With each passing day it becomes more apparent to me that there are two public school systems in Chicago: the imaginary one in Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s press releases and pronouncements and the other one that’s, you know, real.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, it’s a lot more complicated, as real worlds tend to be.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
There are neighborhood schools in poor neighborhoods, which are different from neighborhood schools in gentrifying neighborhoods, which are different from magnet schools that enroll kids from all over the city. And they’re different from selective-enrollment schools that take only the highest-scoring test-takers who have been number one, two, or three in just about everything they’ve tried since infancy.
And I’m not just talking about the limited-enrollment schools for “smart kids.” Some are ordinary neighborhood schools—including Edgebrook, Blaine, and Mount Greenwood—that are open to any kid within their boundaries.
In order to win over parents, Emanuel’s educational operatives have been going from school to school telling parents the mayor knows what’s good for them even if they don’t realize it.
I’m sure she recalls that time as fondly as I do.
They clearly haven’t been spending a lot of time with the highest-scoring kids in Chicago.
