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Ed,
What is happening in the United States is a great
tragedy, not likely to end in November, unfortunately. The internal war
against kids has also been extended to education. See below from
Chicago.
Bob
SCHOOLS PRESSURED TO DUMP BAD STUDENTS, CRITICS
SAY
Chicago Sun-Times -- January 9,
2004
by Kate Grossman
Phillip Parker knew he was in the wrong when he started
skipping class
and getting into trouble at Chicago's Crane High School. But
before he
could figure out how to fix it, he found himself dropped from
school.
"I'm not one to blame others for what I did, but if the school
had
steered me the right way, it could have helped," said Parker, who says
teachers and staff seemed too busy to really give him the help he
needed.
After dropping out, he landed a spot at West Town Academy, an
alternative school. He knows he's one of the lucky ones.
"A lot of
students just give up," Parker said. "It's almost like their
life has no
direction, they ain't got nothing going."
In the 2001-02 school year,
17,400 students -- 17.6 percent -- dropped
out of Chicago schools, according
to an analysis of state data by the
Greater West Town Community Development
Project. That's up from 13.5
percent in 1992. The Chicago public schools
publicize a lower percentage
-- 13 percent in 2003, down from 16.6 percent
in 1995. Those percentages
don't include 27 alternative schools.
The
numbers are too high and the pressure on schools to push out truant,
low-performing students is only growing, several experts, including
Illinois Education Supt. Robert Schiller, testified at a state Senate
Education Committee meeting in Chicago Thursday.
The main culprit is
the federal No Child Left Behind law, Schiller and
others said. That law
requires schools to meet testing, graduation and
attendance benchmarks each
year.
"There is tremendous pressure on districts," said Sen. Miguel del
Valle
(D-Chicago), the committee chairman. "All of this is creating a
climate
that, as the superintendent says, creates a disincentive to hang on
to
students and help them go the extra mile to stay in school."
Del
Valle convened the hearing to come up with legislative ideas to
confront
Illinois' dropout problem. Statewide, the rate is 4.9 percent.
Suggestions
floated at the hearing include more accurate counting of the
problem, more
small schools, such as Chicago is trying, more emphasis on
early childhood
education and more academic support for middle schoolers
and
ninth-graders.
Del Valle has one bill pending that would make it more
difficult to drop
students, make it easier for them to return and change the
way they're
counted so they can be tracked and schools aren't penalized if
they drop
out again.
Several advocates support the proposal but say
the existing law must
also be enforced. State law says students over 16 can
only be denied an
education if they are expelled for serious misconduct or
if they don't
have enough credits to graduate by the time they're
21.
"The dropout problem is largely a push-out problem for kids who'd
like
to stay in school," said William Leavy, director of the Greater West
Town group. "Our neediest kids have the least support."
Added Bob
Meyer, a teacher at West Town Academy: "We think [Chicago] and
other
districts should be mandated to do what we do daily -- give kids
another
chance."
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 10:19
AM
Subject: [Futurework] Killing its
own
As a Canadian, I find the behaviour of the US
administration increasingly perplexing and difficult to understand.
Killing people, including kids, in Afghanistan and Iraq is one thing, but
killing its own is incomprehensible. More and more, one gets the
impression that America exists for the ownership class, the top five percent
or even one percent, and no one else matters! Rogue abroad and rogue at
home!
Ed
 
January 9, 2004OP-ED COLUMNIST
Sick State Budgets, Sick KidsBy BOB
HERBERT
 hile headlines continue to tell us how great the
economy is doing, states across the U.S. are pulling the plug on
desperately needed health coverage for low-income Americans, including
about a half-million children.
Even as the Bush administration continues its bizarre quest for ever
more tax cuts, the states, which by law have to balance their budgets,
are cutting vital social programs so deeply that tragic consequences are
inevitable.
The cruel reality is that Americans at the top are thriving at the
expense of the well-being of those at the bottom and, increasingly, in
the middle.
A new report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows that
34 states have made potentially devastating cuts over the past two years
in public health insurance programs, including Medicaid and the very
successful children's health insurance programs known as CHIPS. More
cuts are expected this year.
"Almost half of those losing health coverage (490,000 to 650,000
people) are children," the report said. "Substantial numbers of
low-income parents, seniors, people with disabilities, childless adults
and immigrants are also losing coverage. Cutbacks of this depth in
health insurance coverage for low-income families and individuals are
unprecedented."
The worst of the cuts are in Texas. "The Lone Star State has adopted
deep cutbacks in its State Children's Health Insurance Program that will
cause about 160,000 children — one-third of its SCHIP caseload — to lose
coverage," the report said.
Texas is also making Medicaid available to fewer pregnant women, a
dangerous move that increases the number of women without coverage for
prenatal care and the actual deliveries. "All told," the report said,
"Texas is eliminating coverage for between 344,000 and 494,000 children
and adults. Census data showed that, even before these changes, the
percentage of people who were uninsured was higher in Texas than in any
other state."
A loss of health coverage frequently leads to a reluctance to seek
needed care. "In poor or low-income families, where there is not a lot
of disposable income, people will avoid going to the doctor or getting a
prescription," said Leighton Ku, one of the authors of the report.
"Certain diseases can then become much more severe. With children, it's
likely that they won't get treatment for ear infections, asthma,
diabetes — conditions that can ultimately lead to hospitalization."
When treatment can no longer be avoided, the financial consequences
can be ruinous. Medical expenses are one of the leading causes of
bankruptcy in the U.S.
Officials at the center noted the case of a woman in St. Louis who
works but whose annual income is below the poverty line. Under
eligibility rules in effect until 18 months ago, she would have
qualified for Medicaid. Under the new rules, she does not.
The woman became ill and was told upon her release from the hospital
to seek follow-up care. But without any health insurance, her medical
bills have been overwhelming. According to the center, "[The woman] has
occasional abdominal pain but is not getting any treatment. She intends
to declare bankruptcy because she cannot pay the $47,000 she owes in
medical bills, but so far has been unable to save the funds needed to
pay for a bankruptcy filing."
People caught in this kind of squeeze often find themselves "sicker,
much poorer, or both," said Robert Greenstein, the center's
director.
It seems extremely strange that in the United States of America, the
richest, most powerful nation in the history of the world, we are going
backward in the 21st century in our ability to provide the most
fundamental kinds of health care to ordinary people, including
children.
The health insurance cutbacks would have been even worse if not for
the $20 billion in emergency state aid that was reluctantly approved by
the Bush administration and the Republican-led Congress last year.
Despite the economic upturn, states are still struggling. They face a
collective budget deficit of $40 billion to $50 billion for the coming
fiscal year, and there is little sentiment among Republican leaders in
Washington for another round of fiscal relief.
Maybe the nation itself needs a doctor. Shoving low-income people,
including children, off the health care rolls at a time when the economy
is allegedly booming is a sure sign of some kind of sickness in the
society.
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