Please read this excellent Op-Ed from the Boston Globe written by David Segal.
It reflects much of what I have been saying for quite some time about the REAL issue at the core of the charter school debate. This is one of my favorite issues because it is a great example of how NO ONE wants to see the truths of each side. They just want to keep demonizing each other - preferring to keep the voters confused rather than informed.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/08/03/the_new_educational_divide
In his article, Segal focuses on the group to which I most want attention paid - those that are left behind. And as such, the charter school issue for me is a microcosm of our larger political debates. As a general proposition, charter schools are excellent schools. The dirty little secret, however, is that charter schools are the ugly step child to ... wait for it ... TRACKING! There I said it. Tracking is the proposition that students with superior skill sets should get to learn with other similar students, at a more challenging pace, and with a more challenging curriculum, rather than be dragged down by less skilled students. Everyone has his or her study that shows how much better it is to mix everyone together - but if that is the case - how can those same people in good conscience support charter schools. It is by extension - the same principle.
Now as a former teacher, I do NOT believe "tracking" is a dirty word NOR do I believe that "charter school" is a dirty word. In fact, I think there should be as many advanced programs as possible in the public school systems. I think selectively, students who excel in more standard programs should be encouraged to enter more challenging programs. But I also think that we always forget that unlike many other countries, we try to educate EVERYONE. A rational school system would have an excellent alternative program for emotionally troubled children. It would also have a supplementary school for mentally disadvantaged children. It would also have various programs for different learning styles (pilot models). Charter schools are nothing more than an escape from reality. It is a cop out. It is saying we no longer know what to do with ALL of these kids so you know what - the kids that want to learn and the parents who are not asleep at the wheel (as way too many are) - they will get to REALLY go to school. (Oh and by the way, since we could never pay teachers enough money to work the hours they really should in order to provide quality education, we'll just skirt around the law like they do in China and make them work whatever hours we want for whatever pay we deem fit - regardless of the Union Contract. Trust me - they'll just be happy to work in a place where people care.)
It is true, as Segal frames the case, that charter schools are mostly populated by students whose parents or advocates had to pro-actively get them into the school. Why can no one see that OF COURSE that would be a better environment for learning. Its cleaner, and the teachers, parents and STUDENTS care more - and WANT to be there.
So why would anyone be against that? Well of course the people who want to go to the better schools wouldn't be. Conservatives - who are mainly the wealthy and alert folks who want to get their public school kids into better schools (but not pay for private) would be for it. But for them to also say this is FOR the poor, ALL the poor, is the height of hypocrisy. Yes people who are poor benefit. But the vast majority of the kids with little support at home, those who are behind at so many levels, these are the MAJORITY of kids out there and THESE are the kids that will all be left to go to the REGULAR school.
Segal wonders if anyone ever asks what will happen to the REGULAR schools if you increase the number of Charter schools? Well what's left essentielly becomes a de-facto alternative school. A school filled with kids whose parents were asleep at the wheel or who are discipline or emotional basket-cases. Keep in mind, the more charter schools you make, the more like REGULAR school your Charter school becomes. This is not about the teachers, the parents or the paint on the school. If every school is a "Charter School" you then begin to have the same problems. You no longer have the cream of the crop - but more of the "problem" kids than you had before.
What so many of us fail to ask is what makes a charter school superior in the first place? I will list them - but only to then see how our "regular schools " need to be.
Selectivity, Focus and Accountability - much like a private school, charter schools have a certain focus, selective student body, engaged parent and level of parent-teacher-student accountability that many public schools do not.
Teacher Time - as stated previously, teachers would gladly spend more time on their job if they got paid for it. Many do as it is, but please do not sit on your couch and demand something of teachers that you would not do yourself. When the auto industry wants to cut pay and demands more hours without less pay - the automakers can't just create a "special" plant where the union agreements don't apply. Why people do not get that analogy is mind boggling.
SO - the answers are the ones that have been there all the time. Schools need teachers to spend more time teaching (extended learning time). But you need to pay them. If you are not willing to do that then shut-up, game over, stop complaining about schools and stop yelling about charter schools. Its criminal.
Schools need focus, they need character education, they need accountability, and they need TRACKING. There need to be pilot programs with different avenues of learning (not necessarily different schools). There need to be special education programs with less (yes less) inclusion. (inclusion - the dirty word of education that really means "whew - less money spent and the regular classroom teacher can deal with it all") There need to be alternative programs for students with discipline problems so that their negativity and time drain does not limit the other students.
Once all these things have REALLY been attempted, and they didn't work, then I guess the only solution is to leave all the problem kids and kids with drug addicted parents to hang out for 185 days at the "regular" school while everyone else goes to a school that no one pays attention to. I know that sounds harsh - but this really is the logical extension of the charter school craze.
No comments:
Post a Comment