Here is the link to an article that I thought was interesting, but upsetting at the same time:
http://news.yahoo.com/chicago-school-draws-scrutiny-over-student-fines-202924231.html
Noble Street College Prep fines students for "misbehavior." Misbehavior is in quotation marks because fines can be a result of untied shoelaces, etc. Although this school prides itself on graduating students and sending them to college they are going about it the wrong way. In a sense, this is an example of a weed out process as low-income families may not be able to afford the continuous fines. In fact, the superintendent of the school says that the policy teaches students to follow rules and produce in a structured environment. Such a statement is problematic in so many ways. It follows a deficit model with its emphasis on behavior, suggesting that poor, minority students lack discipline.
Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago, is in favor of the policy, saying that it gets good results and that parents do not have to send their children to the school.
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ReplyDeleteSorry that you were not able to upload the link to the article. Try this one and hopefully it will work:
Deletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/20/chicago-school-draws-scru_0_n_1289624.html
According to the superintendent, it seems that many of the students are poor and minority students who would likely be the first-generation college students. As for the fines, he says that the school "sets up payment plans and on rare occasions waive the fees."