I agree with NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg!

I agree with NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg!

“Unfortunately, there are some parents who...never had a formal education, and they don’t understand the value of an education. Many of our kids come from [such] families—the old Norman Rockwell family is gone”

http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-06-29/columns/bloomberg-black-parents-fail-their-kids/


Here in Chicago the pubic school's middle class education model doesn’t work for thousands of students. A middle class education model that presumes students have educated parents that are helping their children prepare for college.

Most Chicago Public Schools and Charter Schools here in the African American community are up against a culture where education is not a top priority. The average African American parent feels it is the responsibility of their children and the public schools to make sure their children do well in school.

Public school officials must tell parents and students the cold hard truth. This is where you are and this is the direction where your child is going. The public schools , the parents, and students must set realistic obtainable goals and work together to achieve those goals.

Marc Sims
marcsimschicago@gmail.com

Mandatory Parenting Classes

Chicago Public School’s middle class education model doesn’t work for thousands of CPS students. A middle class education model presumes that students have educated parents that are helping their children prepare for college.

One of the best ways to improve the a CPS high school is to improve the elementary feeder schools. One of the best ways to improve a CPS elementary school is to improve the home life of the students. Now that requires the Chicago Public Schools to institute mandatory parenting classes for all CPS parents.

What do you think?

Marc Sims
Chicago
marcsimschicago@gmail.com

PS

Useful hints about what matters in parenting.
"If you are smart, hard-working, well educated, well paid and married to someone equally fortunate, then your children are more likely to succeed," write Levitt and Dubner. "(Nor does it hurt, in all likelihood, to be honest, thoughtful, loving, and curious about the world.) But it isn't a matter of what you do as a parent; it's who you are."

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1633286&page=1

Freakonomics': What Makes a Perfect Parent?

By NED POTTER ABC NEWS
Feb. 17, 2006

"All IN"?

If the White Sox are "All IN" should Kenney Williams and Ozzie Guillen resign from their jobs if the Sox don't make the playoffs?




Marc Sims
Chicago

viewpointchicago@yahoo.com

How did your family end up in Chicago?

How did your family end up in Chicago?



Here Are Some Heritage Questions from one of my teenagers summer school class.



Who migrated to Chicago? When were they born? How did they live in the South?

Why did they migrate to Chicago?

When did they migrate to Chicago?

How long was the preparation to move North?

What caused them to move North? Racism, low employment, poor agriculture, etc.

What was their motivation for moving?

How long did it take for them to arrive in Chicago?

How did they get to Chicago? By train, bus, plane, walked, etc.

Did they sell their house before moving North?

What was the settlement process like in Chicago like?

What was going on socially, politically, and economically during these times?


Marc Sims
Chicago


PS

Black metropolis; a study of Negro life in a northern city [by] St. Clair Drake and Horace R. Cayton. Introd. by Richard Wright. Introd. to Torchbook ed. by Everett C. Hughes. http://www.chipublib.org/search/details/cn/58871


The Warmth of Other Suns
http://isabelwilkerson.com/

Poverty & Public Education

Do low income students need a education model that will mitigate the effects of poverty that produce low academic achievement?


* In schools where less than 10 percent of students get free or reduced lunhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifch, the reading score is 551. That would place those U.S. students at No. 2 on the international ranking for reading, just behind Shanghai, China which topped the ranking with a score of 556.

* In schools where 75 percent or more of the students get free or reduced lunch, the reading score was 446. That’s off the bottom of the charts, below last-place Greece’s 483.

Money matters and countless studies have demonstrated a link between parents’ income and students’ test scores.

The Economics Behind International Education Rankings
http://neatoday.org/2010/12/09/a-look-at-the-economic-numbers-on-international-education-rankings/


Marc Sims
Chicago
773-517-4369

Public Intellectuals

The Frederick News-Post Photo



I spoke to Lester Spence over the phone this morning.

I asked Dr. Spence; How can "we" use the brilliance of public intellectuals like yourself to solve to challenges of lower income African American neighborhoods?

I did not record the phone call and I do not want to misquote Dr. Spence. So I will just say "we" need to bring the brilliance of public intellectuals to the neighborhood.


Marc Sims
Chicago

Lester Spence is Assistant Professor of Political Science and Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

http://johnshopkins.academia.edu/LesterSpence
http://lesterspence.com/
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/Marab