I'm not a parent, but I looked at the application out of curiosity. Since I couldn't see anything on the form where race is indicated, I'm not sure how the accusation of racial segregation comes into play.
There are places where ESL/bilingual needs can be indicated. I would suspect that this has more to do with making sure immigrant students are placed in an environment that improves their chances of succeeding. [Warning, sarcasm ahead:] But this is just a guess on my part. I suppose there's always the possibility that it's just a cover for the racist MPS to hold those pesky minority students down. [OK, sarcasm over now.] I'm also still skeptical of the notion that SLCs are FORCING children to make career choices and I'm personally not seeing anything in the application that suggests otherwise. There are certainly some SLCs that may have more of a career-oriented focus, such as health careers or education/public services. There's also a whole lot of "general" SLCs (for lack of a better term) that a student can enroll in that doesn't suggest any specific career path. What career path is a student being chained to if they enroll in the Renaissance SLC at Minneapolis North or the world studies SLC at Roosevelt? I think this whole fear of students being forced into career paths is about the most overblown thing I've seen since we were told Saddam was coming at us any minute now with WMDs. Nowhere am I seeing anything that says that if a student chooses Summatech, for example, that they're stuck there for the next four years. Nowhere am I seeing anything that suggests that students are being steered into or away from any specific SLC. Certainly, nowhere am I seeing anything that suggests that if a student graduates from Washburn's Aviation and Aerospace SLC that they are now required to go on to be an aerospace engineer or an airline pilot or something and if they don't, well, they'll be taken out back and beaten with a stick until they swear to get back on the career path they chose in 8th grade. Give it a rest already and see SLCs for what they are - an opportunity for students to enhance their classroom experience by linking it to something they're interested in exploring. Mark Snyder Windom Park TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
