Monday, March 5, 2018

“The Kids Who Graduate are Going to Have a Hard Time Making it in this Economy”

Chicago, IL – Instead of apologizing for badmouthing Cairo students and making false claims, Chris Kennedy tripled down on his attacks on public school teachers and students.

Despite being reminded that SAT scores are not a recognized as a metric for college readiness, Kennedy defended his repeated attacks yesterday, claiming “the information I took was right off of a state of Illinois website, and that’s how we’re measuring ourselves.” He then continued slinging insults at hardworking students, saying “the kids who graduate are going to have a hard time making it in this economy.” Cairo students are defending themselves and taking the high road, with one high school senior telling a local TV station, “If he doesn’t think I can make it, I got to prove him wrong.”

WATCH:

“Chris Kennedy insults hardworking students left and right, and won’t back down from his baseless attacks even after he is confronted with the facts,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “Students and teachers in Cairo have already stood up to correct Kennedy, but he refuses to learn his lesson.”

TRANSCRIPT

Maxwell: You pointed out recently that in Cairo, down in Southern Illinois, that zero percent of the students there were ready for college according to their SAT scores. That’s correct, but they don’t use that score for college readiness in the state of Illinois currently. Are you running dangerously close to- in the past we’ve seen this issue where you’re calling for more state funding for schools, but also some of the teachers and students there took offense that maybe you were saying they weren’t doing their jobs.

Kennedy: The information I took was right off of a state of Illinois website, and that’s how we’re measuring ourselves.

Maxwell: Can you clarify that comment?

Kennedy: I don’t believe that the tests measure potential or academic success. As the chairman of the University of Illinois, I sat, I sit on a board associated with the University of Chicago. I sit on the board associated with Kellogg, the school of business at Northwestern. I spent 12 years on the board of the Chicago, or the Catholic Theological Union. And so I know test scores are not determinant, but what they are evidence of is massive underfunding of our schools where if you’re in a town without a lot of property taxes, your school is so underfunded that the kids who graduate are going to have a hard time making it in this economy.

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