“The Final Chapter of the Eradication of Public Schools.”

The Philadelphia Public Schools are a complete failure. It appears that some 35% of public schools will be closed, and if that is the case, classrooms will explode with 40 or more students per class, while teachers and administrators will be laid off faster than a dictator can fill mass graves.

As dismal test scores have become a tradition in the Philadelphia Public Schools the way the Mummers Parade is to Philadelphia, it is crystal clear that Dr. Ackerman cannot lead our schools to academic prosperity--pure and simple. Perhaps if she focused more on education and stopped acting like a wanna-be- politician; she could have been more effective. Unfortunately, she now joins the ranks of Hornbeck and Vallas as three of the "worst" individuals to ever head our public schools.

Ackerman is not the only one that has failed the students. I also place blame on the failure of "our" public schools on the shoulders of the following:

• There are some parents who have played no role in their children's educational and social progression. They do not show up for report card conferences or volunteer at their children's school, and in most cases--don't know the name of the child's teachers. It’s as if these parents are working towards effectively ensuring that their children fail. Parents of this caliber make Ma Barker look like Claire Huxtable or June Cleaver.

• Career politicians couldn't give a damn about the students. These bloated jackals each year massacre public school budgets, thereby fast-tracking many of the students to a life of illiteracy, poverty, crime and a fixture in the penal system. So long as their pockets are lined with kickbacks, they couldn't care less. In my assessment, "a career politician is the prelude to a dysfunctional government."

• Some of the school administrators and teachers are only working in the field of education to collect a paycheck. Like some of the parents I spoke of, these ineffective educators are not interested in the success of students but merely keeping them busy until the school bell rings. Some of the administrators are so woefully incompetent and apathetic towards the ones that need them the most that I would like to see them bought up on charges of crimes against humanity.

• The community failed because they didn’t demand accountability from the teachers, administrators and elected officials to provide the youth and adolescents with every resource so they’d have an “opportunity” to succeed. I guess the community felt it was not their responsibility to assist the defenseless because it was not their children. For all intents and purposes, the 21st century version of a community doesn’t know or doesn’t care about the theory of needing an entire village to raise a child.

The final chapter of the eradication of public schools, and with it our children’s futures, is drawing to a sad conclusion. Are we willing at this late hour to make sacrifices for a brighter tomorrow for the youth or have we completely lost our humanity?


“Progressives will bring balance to the Republic.”
Anthony P. Johnson