Senn High School in my neighborhood in Chicago is going to house a naval academy starting next year. I've already written to Sen. Durbin to express my displeasure with
him securing "$2.1 million grant to help launch the naval academy." When the school board voted to put the academy at Senn,
more than 100 students from Senn High School walked out in protest.
This is what the spokesman for the school board had to say:
"The earlier high school, military high schools have done very well especially Bronzeville military academy where over 40% of kids are meeting state standards and the percentage of kids graduating and going onto college is very high. Very few in fact go into the military. So those who are concerned this is a training ground for the military I think are not really understanding what this is about," said Peter Cunningham, Chicago School Board.
I think the truth is that we do understand, and if the most innovative solution the Chicago school board can come up with to fix the public schools is to have more military academies, we can see why the Chicago schools are in so much trouble. Though I don't want a high school that leads right into the military. That's not really my concern. I just think there are a lot of better ways that $2.1 million could be spent (an art academy, a public montessori school, etc.).