Chicago’s Arctic Freeze Brings Up the Question: What is the Purpose of Schools?
An interesting discussion broke out over the recent announcement by the Chicago Public Schools to keep schools open despite a dangerous extreme cold snap hitting the city, a decision which they later reversed thanks in part to pressure from the Chicago Teachers Union.
On social media, many worried that closing schools would be detrimental to the neediest families. Many claimed, rightfully-so, that school was often the only place where kids could get a hot meal and a warm, safe environment.
And this controversy really hit home for me how much we have come to view schools as theonly comprehensive form of poverty alleviation in our society. This argument regarding schools has become so second-nature to many, that we never stop and think about what this really means.
Here is what I wrote on my facebook page regarding the decision:
Everyone is in an uproar about kids not having a place to be warm, safe, and to get meals, if schools are closed tomorrow. Where is the outrage that these same needy kids don't have those basic services all the other times that school is not in session? We should be filling the streets in protest knowing that any child ever goes hungry or cold in this city, but instead we've been conditioned to conflate this issue with schools. They are not the same thing!
If we as a society truly want schools to be where we combat poverty, then we must take that task seriously. That means funding schools to be places of social services. And I don’t mean leaving that job up to already over-worked administrators and teachers to write grants
