Headline: ST. LOUIS SCHOOLS NEED BIG SHAKE-UP TO RESCUE STUDENTS
Reporter: By Greg Freeman

Publication: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed:  Tue., Nov. 24, 1998
Section: METRO, Page: B1, Edition: FIVE STAR LIFT

A system in distress

The dozen or so children gathered Monday near the front of the kindergarten class sat cross-legged on the floor and listened intently as I read stories to them about trains, rainy days and playing games.
  
I read to them as part of the St. Louis Public Schools' Role Model Experiences program. The children, at Emerson School, were a delight. They were bright-eyed, curious, eager to learn. They participated in the discussion about the books and demonstrated a thirst for knowledge. But as I read to them, I wondered how many of them would make it all the way through school and do well, in light of the problems of the school system. And I wondered how many of those who work in the system are thinking about those children.

They are, after all, the only reason the system exists. The system is not an employment agency, or a place to advance political agendas.
  
The school system belongs to all of us who pay taxes into it. We've paid for a system we expect to educate our children well and prepare them for the real world.

Sadly, all indications are we're not getting what we're paying for.
  
The most recent indicators were the state achievement scores for 10th-graders. Only 9 percent of white city students had acceptable scores. The percentage among black students was 0. No one should be proud of those figures. And this is hardly the first test to suggest that city students are faring poorly.
  
That, combined with a high absentee rate and a low graduation rate, indicates some serious problems with the school system.

A major part of the responsibility lies with the parents. Parents who aren't involved with their children's educations -- working with them on their schoolwork, visiting school during open house, participating in PTA groups -- are a real drawback in educating kids.
  
But it's a reality that in city schools -- where many of the parents are poor and have more pressing needs -- it's probably a pipe dream that most parents will become involved.

Unfortunately, that serves as a double-edged sword. Not only do parents not get involved with their kids' education, but their lack of involvement allows the district to get away with much more than it would be allowed to if parents were more active.
  
At some schools, parents would be outraged if textbooks were not in the classrooms within the first few weeks of school. Yet this happens much too often in city schools. And, without parents who insist on excellence, the process drags on.

City schools have some excellent teachers and principals. They have some good programs, such as the Role Model Experiences program.
   They also have some bad teachers and principals who have low expectations of the students and who choose not to challenge them. That, and a lack of rigorous standards for educators, leads to bad teachers and administrators remaining on the payroll year after year.

Some choose to blame the news media, including this newspaper, for focusing on the problems of the schools.
Regardless of whether the media focus on the problems, they need to be addressed.

What we seemingly have is a system in distress. What's needed, more than anything else, is to try something entirely different.
  
That's why it may not be such a bad thing if the St. Louis school system loses its accreditation. If it happens, the system could see some radical -- and much-needed -- changes.
  
The system needs to be changed drastically. Excellence should be the goal at all times -- not just when accreditation time rolls around. The bureaucracy should be streamlined. Good work by educators should be rewarded, and bad work shouldn't be tolerated. Every effort should be made to involve parents at all levels.

Most of all, everyone involved in the system should tape on their desks a picture of those bright-eyed kindergartners from Emerson School. They're the ones whom the system is supposed to be working for. They're the ones who are harmed every day the system isn't fixed.


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