Last year I attended the Chicago Public Schools High School Fair and noticed that the prospective students were gathering around the Selective Enrollment/Magnet Schools and the Military Academies. This year I attended the open house for Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences(CHAS). There were over 350 parents/guardians in the school's band room. The principal stated that he only had 150 spots open and some of those spots were restricted. Also, that students would not be notified until February- March if they were even eligible. The eye opener came when he mentioned that there were over 1800 applications last year and he expected that number to increase this year.
As we were waiting to take a tour I saw the jockeying by some teachers who brought students to the open house and it made me ask the question were they doing this for all their students? In the end, I asked did this process make sense and who really wins when high enrollment becomes a mathematical formula? It doesn't appear students win here when they are forced to go on a wild goose chase to get into high school.
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