Chicago Mayor: K-12 Education Model Outdated
WASHINGTON — Arguing that the K-12 education model of the 20th century is outdated, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Tuesday he believes it’s time to expand the public school system into a pre-kindergarten to college model.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (Photo courtesy of Noel St. John of the National Press Club)
“We have to restructure our educational system to meet the demands that the 21st century is going to require of our kids in the same way that the high school education of the 20th century met the demands of the 20th century at the time,” the second-term Chicago mayor said.
Emanuel made his remarks Tuesday at the National Press Club in defense of Chicago’s newly adopted requirement for public high school seniors in Chicago to submit proof of a post-secondary plan in order to graduate — a plan that Emanuel introduced earlier this year. The proof can include a college acceptance letter, acceptance into a trades pre-apprenticeship or apprenticeship, a military enlistment letter, or a job offer or proof of employment, among other things.
“We live in a period where you earn what you learn,” Emanuel said, alluding to statistics that show higher degrees of education generally correspond with higher incomes.
“And the question in front of me as mayor is: What are we doing to better prepare our students for that time?” Emanuel said.
The father of three said that while well-off individuals such as himself and his wife, Amy, can provide their children with college counselors and tutors in order to get them into college, that it would be unconscionable for him not to direct the resources of Chicago’s public school system toward the same objective for its students, whom he said are overwhelmingly children of color who live in poverty and often are the first in their families to attend college.
Arguing that no responsible parent would leave their children’s plans for life after high school to chance, Emanuel said: “We do not leave it to chance with our children and, as mayor, as principals, we don’t leave it chance, not when we have the support in place. Not when you’re the first in your family to make it to college. … Not when the economy of tomorrow requires an education today.”
He added, “It would be morally reprehensible to do that.”
Emanuel said the new graduation requirement is just one of several requirements— such as 40 hours of community Chicago Mayor: K-12 Education Model Outdated - Higher Education:
