Illinois’ Shocking School Report & Betrayal

Illinois’ “Shocking” School Report Card is NOT shocking to anyone like myself having endured Chicago’s history of notoriously inadequate education. But, 2% of Decatur’s elementary kids not reading at grade level is ridiculous …

Bluntly opined the WSJ’s editors: “The Land of Lincoln is failing its children and covering it up.” It’s not that the union and Democratic Machine-controlled Chicago or Decatur public school systems are islands unto themselves. The study by Wirepoints using state stat shows that in 2019 “7% of black third-graders in Rockford were reading at grade level, 11% of Hispanic third-graders in Elgin, and 8% of black third-graders in Peoria.” As the editors sarcastically noted, “Chicago’s 30% of black third-graders reading at grade level almost seems like a triumph by comparison.”

The WSJ concludes: “We aren’t often speechless, but the extent to which that performance is betraying a generation of school children is hard to put into words. Third grade children are 8 yrs old, full of potential with minds like sponges ... [it] is the year children need to achieve a level of reading fluency that will prepare them to tackle more complex tasks in upper elementary grades that require comprehension.” Tell me about it. As a third grader, I flunked reading. Teacher said I just sucked. By the Grace of God & a caring father I would eventually turn into a lean, mean reading machine. It was postal worker dad who took me every week come rain or gloom of night on a CTA bus to the public library 5 miles away from our home. I had to check out 3 books of my choosing each time. He, not the system, saved my life?

Davd Soul