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| Col. Tyrell as Gresham |
DAY ONE -- LEVEL ZERO
Ex-Marine Col. Tom Tyrell was there to oversee the first day of school at Gresham. Before Coming to CPS to supervise school closings, Tyrell coordinated "prisoner-exchange" work in Kosovo. He then went on to work as Chief Operating Officer for the Intrepid Sea*Air*Space Museum in New York City, "helping instill in young people some of the virtues" of the military.
Educators at Gresham, 8524 S. Green, spent the school’s first morning open to students indoctrinating children in how the Academy of Urban School Leadership works, step by step, in the hopes of raising academic performance.
Rather than assign a typical “what I did all summer” essay or discussion on the first day, [teachers] spelled out all the rules, and the consequences that’ll kick in next week. [They] had to threaten those consequences just once before lunch.
"In its cafeteria, children first learned how to sit silently (known as Level Zero), how to line up (leaving a square floor tile between students) and how to carry a breakfast bag to class (with one hand underneath to support its weight)."
"On the third floor of the giant brick building, seventh graders in freshly painted room 316 then learned from teacher Stacey Ernvall how to dispose of breakfast trash — by closing the drink carton and stuffing it and the other trash back into the bag once their silent meal was finished."Makes you wonder what Gresham kids are getting prepped for?
h/t Susan Klonsky
Hmm...I hope they were learning how to "sit silently" in the cafeteria being used as a meeting place, NOT for silent sitting during lunch (or breakfast)! If the kids can't talk & socialize during school meal times (whereas they might not have the opportunity for family meals at home), when WILL they be given the opportunity to do so?
ReplyDeleteLearning how to become a social (and not Asocial) person is part of an education.
Or, perhaps, they are simply being militarized--"Level Zero?" Is that akin to "Zero Dark Thirty?"