The Compassionate Society

Recently we quoted Leor Sapir regarding the role of “empathy” in enabling so many of the social pathologies we’re burdened with. Readers of another recent post, regarding Wirepoints’ expose of the many nearly empty schools in Chicago—problem or solution?—may well have been reminded of an episode from the classic Brit social satire series, Yes, Minister: The Compassionate Society. That episode featured a hospital that was fully staffed but had no patients or medical personnel (a phenomenon that apparently cropped up for real during the Covid Hoax). When the minister threatens to cut the staff, the union boss calls all London hospitals out on strike:

When the Government Teachers Union was asked to comment on the Chicago phenomenon of open schools with hardly any students, they responded, for the record: “F*ck Wirepoints.” That’s a direct quote. Wirepoints has now followed up on their original expose of the Chicago Government Schools.

First a bit of perspective on just how empty—and how failing—these schools are:

Manley High School, for example, has a capacity of nearly 1,300 students, but just 64 kids attend the school and only 2 percent of the kids can read at grade level.

That’s very empty!

Naturally, readers were curious about the number of teachers and administrators and janitors and other staff at these schools. Wirepoints came up with some remarkable data:

Even more bad facts about Chicago Public Schools’ 20 emptiest schools

In those 20 schools there are, on average, just four students for every school employee.

At Crown Elementary for example, there are 131 students and 30 FTE employees – a four-to-one ratio – all in a school that’s only at 19 percent capacity. At Raby High School the ratio is three-to-one – 163 students versus 52 teachers and staff.

Manley HS, meanwhile, spends $33,000 per student and has a ratio of two-to-one: 64 students and 34 employees.

And Uplift High School – where operational spending is about $30,400 per student – has just as many employees, 54, as there are students, 55. Despite that 1v1 ratio, only 3 percent of students are proficient in reading.

Wirepoints also found that more than half of the 20 schools had both a principal and an assistant principal – each with a salary above $110,000 a year.

For example, Courtenay Elementary with its 151 students has a principal with a $163,000 salary and an assistant principal with a $137,000 salary.

And Douglass High School has both a principal making $147,000 an assistant principal making $122,000 – all for managing just 44 students.

Wirepoints has done a yeoman job exposing the financial corruption of these union run schools, but it has also focused attention on the curriculum—which may explain the dismal results:

Chicago Public Schools’ radical agenda gets uglier: ‘Equity’ video promotes looting and burning – Wirepoints

Meanwhile, America is waging war around the world while our society swirls downward.