With nearly 700 public schools in its territory, there is certainly a lot to say about Chicago’s education. Beginning with the simplest structures that existed in the early nineteenth century, the schools in this region has provided literacy and worked on the development of students for a long time now. Additionally, these schools have had an increasing variety of many other functions such as Americanizing the immigrants, vocational education, moral education and addressing social and economic inequality problems. So, what has been really happening to Chicago’s education up to this particular point?
Everything started with Eliza Chappell, the first public school teacher. Right now, the number of employees in the schools reaches over 41,579 out of which 22.519 are teachers, as reported in the <a href=”https://www.huffingtonpost.com/reboot-illinois/chicago-public-schools-fast-facts_b_7266714.html?ir=Chicago&utm_hp_ref=chicago”>Huffington Post</a>. In the beginning of teaching in schools, Chicago was chaotic when it came to education, regardless of the schools being private or public. The early schools were rudimentary, while the funds could reach only a little bit of the entire population that needed schooling. Simply, there was not enough money or capacity to teach everyone who wanted to learn.
Opposed to today’s situation, schools had hundreds or more students in a single classroom, taught by one teacher only. Right now, the average number is 24 students in a class. Moreover, one teacher used to teach students ranging in age from 5 years to 15 years old, which made the process even more difficult.
The class sizes fell below the number of 70 with the arrival of John Dore, the so-called superintendent of Chicago schools. This man worked to train the teachers better, reform the schools and aim more money towards educating people. This gradually turned into the public education system that looked alike other systems in the country.
As stated in the Encyclopedia of Chicago, the public schools have started to expand more and more rapidly as the city grew. This increased the population by a factor of six between the years 1870 and 1900, which resulted in a factor of eight expansions when it came to education. The increase in the number of teachers came along with the increase in students. By the end of this period, more than seven thousand teachers were employed in public and private schools. It was around this time that the Chicago Teachers Federation was formed and started working on improving the working conditions in the schools.
The school districts became engaged to fit the demand that was constantly rising and was funded by the local economy. In 1966 the teachers were so dissatisfied with the administration and the working condition that they elected the Chicago Teachers Union and started the first teacher’s strike known in the history of Chicago. The strike ended soon after, but it is still remembered and considered to be a new era for teachers.
Despite the improved conditions after the strike, the following years were tough. Actually, Chicago’s schools have even been declared the worst in the nation by the US Secretary of Education in 1987. Things went quite bad from here.
Radical changes were implemented in the decades that followed this period. By the year of 2000, the majority of students visiting public schools were Hispanic and Black and come from poor families, which makes inequality a massive problem across the region. Despite the fact that teaching is more advanced and the schools and materials are now highly more improved than they were before, Chicago is still in the educational struggle. Apparently, private and public schools have now become the biggest divide in Chicago, so it is no wonder that such differences are the biggest mystery and challenge of Chicago’s future.
Public schools are meant for everyone, so seeing the case of Chicago seems quite worrying. Today, children should all have the benefit of learning how to read, write and think as academics. Every student should be given the opportunity to be able to write a custom essay and apply to schools of higher education of their choice at some point in life. In order to do this, equality must be set in Chicago in order to make sure that every student is seen as equally educated when he or she decides to continue the education. The distinction between public and private school must end and do so soon.
Kedy is an editor-in-chief at <a href=”https://www.thegeneralpost.com”>The General Post</a> and helping people to live a haslefree life.
