Your Jan. 19 editorial “A Chicago City Colleges quiz” was long overdue. I have been an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher at City Colleges (Truman) for 17 years and a product of them as an immigrant myself.
There were good days of basic community education, but lately there has been an anarchy of purpose, process and direction. City Colleges have become a laboratory that has no clear idea of what it is supposed to produce. The mess will continue until the Office of Planning and Research is disbanded and responsibility for all programs is assigned to college presidents. That office is like an outdated, Communist-style central committee that produces orders that do not fit locally.
But that’s half the cake. The other half must be the adaptation of mayor’s ethical guidelines. Many program directors are coming through the back door with clout as their basic qualification; many have never taught a class in their lives. Failures–and efforts to scapegoat the faculty for them–exacerbate the problems. Sure, City Colleges need clear direction, but they should also slaughter the patronage cow and find competent people with a sense of purpose. I hope the mayor will take the lead on this.
