Writing Boots

On communication, professional and otherwise.

Progress: Fake it ’til you make it

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This is the sort of statistic that, despite devastating funding cuts at all 600 Chicago Public Schools, further overcrowding their hot classrooms with dysfunctional kids and captained by teachers on the fence between apathy and uncontrolled rage, the Chicago School Superintendent would like us to take as good news.

From the Sun-Times last week:

"Reports of serious student behavior problems have dropped 77 percent at six targeted schools—and Chicago Schools CEO Ron Huberman credited his $60 million anti-violence initiative."

Yay.

What kind of bullshit slogan …?

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Scout's starting kindergarten Tuesday, and I got an automated call from the Chicago Public Schools telling me, among other things, that this year's CPS slogan is "Just Go to School and Become …"

This sounded too inane even for educators, assuming I'd misheard, or had hung up too quickly to hear the end of the slogan.

Nope.

A key message in this year's back-to-school campaign is "Just Go to School and Become …", CPS officials told the interfaith group. The idea behind the message is the key to achieving dreams, [chief education officer Barbara] Eason-Watkins said.

"Education prepares you to become a doctor, a scientist, an entrepreneur, a teacher," she said. "You can become whatever you want to become if you go to school, study, focus and work hard … and become."

Oh, so it actually isn't enough to "Just Go to School." Ya gotta study, focus and work hard too.

As Eddie would say, "I knew it didn't work."

Education may not be the scene of the worst writing in the world. But educators are the softest thinkers, most shameless liars and smilingest bullshitters in all the world.