The Rev. James Meeks, in a protest over inequalities in school funding, is not only asking Chicago public school students to skip their first day of classes, but also is asking parents to attempt to enroll their children in wealthier, white, suburban schools.
Rev. Meeks has targeted suburban New Trier High School, one of the inspirations for the movie The Breakfast Club, whose alumni include everyone from Donald Rumsfeld and Rahm Emanuel to Charlton Heston and Rainn Wilson to Ann Margaret and Liz Phair.
The kids in general are not legally able to enroll in suburban schools, but the stunt will dmage the Chicago Public Schools:
“Our money is dependent on average attendance. The first day of school is very important because that is the day we have the highest attendance and really pull out the stops to get children in school, that’s the day we do it,” said Rufus Williams, CPS board president.
Meeks was one of Barack Obama’s spritual advisors, though not as central as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Nevertheless, Meeks became “not the Meeks Obama knew” after FNC unearthed video of the Reverend dropping the N-bomb repeatedly during a “sermon” that attacked Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley. Meeks remains a superdelegate for Obama. As such, perhaps Meeks might ask Obama about his ineffectual efforts on public school reform in the 1980s and 1990s. Had Obama accomplished anything then, perhaps Meeks would not feel the need to use children as political props in a racially-charged stunt this fall.
Imagine if they put all that hate whitey energy into actually educating children?
Or lowering the oceans.
“…Our money…”
Chicago Public Schools have a 52.2% graduation rate. I really don’t think encouraging kids to skip school is the way to go here.
Neither do I think funding is the problem. Yes, New Trier spends a lot per student but it is a ridiculously privileged school. What they spend is wonderful, but it is not what is necessary.
I suspect New Trier does so well because it has involved parents with high expectations for their children.
I wonder what Obama’s children will do on the first day? Oh, that’s right, they go to private schools.
I just looked at my school district on GreatSchools.com
My district: $7,468 CA State Average: $10,805
We have a great school district with spending lower than, apparently, what Meeks is complaining about.
Wow, what a great strategy. Keep the kids out of school and see if you can’t get rid of some of that pesky funding.
This story made http://detentionslip.org! Voted #1 for crazy education news.
I am I an idiot to think that Rev. James Meeks is shakedown artist like the Justus Brothers?
To whom it may concern:
When I click onto pw, I get a malware warning from my Avast antivirus:
“http://iframe/wp-stats.php”
“VBS: Malware-gen”
Maybe it’s just happening to me, but FYI anyway.
OT
Karl,
Check out the questions on Herr Docktor Obama’s final exams:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/inside-professor-obamas-classroom/#more-5666
But, but, but the future leader of the world, Hussein O, doesn’t like a voucher program which allows poor children to go to better schools. The worthless complainers will always ‘look for something’ to complain about.
Karl,
Check out the second question on the 1997 Finals – straight out of the Hatey Whitey United Afrocentric universe.
Cute hypothetical.
Is BO being a postmodernist irony based author in posing these question?
Dan, Jeff if you’re still reading pw?
I’ll have to look at it, but it just makes my head spin to consider Ann Margret and Donald Rumsfeld in the same sentence.
“The dems won’t let you have vouchers” might keep me on the GOP side. But hammering the right side of an issue for years (e.i. off-shore drilling) is kind of tragic. What’s true for war is true for politics “There is no substitute for victory.” The dividends will be huge. Faster, sooner, please.
I only read O!’s 2003 exam. In question 2 O! lampoons the Arnold.
10: mark,
Already noted, should be okay now. It was a piece of tracking code stuck in text copied from another site.
Rick,
Where were you when I did an SEIU post yesterday?
;-)
“Where were you…?
Thinking about the most effective counter meme in terms of the 30-50 yo F demographic. AFAICT, at this moment, a pushback using the failure of the Annenenburg Challenge (coupled with its association with known domestic terrorists) and Obama’s broken promises to help one school in Kenya offers the best opportunity IMO.
You did an excellent job on the Cohen piece – we need to extrapolate from his absolute lack of positive accomplishments to a focus on his failure to do anything whatsoever to improve the lot of children within the zone of progressive immiseration that he failed to represent in Chicago.
It isn’t just that he has done nothing to help – he actually harms those he purports to serve. Targeting his abject failure to do anything to help children hits the right demo.
Rick, I wonder if it would be possible to get some footage of the boarded-up, abandoned apartment complexes… this is a good time of year for it, with the weeds flourishing. Might make a nice visual for a “this is a community organizer?” ad. Maybe we can get Juliette to take a brief trip.
Regards,
Ric
Ric,
Juliette is in SoCal. Pics of the slums which Obama supported would be great but only as tie ins to the kids destroyed by his wholly ineffective “service” in IL CD-1. I’m going to look for some school scores for CD-1 and Chicago in general.
I know there are PW readers from Chicago – we need some pics not only of the Obamaslums but of the schools. I’d say anything within a 2 mi radius of BHO Manse in Hyde Park.
According to CampaignMoney.com, the denizens of zip code 60093 (home of both New Trier campuses) donated $2.15 million to Democrats in 2008, vs. $1.37 million for Republicans. The look on their faces when hundreds of inner-city kids try to register at their overprivileged high school ought to be priceless.
Rick,
An interesting point; obvs, I have had similar thoughts.
And just didn’t want you to miss the SEIU post; should be easily searchable.
Rick, I know where Juliette lives (well, not a street address, but in general.) I’ve also been through that part of Chicago, in a cab. If I were trying to take pictures of Obamaville I would be a little, um, conspicuous is probably the word. I was trying to think of someone who might (a) be sympathetic and (b) not stand out in the crowd. LAX to Midway shouldn’t be more than $300 or so, and we could take up a collection.
Regards,
Ric
[…] Rick Ballard flagged Obama’s 1997 Constitutional Law exam, which contained the following hypothetical: Splitsville is a large Northern city in the State of Wazoo, with a population that is approximately 45 percent black, 40 percent white, and 10 percent Latino, and 5 percent Asian. Like many urban centers, Splitsville has major problems with its public schools. […]
Yeah, b/c the amount of $$ spent is the real issue. If we just spent more $$, all of those inner-city Chicago kids would turn out to be law-abiding Einsteins.
First, I doubt very much that less is spent per pupil than in the average Illinois town. this same b.s. is thrown around in the (much smaller) city where I live all the time. However, (and, of course the media never reports this) the City schools actually spend more per pupil then most of the suburbs. And, the suburbs that do spend more $ per pupil, it is not much more $$ than the city schools. So, this is not just wrong-headed policy, it is an absolute and total lie. I’d bet just about anything that the same is actually true in Chicago vs. the rest of Illinois school districts. I’m so sick of hearing this when it is always factually untrue and no media ever actually reports the truth.
It’s not like the budget #’s are hard to obtain and figure out. When was the last time you actually saw the total budget #’s and total student #’s reported for a whole bunch of town’s versus a city school? You never see that b/c it would destroy this entire argument. When actually confronted by these facts, libs always come up with some other explanation, such as “the city school buildings are older, so the budgets are not apples to apples comparisons”.
Second, we will never resolve these issues with the mindset that every child can be the next Einstein. Until peopl accept the truth that some kids are inherintly smarter than other kids, and set up the system to reflect that truth, we will always teach to the lowest common denominator in any City School, which means even a smart kid won’t get an education. Add social promotion to this mix, and forget about it. Thus, liberal philosophy stands directly in the way of decent education in the Cities.
Third, I think we should spend less $$ than we do on any inner-city school until those communities solve the following problems (which incidentally most of their problems actually stem from) [I believe this b/c I actually don’t believe that it is a gov’t’s job to raise children – if parents want their children to fail, as evidenced by actions on the below list, then those children should be allowed to fail in accord with the parent’s wishes]:
1) no fathers involved in the child’s rearing
2) mothers with multiple children by different fathers
3) mothers (and fathers) living on entitlement programs instead of working or trying to engage in gainful employment
4) violence and the adoration of violence
5) gang membership
6) no respect for other people’s property (vandalism, theft)
7) no respect for authority
8) not being able to speak English (“eubonics” does not count as English). If a 10 year old says “axe” instead of “ask”, I don’t think we should not waste any extra effort and money on his or her education, as that child is more than likely already a lost cause. Nothing instantly identifies someone as failing in every item on this list faster than the inability to say “ask”. It means that the parents don’t care and that none of the teachers have cared. Why, at this point, should everyone else care?
9) refusal to cooperate with police to curb crime in their own neighborhoods (and don’t cry me a river about “fear”, these communities created the violent situation in their neighborhoods by condoning/fostering items 1-12 on this list, thus they are not entitled to use the results as both a shield and a sword).
10) idolization of drug-dealers (i.e., treating them as pillars of the community instead of shaming them or ostracizing them)
11) treating incarceration as an accomplishment rather than something shameful.
12) child sex (promiscuity starting at around 10 years old)
13) instead of shaming people who do stupid/illegal things, immediately supporting those people and protesting the police, gov’t, etc. (perfect true example, 13 yr old kid steals car at 1 a.m., takes police on wild chase, gets cornered in cul-de-sac. Police get out w/ weapons drawn to approach car. 13 yr old kid guns engine tries to run down cops, is shot dead. Community immediately starts protesting police – not one member from that community questions why a 13 yr old is out at 1 a.m., stealing cars, and trying to run down police. I could recount literally hundreds of such asininity from my City alone)
these are things that this “minister” should be worried about, instead of trying to steal money from suburban property owners to spend on his own failed schools, which I guarantee fail b/c of policies this retard “minister” supports (teaching feel-good black (“afrocentric”) courses instead of focusing on english, history, science; hiring less qualified minority teachers and administrators in order to achieve “diversity”; full support of teachers’ unions; etc).
Someone needs to tell these “ministers” to get their own communities in order before coming to the rest of us who work hard and have good values seeking a handout. We’ve poured millions into the “black community” and inner cities over the past 50 years, to see it wasted and squandered and stolen. So, screw them. Try telling your congregation to resolve the itesm in the list above in order to improve thier lives and their community instead of always seeking handouts from other people.
Maybe Chicago would have more $$ for its schools if every inner city person did not meet every item in the list above? Did he ever think of that?
This “minister” and the mindset her represents is what will keep inner-city blacks poor and dependent on government for eternity.
Didn’t Obama reform the public school system in Chicago under his stwardship of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge ?
You mean Obama didn’t manage to fix it all up ?
Okay. How many times are you going to bait the assholes in the MSM with this Chicago Annenberg Challenge stuff ?
They are so far in the tank for Obama that they couldn’t find ugliness in his mucous (and would probably save it in a jar).
And they wonder why they colleges are being laidoff around them at the New York Times, the LA Times etc. etc.
No wonder Cohen wrote just the other day the Obama is still “Unknown”. Pathetic !! Lay them all off.
What Bannana said.
Spirituality Movies…
James McAcoy and Emily Blunt play the lead characters. I adore both of these actors and I’ m looking forward to their vocal chemistry. Elton John makes a cameo in the movie– as a gnome! He also provides the soundtrack to the movie….