Month: March 2016

A Walk-Out Isn’t Going to Help the Kids and Families in Chicago Public Schools

It’s Election Day in Illinois; the greatest emblem of participation in our democracy and civic life. I guess that’s why it struck me as extremely ironic when I read on the Chicago Tribune website that the Chicago Teachers Union has doubled down on its plan to implement what amounts to a one-day strike on April 1st. It seems that the…

Why Black Males Need to Answer the Call and Teach

Sharif El-Mekki is the principal of Mastery Charter School Shoemaker Campus in West Philadelphia. This post was originally posted on Education Post, in which El-Mekki shares why more Black males should accept the call to teach. Had you asked me 25 years ago—and some people did—if I’d become an educator, I would have said, “No way! Why would I work…

Documentary Shows How Chicago Schools Were Racist 50 Years Ago; Has Anything Changed?

From Rebecca Klein in Huffington Post: In a recent documentary produced by Kartemquin Films, the racism that plagued Chicago Public Schools in 1963, is highlighted. Under the guidance of Superintendent, Benjamin C. Willis, Chicago citizens criticized Willis of segregating schools, causing Black students to have an inferior education. The documentary focuses on the past, in an effort to point to…