Chicago schools drop writing tests to save money

As the country struggles to pay billions for three wars, states continue to shutdown basic services and programs. Chicago this week joined other jurisdictions in dropping writing as part of the standardized exam for students to save $2.4 million a year. It is not clear if children will be given lessons on the oral tradition of story telling and refreshers in cave drawing.

Tragically, this is not satire. Presumably all that tedious instruction in math will be axed next, saving even more money, which can then be used for administrator’s salaries and pensions. Certainly in our modern world of computer keyboards for typing and calculators for math, there’s no need for pointless archaic skills like writing or adding. Unless of course you want to sign a check or understand basic math concepts so you can balance a checkbook, much less hold a job requiring basic skills.

We’re heading towards a rigid class system where the uneducated from urban public schools get shipped off as cannon fodder for the latest imperialist adventure by the US or relegated to menial jobs for the rest of their lives. You can bet that elite private schools will continue to genuinely educate their students so they be can the overlords of uneducated proles.

This is happening across the country, not just in Chicago.