All About the CORE

Readers, you might be expecting another tired post decrying the Common Core. Instead, we're focusing on a Core of a different kind, as in Rahm Emanuel's visit to the CORE Club in New York City. Recently disclosed in his annual economic interest statement, WCT can only say: Cha-ching!

Billed as a portal of power for, "a self-selecting group that shares a common sensibility," Emanuel visited on September 17, 2013. A day on which he undoubtedly felt that old-timey, Gilded urge to "relax, recharge, or refuel...perfectly and comfortably." Ah yes, the 3 Rs. Maybe test scores are flagging because we're teaching our students the wrong 3 Rs? 

The common sensibility this group must share is a keen interest in plutocracy and a penchant for all the trappings of the filthy rich.

The CORE Club boasts member benefits like:

• A "curated connection" to luxury lifestyle partners: Garde Robe (tagline: Imagine having endless closet space), HeliFlite (no tagline needed for the providers of "affordable helicopter ownership"), and Milano clothier Duca Sartoria with an atelier in NYC (again, no tagline needed for one whose creativity is described as, "Genius. Both hidden and revealed.")

Let's contrast this to the member benefits teachers can partake of as a CPS employee:

• A disjointed collection of such CPS-approved vendors as: Office Depot (no tagline), AM Bus Company (tagline: The School Bus Transportation Specialists), and clothier Silk Screen Express (no tagline, but an on-time guarantee!). 

Clearly, Rahm Emanuel is completely in touch with his constituents and their needs. The rest of Emanuel's financial disclosures--gifts like free sports tickets, comped transportation, and meals--prove he is 100% in tune with the students of CPS and their teachers. 

Given all of this, it's no wonder Karen Lewis vowed to make the upcoming election a difficult one for Mayor 1%, "If there's a way we can have some kind of reasonable conversation, then sure [to a contract extenstion]. But if not, it's going to be contentious, absolutely, as it should." 

As it should, indeed.