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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFrom the Chicago public school closings, some students emerge radicalized
from In These Times:
Schoolyard Syndicalists
From the Chicago public school closings, some students emerge radicalized.
BY Rebecca Burns
Raise your hand if you know what a charter school is, 16-year-old Ross Floyd said gravely as he stood before 30 high school students gathered in a meeting room in downtown Chicago on September 25 for the first General Assembly of the Chicago Students Union (CSU).
Nearly all of the students shot their hands up. After listening to Floyd rail against the school districts plans to open scores of new charters just after closing 50 neighborhood schools, the group launched into a brainstorming session of what needed changing at their schools. Ten minutes later, they had a list that included stricter regulation of charters, use of student feedback in place of standardized test scores in teacher evaluations and a process requiring the Chicago Board of Education to consult students on the budget proposals for their schools. Next, the students moved on to the small matter of hashing out how to implement all these ideas this year.
This back-to-school season has been a gloomy one in Chicago, as the 12,000 students displaced by the closings make their way to new schools and the more than 3,000 teachers and staff laid off since May struggle to find work. But the CSU meeting suggests a silver lining in whats otherwise a dark time for the city: The battle to stave off the largest mass school closings in U.S. history may have been lost, but it has produced some seriously radicalized students.
The CSU, which launched in August, is demanding a real voice for students in the school system, including a place on the Board of Education, says Floyd, a junior at Jones College Prep high school and a co-founder of CSU. The union will seek to create chapters at every high school in Chicago, which will then send a representative to a monthly general assembly. The group also plans to push for regular meetings with CPS and Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) officials. Currently, the CSU has representation at about 10 of the citys more than 100 high schools, according to members, but the group is considering outreach activities that include a free Thanksgiving dinner to draw attention to the high rate of homelessness among public-school students, as well as a snowball fight at Mayor Rahm Emanuels house. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.com/article/15745/schoolyard_syndicalists
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From the Chicago public school closings, some students emerge radicalized (Original Post)
marmar
Oct 2013
OP
marmar
(77,086 posts)1. shameless self-kick
liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)2. K&R. Students becoming activists. That is fantastic.
uponit7771
(90,348 posts)3. This happened in KC when almost half of schools were shut down, students cared a LOT but then needed
...their energy focused towards voting.
Hopefully there are some who are fucusing the energy of these kids towards voting and not just being animated
marmar
(77,086 posts)4. Their activism will result in candidates running who represent their interests.....
...... unlike the Rahm Emanuels of the world.