Chicago Public Schools Going Extinct

A second post will also be written by a classmate of mine, Nicole Celewicz, who writes her own blog in regards to aesthetics here.
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54: Chicago Public School programs at risk of being removed

61: Chicago Public School buildings at risk of being removed

100+ : Students protesting the closings

April 24, 2013: Date of protest

For many high school students in Illinois, April 24th marks the day of a significant event in their educational career: the Prairie State Achievement Examination. However, this year, hundreds of students from Chicago Public Schools ditched the mandatory testing and chose to protest the proposed closing of CPS schools. This large group of students are working under one, unified group called the “Chicago Students Organizing to Save our Schools” and are hoping that the sea of dozens of picket signs will convince the district to rethink the closing of schools. Students voiced their anger with the situation and the PSAE in general, considering the testing as simply another way to judge their schools unfairly. 

While to some it may seem like a far-fetched claim, the numbers associated with this issue are surprising. 54 programs and 61 schools are planned to be removed, as they are currently being considered under-enrolled and underutilized. Looking forward, as many as 129 schools are being considered for removal, particularly 80 in the next two years. Why so many? It seems as though the thought-process revolves around redistributing resources. While it seems brutal, officials look at under-utilized schools and figure that if we combine two under-utilized schools into one school, we can take the funds and resources from both the schools and make one productive and well-functioning school. 

It doesn’t seem to be so clear cut to CPS students though. After taking dozens of standardized tests and seeing their scores used as evidence in these debates, the question arises as “What determines how effective or necessary a given school is?” Is it a good school if, for every 10 students, 8 are getting A’s and high test scores? Or is there a more deeper, thorough examination or study that needs to be taken to determine the effectiveness? Along with the students, teachers are also unhappy, calling mayor Rahm Emanuel the “murder mayor” for closing these schools and, therefore, leaving them jobless. 

With hundreds of students protesting and dozens of teachers speaking out, will it be enough to get the district and board officials to change their minds? Or are the numbers too telling of the ineffectiveness of these schools? 

The Real Boston Massacre

Today's post will feature a guest writer, a classmate of mine named Erika Grad, who owns her own blog here.
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Runners: 26,839
Miles ran: 26.2
Time of explosion: 4 hours 9 minutes into marathon
Number injured and killed: 175 and 3 (respectively)

In Boston, Patriots’ Day is celebrated with the running of the Boston Marathon, the best-known racing event in the world. Because schools and businesses close for the event, more than 500,000 spectators gathered to watch the race. The day began as usual, with the marathon starting at 9:00am. And then around 1:10pm tragedy struck. Just near the finish line, two violent explosions sent thousands of spectators and runners into a state of panic and set America on high alert. What makes this horrifying event hit home for me is the fact that my aunt, Karen Harr, was among the runners when the explosions occurred. Crossing the finish line only five minutes before the first detonation, she was catching her breath in the medical tent when the blasts sent a shockwave through her body. After returning to her hometown of Pittsburgh, Karen describes her personal experience in the aftermath of the event on NPR.

Tamerlan and Dzokhar Tsarnaev were the two Chechen brothers suspected of plotting the attacks. In a televised broadcast, President Obama stated “Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups, will feel the full weight of justice.” America does not take threats to its national security lightly, and so the manhunt for the two brothers began. Within 24 hours, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was gunned down by police officers while Dzokhar Tsarnaev was captured only days after the bombings and questioned by authorities. The immediate response to the attacks by the U.S. government and local authorities further proves that security for America and its citizens is the number one priority.

April 15 quickly escalated from a beautiful morning of celebration to a tragic afternoon of destruction. The Boston Marathon of 2013 will no longer be remembered for bringing a city together to honor and support thousands of runners, but will instead be remembered as the racing tragedy that unified a nation against an act of terrorism. 

Can We Sustain Ourselves?

848: Miles of Pipe
15: Vacuum Trucks Deployed
33: Temporary Storage Tanks
45: Minutes of Leakage
10,000: Barrels of Exxon Oil Spilled in Mayflower, Arkansas

When news broke of the colossal environmental blunder in Arkansas, many saw the spill as merely another in a seemingly endless series of human error and destruction. Exxon, as a reputable company should, quickly dispatched clean-up crews to the area and started to rebuild both the afflicted community and their own reputation.

Considering the spill is lesser in scope than BP's or the Gulf War's monstrous disasters, it will be talked about for a few days and then largely forgotten by a vast majority of Americans who are not directly facing the consequences of the accident. There probably exists a large sector of the population completely unaware of this mishap ever taking place.

The question we as a populace are beginning to face has shifted from the prior "Will we deplete our supply of natural resources?" to "When will we deplete our supply of natural resources?"

But this is only the case because of a severe case of complacency among the American people. Wasteful behavior and errant consumption have continued their upward trend despite the staggering amount of research done on the subject.

5: Species Facing Extinction Every Day
35,000: Barrels of Oil Consumed Every Minute
10: Tons of Nuclear Waste Generated Daily
1,692: Acres of Arable Land Transformed into Desert Hourly

At some point this issue becomes less about sustaining the environment and more about the aforementioned pure and utter  complacency that will compound over time to create a situation with no rewind button. Nature was designed as a sustainable system. Were humans?