Southern Illinois ACT scores below state average

CAT Tracks Editor's Note:

Time for some tongue-in-cheek catty commentary...

Since Egyptian and Cairo were singled out for dishonorable mention, and my heart belongs to my alma mater, I gotta point out a "silver lining".

According to the latest Illinois school report cards:

• Egyptian Racial Make-Up: White - 77.2%, Black - 19.7%

• Cairo Racial Make-Up: White - 4.0%, Black - 86.2%

• (The numbers don't add up to 100% because of other racial classifications.)

For Egyptian to only outscore Cairo by one point, 16 to 15, does that mean that Cairo has found the secret to closing the white-black achievement gap?

Maybe Cairo needs to take its "act" (pun intended) on the road...

...we've found the magic bullet!

Hey, most of the "consultants" who have passed through Cairo over the decades have had less "claim to fame". (My colleagues will recall the "experts" flown in from Mesa Arizona...who were caught a couple of years later in one of the first cheating scandals!)

Bottom line:

Egyptian and Cairo educators are doing their damnedest to educate students mired in circumstances beyond their control, circumstances that will not change (for decades) until the economic conditions of the region change.

And, contrary to what the education "reformers" cry...

...poverty is not an "excuse", it's a FACT!

I've said this before and it's still true...

...you can swap the faculties of Cairo and Egyptian with the faculties of the highest ACT-scoring school districts in Illinois and the next round of ACT scores won't budge.

The only difference will be that the transplanted Cairo-Egyptian faculties will have the ability to celebrate their change of circumstances at a multitude of available 5-star locations...

...whereas the northern educators (who will now be labeled "failing" and "bad"), will have to choose from a short list of dining establishments...