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Editorial: Not enough schools to accept transfers from poorly
performing schools
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In the July 21, 2002 Chicago Tribune article
titled Race, poverty define failing schools , a former state school
leader was quoted as saying Politicians and state policy makers have not
attended to the educational rights of the poor and minority children. We are
failing the needs of the children who need the most help.
I agree that our politicians and policy makers are failing. But so are our
private sector leaders. Education of Illinois children should be an
"education-to-careers" strategy of every business and profession.
What business web sites can we find to that use maps and marketing to draw
volunteers, donors, technology, etc. to all of the neighborhoods where a
company does business, or where schools and families need more help?
The fact that poorly performing schools are in poor neighborhoods is not a
new revelation to the Tutor/Mentor Connection. We’ve been publishing maps
showing this information since 1995. We’ve been sending these maps to
business, philanthropy and media leaders as part of a campaign aimed at
getting more workplace adults involved as tutors, mentors, leaders and
change-agents in the neighborhoods where schools do most poorly. Samples can
be seen on this web site and at www.tutormentorexchange.net.
Our mission is to create an infrastructure that draws attention to
tutor/mentor programs and the needs of children in every poverty area of
Chicago on a daily basis, even when the media is talking about some other
issue. We’ve built web sites, like www.tutormentorconnection.org, which allow
visitors to find information about poverty, maps showing where poor schools
are located, and lists showing where and how someone can be a volunteer, or a
donor in a neighborhood tutor/mentor program. We’ve enlisted a wide variety
of partners and leaders to help draw attention to this information. Yet,
we’re just a whisper in a big city like Chicago. Few business and celebrity
leaders have unleashed their personal or corporate power in an on-going
effort to draw visibility, volunteers and dollars to tutor/mentor programs in
every poverty area of Chicagoland.
In early August we’ll launch an 8th Annual Chicagoland Tutor/Mentor
Volunteer Recruitment Campaign, which is a new invitation for our CEOs,
ministers and celebrities to take on this leadership role. I encourage
readers to visit T/MC web sites and learn how to get involved. Bookmark these
sites and visit them often, just as you return to a favorite section in the
local library, or to your Bible, or the Koran, on a regular basis. Not
everyone can spend one our two hours a week as a tutor/mentor, but everyone
can take some role that helps make a tutor/mentor available near every poorly-performing
school in Chicago.
Tutoring and mentoring create an on-going involvement that enriches and
educates the adult as well as the child. It’s one of the best forms of civic
engagement Americans can participate in. As business volunteers do service in
programs throughout the city they will learn about poverty and segregation
and its impact on education outcomes. They will take this understanding back
to the workplace and return with reinforcements, dollars and leaders.
The only way we can change the performance of inner city schools is to enlist
an army of adults to act as surrogate aunts, uncles and parents in
communities where families need more help because of the intense poverty and
segregation of Chicago. We can turn failure into success as we increase the
number of people who are involved and the way the private sector supports
this involvement. However, our goal needs to be that every poorly performing
school has a comprehensive tutor/mentor support network, not just a few. The
only way any city will ever know if they are reaching that goal is to use
maps like we demonstrate on these web site. However, we're just a small non
profit. Building and maintining a GIS database is expensive. We're doing it
with volunteers. Rather than reinvest in new data collection and sharing we
invite city and business leaders to invest in the Tutor/Mentor Connection.
Help us serve you better as we help lead you to neighborhoods where you can
help our children learn and succeed in life.
Don’t say it is someone else’s business. Make it your business.
Daniel F. Bassill, L.H.D.
President
Cabrini Connections
Tutor/Mentor Connection
800 W. Huron
Chicago, Il. 60622 312-492-9614
tutormentor2@earthlink.net
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