[Pen-l] RE: charter schools

[123hop@xxxxxxxxxxx]

The problem with charter schools is that they are financed by public funds but do not have the responsibility of public schools.

--They can pick who attends
--They can pick who they throw out
--They pay less than public schools, demand more time from their teachers, and are also free to hire/fire teachers at will.

--The public schools do not have the choice of refusing any one: not if their special needs, not if they're behavior problems, not if they score low on tests: not for any reason except criminal activity.

To illustrate. My daughter's middle school was always inundated with problem charter school students a few weeks before state exams were adminstered.  Some consequences of this:

1. Exam scores for charter schools rose
2. Exam scores for public schools fell
3. The public schools did not have sufficient time to teach the students that were thrown over the wall to them
4. Everyone unaquainted with the details believed that charter schools were superior

You want private schools, pay. You want public schools, provide sufficient resources to give everyone a decent education.

Charter schools are nothing other than a way of dividing the working class by providing a haven for those parents (usually middle class/educated) who have the means to shop around, secure a place for their children, and not care about anyone else.

What about the children who do not have such parents? What about them?
Related questions: is education a basic democratic right? Is it possible to have a democracy without an educated populace?

Joanna

_______________________________________________
pen-l mailing list
pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l