*Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to make it mandatory for public school students to disclose their post-school plans, and the decision has drawn criticism from students and educators alike.
According to the mayor’s plan, “starting 2020, all students eligible for a graduating high school diploma would have to demonstrate they have any one of the following lined up: a job, admission to college, an apprenticeship or internship,” ibtimes.com reports.
If none of those apply, students can either join a “gap year” program or enroll in the military.
Critics of the mayor’s plan have noted the numerous technical flaws.
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The Washington Post also points out that “this plan does not address the fact that many graduating teenagers are from impoverished, violence-wracked neighborhoods with few jobs. Those qualified to go to college cannot afford it.”
“It sounds good on paper, but the problem is that when you’ve cut the number of counselors in schools when you’ve cut the kind of services that kids need, who is going to do this work?” Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, told the Washington Post. “If you’ve done the work to earn a diploma, then you should get a diploma. Because if you don’t, you are forcing kids into more poverty.”
Critics also wonder if the mayor is aware that “Chicago has the worst black unemployment of any of the five biggest cities in the country.”
Rahm’s plan does not take into consideration this statistic; a majority of young black high school graduates who are looking for full-time work and can’t find it.
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