What I've accomplished:
Contacting people with power and people from other communities
I called people from the Chicago Board of Education, Holy Trinity High School (because this school was ranked as the best school to send children to under CPS), Democrats for Education Reform, and the Center for Education Reform group that is focused on creating charter schools.
Along with phone calls, and sadly getting only one call back, referring me back to the starting point with my mission, I sent letters out to policy makers. All the letters were of the same format with nothing changed.
The letter states:
To whom it may concern,
My name is Teresa Onstott. I am a senior at Social Justice High School in Chicago, Illinois. Social Justice High School is very special to my community because it is part of the LVLHS campus. The Little Village Lawndale High School campus has four schools with about 400 students each. Social Justice, World Language, Infinity, and the Multicultural Arts School each run separately with separate faculty and principals because each focuses on different aspects of the community.
LVLHS was founded due to a hunger strike. Seventeen community members peacefully protested through a hunger strike for fourteen days on Mother’s Day because CPS--the Chicago Public School system--promised to build a new school for the communities of Little Village and North Lawndale due to overcrowding and the lack of educational options the students had at the time. CPS, however, gave the money they had appropriated for LVLHS to other schools in districts they felt would be more beneficial. Feeling let down, the community members proposed a peaceful protest. CPS did not want to face any legal action, and the money the system claimed no longer existed was “found” just in time for a new school to be built. The community members had designed a school they wanted, with four small school models that would reflect the desires of the community. World Language is the school students go to so that they may communicate to people all over the world. Infinity is the school that focuses on Math and Science to help students compete in the constantly changing world. Social Justice is the school that teaches its students about inequalities and how students can truly become the future that will bring change. MAS is the school that teaches its students that there are more ways to communicate other than words.
The reason I am writing to you is to explain that the way the campus was built holds a lot of meaning to the community and students. Although the small school model is expensive to run, the more meaningful point of the school is that the students are successfully learning and bringing with them to the rest of their lives the sense of culture. The culture and education the students bring with them will last throughout the rest of their educational careers and help them make choices throughout the rest of their lives. CPS is a system that does not look at culture or the importance of the educational environment students are placed in but the numbers of the kids scoring above averages on test scores and enrollment numbers for Advanced Placement classes. Numbers should not be what dictates a student’s life. What CPS does not see in their yearly reports is how much time and effort teachers have put into helping their students learn, how students face outside stresses to finish school, manage a family and job, and above all else, become a positive part of their community.
In my AP U.S. Government and Politics class, students were asked to write an amendment they would like to see passed. My amendment was about how along with the mandatory teachings of United States history, a Human Rights Curriculum would also be taught along with a stronger federal government and bureaucratic involvement in local and state level regulations of education. I believe that what students need the most is to be more involved with the world as well as their country. To become an even better “ideal citizen” that compulsory education teaches students, I ask why we cannot have a class that teaches students to be better, well-rounded human beings.
I do not write to you as another teenager who wants to complain about the government or push you to believe I am right. I want to express as a concerned teenager that loves her school that education should be on top of political lists for debate. Just like being politically aware, people need to be aware of the problems with education. Lack of understanding how a community school runs, how it teaches its students, and the way students respond to their educational environment is exactly like how politicians have to communicate to their constituents about the importance of voting, how politicians interact with one another, and how politicians have to understand and communicate with other politicians to get what they want. The Chicago Public School system is only one of the multiple different types of district educational systems. I for one am tired of looking at the flaws within my educational system and comparing it to the other types of systems that exist and have successfully helped their students achieve a quality education with quality teachers and quality administrators who have had experience with educational policies as well as sociology. Understanding the unique and specific needs of a community is what our current education lacks across the board. People look at education as unequal because of the way it differs among urban and rural communities as well as private versus public. I ask: should there be a big difference? I have studied compulsory education, secondary education, and have learned enough about sociology and psychology to know that there should be no reason to have education treated like a capitalist hierarchy. The goal of education is to keep students active as critical thinkers, innovative learners, and to always question things. However, the ways students are being taught varies depending on where they live, how expensive their education is, and how due to dual federalism in the United States, the type of extra laws they are under due to their state.
I am lucky to go to a school where my teachers really care about me and the quality of my education. There are people who are unhappy with their educational careers at the high school level because of their educators and their school system. I want to at least bridge that gap—the gap between the happy with their education and those who are not happy with their education. By creating a stronger federal role in education, I believe the change America wants can be instilled in its students and citizens for the future generations to come. All I ask is to help me in my quest for bringing educational problems to the light of other politicians so that maybe with enough believers, educational reform can start taking place and America can be the great nation, under God, that it was always meant to be.
Sincerely,
Teresa Onstott
To whom it may concern,
My name is Teresa Onstott. I am a senior at Social Justice High School in Chicago, Illinois. Social Justice High School is very special to my community because it is part of the LVLHS campus. The Little Village Lawndale High School campus has four schools with about 400 students each. Social Justice, World Language, Infinity, and the Multicultural Arts School each run separately with separate faculty and principals because each focuses on different aspects of the community.
LVLHS was founded due to a hunger strike. Seventeen community members peacefully protested through a hunger strike for fourteen days on Mother’s Day because CPS--the Chicago Public School system--promised to build a new school for the communities of Little Village and North Lawndale due to overcrowding and the lack of educational options the students had at the time. CPS, however, gave the money they had appropriated for LVLHS to other schools in districts they felt would be more beneficial. Feeling let down, the community members proposed a peaceful protest. CPS did not want to face any legal action, and the money the system claimed no longer existed was “found” just in time for a new school to be built. The community members had designed a school they wanted, with four small school models that would reflect the desires of the community. World Language is the school students go to so that they may communicate to people all over the world. Infinity is the school that focuses on Math and Science to help students compete in the constantly changing world. Social Justice is the school that teaches its students about inequalities and how students can truly become the future that will bring change. MAS is the school that teaches its students that there are more ways to communicate other than words.
The reason I am writing to you is to explain that the way the campus was built holds a lot of meaning to the community and students. Although the small school model is expensive to run, the more meaningful point of the school is that the students are successfully learning and bringing with them to the rest of their lives the sense of culture. The culture and education the students bring with them will last throughout the rest of their educational careers and help them make choices throughout the rest of their lives. CPS is a system that does not look at culture or the importance of the educational environment students are placed in but the numbers of the kids scoring above averages on test scores and enrollment numbers for Advanced Placement classes. Numbers should not be what dictates a student’s life. What CPS does not see in their yearly reports is how much time and effort teachers have put into helping their students learn, how students face outside stresses to finish school, manage a family and job, and above all else, become a positive part of their community.
In my AP U.S. Government and Politics class, students were asked to write an amendment they would like to see passed. My amendment was about how along with the mandatory teachings of United States history, a Human Rights Curriculum would also be taught along with a stronger federal government and bureaucratic involvement in local and state level regulations of education. I believe that what students need the most is to be more involved with the world as well as their country. To become an even better “ideal citizen” that compulsory education teaches students, I ask why we cannot have a class that teaches students to be better, well-rounded human beings.
I do not write to you as another teenager who wants to complain about the government or push you to believe I am right. I want to express as a concerned teenager that loves her school that education should be on top of political lists for debate. Just like being politically aware, people need to be aware of the problems with education. Lack of understanding how a community school runs, how it teaches its students, and the way students respond to their educational environment is exactly like how politicians have to communicate to their constituents about the importance of voting, how politicians interact with one another, and how politicians have to understand and communicate with other politicians to get what they want. The Chicago Public School system is only one of the multiple different types of district educational systems. I for one am tired of looking at the flaws within my educational system and comparing it to the other types of systems that exist and have successfully helped their students achieve a quality education with quality teachers and quality administrators who have had experience with educational policies as well as sociology. Understanding the unique and specific needs of a community is what our current education lacks across the board. People look at education as unequal because of the way it differs among urban and rural communities as well as private versus public. I ask: should there be a big difference? I have studied compulsory education, secondary education, and have learned enough about sociology and psychology to know that there should be no reason to have education treated like a capitalist hierarchy. The goal of education is to keep students active as critical thinkers, innovative learners, and to always question things. However, the ways students are being taught varies depending on where they live, how expensive their education is, and how due to dual federalism in the United States, the type of extra laws they are under due to their state.
I am lucky to go to a school where my teachers really care about me and the quality of my education. There are people who are unhappy with their educational careers at the high school level because of their educators and their school system. I want to at least bridge that gap—the gap between the happy with their education and those who are not happy with their education. By creating a stronger federal role in education, I believe the change America wants can be instilled in its students and citizens for the future generations to come. All I ask is to help me in my quest for bringing educational problems to the light of other politicians so that maybe with enough believers, educational reform can start taking place and America can be the great nation, under God, that it was always meant to be.
Sincerely,
Teresa Onstott
I sent the letters through the mail to Jesse White, the Illinois Secretary of State, and Richard J. Durbin, one of two of the Illinois Senators. I'll eagerly await a message back.