Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Capital Hijinks: A Personal View: Ophra on Chicago schools

School contrasts detailed.
Capital Hijinks: A Personal View: Ophra on Chicago schools: "Today's Oprah Show featured a ballyhooed interview with Bill and Melinda Gates and a segment which focused on the education gap here in Illinois. Oprah organized a student exchange which allowed kids from Chicago's Harper High to spend the day at a high school in Naperville and brought the Naperville kids to Chicago for a day. Here's what they learned:

When the Harper students arrived at Neuqua Valley, they were stunned to see what the suburban school offered—an Olympic-size swimming pool, a gym and fitness center, an award-winning music department, a huge computer lab, and a rigorous course curriculum. When they arrived at Harper, the students from Neuqua Valley were shocked immediately by the difference between Harper and their own school. For starters, students have to enter Harper through a metal detector. They have a pool at Neuqua Valley, but the Harper pool hasn't been filled with water in a decade.
In Pittsburgh, we need city and suburban kids to visit and compete with each other, day in and day out. This can occur after the city league is split apart so that the city schools join the WPIAL.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I already know of one program where kids from South Park and kids from Schenley switched buildings last year. I imagine it will continue in the Reizenstein bulding. Don't know how it worked or how often they did it.