For the last couple years the media and many politicians have been pushing the concept of charter schools as the future and the program that prepares our children for college and then to retake our place in the industrial world that we have let slip through our grubby little fingers…….
Charter schools….that program where children are accepted to special schools that run differently than traditional public schools……it is a LOTTO! The future of your child is in the hands of Bozo the Clown with a bingo machine……
Charter schools….the attempt to eliminate teacher’s tenure, attempt to break the back of the teachers union…all in the name of your children and education…..
But all the news and all the visitations have shown that the charter schools are a ripping success….at least according to the media and those pushing a lotto schooling for the kids…..but what is the real news about charter schools?
Let us look at those in New York since these are the ones that the media focuses the most heavily on…in a report issued by the Department of Education…….
the graduation rate in 2009, the last year for which figures are public, was 77%. But only 41% of high-school students were prepared for a career or college, the state said. The state defines students as college- and career-ready if they score at least an 80 on the state’s math Regents exam and at least a 75 on the English Regents exam. New York students receive a high-school diploma if they achieve a score of at least 65 on Regents tests.The state education department said that in New York City, only 23% of graduating high-school students meet the college- and career-ready standard, compared with a graduation rate of 65% among general-education students.
There was bad news for charter schools as well. Of the 49 percent of students who graduated from a charter school, just 10 percent were college- and career-ready, according to the report.
So, the hip new program is NOT…I repeat…..Is NOT, the glowing success that it is painted as being….the god-like charter schools NO more prepare grads for college than regular public schools…..PLEASE! Stop the lies! Find a real solution for a real problem……quit putting band-aids on gunshot wounds……
Good post. Hoever, I don’t think there IS a solution – within the education system at least, since it reflects society, rather than driving it.
Indeed, general attitudes (and I believe that you suffer from many of the same problems as the UK, only perhaps even worse) that have been created by the litigation/politically correct society we live in these days, we will all live in a repulsive culture where greed and instant fulfilment rule. Until you get rid of “me, me, me” as the overriding factor in citizens’ makeup, nothing will change.
Delinquency in the adult society has spread and encouraged it to an even greater extent in a significant section of the young – it’s not all of them, or even a majority of them, of course, but with attitudes towards schooling system as it is (just as it is to everything else) and the belief that it is someone else’s responsibility to give everyone everything, the result is that all education is now always heading steadily south – towards the lowest common denominator in fact – and that’s BLOODY low!
Just as there are none so blind as those who do not want to see, there are none so stupid as those who do not want to learn and, in our modern politically correct society, those cannot be stamped on hard and prevented from dragging everyone else down with them.
Solve THOSE problems in our cultures and we MIGHT have a shot at improving our education systems as a whole – at present it’s just fiddling with the sysmptoms rather than looking at the actual causes – OUR attitudes and OUR crap society!
I don’t know what charter schools are exactly, but I can guess. If I’m right, then it is probably an attempt to separate the wheat from the chaff and, whilst I’m all in favour of NOT mixing the two, I don’t think it will EVER work until we fix our cultures and pathetically ignorant attitudes to life first!
Charter schools? Charter schools are nonsectarian public schools of choice that operate with freedom from many of the regulations that apply to traditional public schools. The “charter” establishing each such school is a performance contract detailing the school’s mission, program, goals, students served, methods of assessment, and ways to measure success. The length of time for which charters are granted varies, but most are granted for 3-5 years. At the end of the term, the entity granting the charter may renew the school’s contract. Charter schools are accountable to their sponsor– usually a state or local school board– to produce positive academic results and adhere to the charter contract. The basic concept of charter schools is that they exercise increased autonomy in return for this accountability. They are accountable for both academic results and fiscal practices to several groups: the sponsor that grants them, the parents who choose them, and the public that funds them.
And the benefits are:
# ncrease opportunities for learning and access to quality education for all students
# Create choice for parents and students within the public school system
# Provide a system of accountability for results in public education
# Encourage innovative teaching practices
# Create new professional opportunities for teachers
# Encourage community and parent involvement in public education
# Leverage improved public education broadly
All that is the official spin….in reality it is a lotto for education…..and it is not as effective as they would have us believe….
Thanks for that. Yes, I see (sort of). It’s the terminology that confuses non-Americans… For instance, in the UK, “public schools” is generally the name given to the top PRIVATE schools – i.e. fee paying (LARGE fees that is!) and definitely NOT state schools – yeah, I know, confusing, isn’t it?
However, though the theory is good and the aims are laudable, as I said, the problem is the culture that surrounds the students and THAT is what is almost impossible to control – certainly in the short to medium term. But then, changing that would mean changing American (and UK) thinking – unlikely to happen.
The lottery bit – well, yes… but then life’s like that, isn’t it? Assuming parents have a choice (vital) whether to send their kids to a particular school or not, then they’d better be good if they want to get and keep students and, if some ARE good, then that should help to make the others think on and try to improve. NOTHING is ever as effective as they would have us believe, so that’s no surprise, but it does sound feasible under your somewhat blighted system – IF the right people tried to make it work in the right way.
WE cannot keep pushing education while slashing funds……like I have said….there are about 50,000 different school districts in this country and each one has a different agenda….that alone prevents any progress…
Agreed, but the Fed may not obstruct the rights of the State. Like I keep saying – crap system!
By the Fed I assume that you are speaking of the government……if so then true. But if you are talking about the Federal Reserve then yes they do ….
Yes, sorry. I get mixed up with all these unfamiliar short names and acronyms – by the Fed, I mean the central (federal) government.
Sory about that….but we Americans love our short little simple names….we cannot think any faster…LOL
It’s YOUR language – you can screw it up as much as you like 😆
And we do a marvelous job, eh? LOL