CHICAGO ABANDONS STUDENTS… ITS FUTURE

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Chicago – In a long history of mismanagement, Chicago bureaucrats have done nearly everything possible to destroy the most magnificent city in the mid-west. Now its future is on the chopping block.

“It’s for the children,” has been the mantra of the long line of tax raisers in Chicago’s recent history. But nothing about this Covid-19 work stoppage is for the children. The Chicago Teachers’ Union (CTU) continues to move the goal posts in their negotiations of returning to in-person learning for our students.

CTU is not building any consensus in its demands. Parents are angry and with good cause. These over-educated bureaucrats take issue with having to employ simultaneous instruction with their students both present and remote, yet this is what is expected of parents. Parents are required to do their own jobs while managing one or more children of varying ages, in varying curricula. Worse yet is when parents have to work in person and leave others to guide their students’ learning. The kids are the big losers in any of the scenarios you can imagine.

But take note of the use of the term “equity” in the demands of the CTU. Equity is the new buzzword of the left and its use in the demands of the CTU to return to work is dishonest and prophetic. “Equity,” as used here, has nothing to do with equality for all students. It is not a Constitutional demand such as equal rights for all. This “equity doesn’t seek to level the playing field; it seeks to even out the score.

Under current CTU demands, “it’s for some of the children.” The Chicago Public Schools system (CPS) has met the safety standards for all students and teachers in mitigating the unlikely spread of the novel coronavirus. However, all students can’t return to the classroom until rent is abated for the students of poverty. It sounds so noble. But it’s not noble; it’s extortion. This is not an issue to be negotiated as a lever of safety from Covid-19. This small item hidden in a list of plausible demands is no small item at all. This is reparations disguised as equality.

The policies of Chicago’s leadership have people fleeing the city in droves. But those are the people who can afford to leave but can’t afford the taxes. The unintended consequences of these policies are a higher percentage of those at or below the poverty level, a decimated middle-class, and the 1% that can afford the taxes.

CPS has been failing its students by every measure for too long. In its demands for “equity,” CTU is cultivating an entire generation of citizens ill-equipped to compete on the playing field at all.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is to be lauded for her tough talk, demanding teachers to return to work. But she has demonstrated little fortitude in dealing with the tough decisions. She is unlikely to stand up for Chicago’s most precious asset: its students, who are its future.