Willie Jude’s Observations
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal reports:
Willie Jude was in high school in rural Mississippi in the early 1960s when a teacher brought in a telephone to show to the students. It was the first time Jude set eyes on an actual phone.
On Friday, Jude walked out of a much different school, Custer High School, on Milwaukee’s north side. It was the last workday of a 32-year Milwaukee Public Schools career
He makes some great observations in the article (read the whole thing!), but here are the bullets as summarized by Joanne Jacobs:
–”Did my parents give me basic tools (for succeeding in school)? No, because they didn’t have them themselves. But what they did have was respect, discipline and courtesy.”
— Show up and show up on time. Both in his years in the MPS central office and in its high schools, Jude made a priority of fighting truancy and - something he considered just as serious - tardiness. He says parents and MPS don’t do enough in dealing with these.
“There are two major things that businesses are complaining about (related to the high school graduates). Tardiness and attendance. They go together into attitude and relationships. (Business executives say) if a kid comes in here punctually and they have a pleasant attitude, we can train them. But I can’t train them if they’re not on time or they’re arguing with every supervisor and co-worker they come into contact with. . . .
“Once a student is punctual and in school, a lot of other problems begin to disappear.” Jude said MPS policy since the late 1980s has barred principals from taking strong stands against tardiness.
Eduwonk agrees.
