of the proper education that they deserve. Some of these overly populated schools have inadequate resources while a school down the road in a better
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I was a CPS student up until high school when I attended a catholic school in a neighboring suburb. I had to make the decision to deviate away from the CPS system because the high school that belonged to my district did not have a very high graduation rate and did not have the extracurricular activities that others schools offered. I know first hand how these Chicago children are being affected. Driving through the Southside of Chicago you see children walking home from school passing abandoned buildings that used to be schools. Buildings and areas that are now filled with crime. This is what we are exposing these children to by closing these schools a having budget cuts that force the schools to cut on after school activities. The city as a whole needs to stand up and support the school system. That is the only way in which these children will have the proper education to succeed and not fall in the cycle of crime and violence that they are surrounded by. We cannot let our communities take a step back and repeat history in which the ones that are better off have all the help and the poor are left to fight for themselves. We must help those who are in need and find a way to give them the necessities to receive a proper education. We cannot keep closing schools and sending kids to already heavily populated schools. We need to help these communities keep their schools open to make it easier for their kids get to school and want to be in
I was a CPS student up until high school when I attended a catholic school in a neighboring suburb. I had to make the decision to deviate away from the CPS system because the high school that belonged to my district did not have a very high graduation rate and did not have the extracurricular activities that others schools offered. I know first hand how these Chicago children are being affected. Driving through the Southside of Chicago you see children walking home from school passing abandoned buildings that used to be schools. Buildings and areas that are now filled with crime. This is what we are exposing these children to by closing these schools a having budget cuts that force the schools to cut on after school activities. The city as a whole needs to stand up and support the school system. That is the only way in which these children will have the proper education to succeed and not fall in the cycle of crime and violence that they are surrounded by. We cannot let our communities take a step back and repeat history in which the ones that are better off have all the help and the poor are left to fight for themselves. We must help those who are in need and find a way to give them the necessities to receive a proper education. We cannot keep closing schools and sending kids to already heavily populated schools. We need to help these communities keep their schools open to make it easier for their kids get to school and want to be in