One of the most hotly debated issues in the United States today is the controversial topic of education reform. Since public schools are funded almost entirely by local property taxes and money at the state level, many parents feel that they deserve a greater say in what their children learn in school. However, sometimes the opinions of parents contradict the policies at the federal level, thus causing conflict. Dissatisfaction with the public school system in their districts has led many Americas to seek other options for their children’s educations. In 1992, the first charter school opened in Minnesota, giving parents the option to send their kids to a free public school of their choice (“Charter Schools”).
Although about 2 million American students now attend around 5,600 charter schools, I do not think this as beneficial to American students as charter school proponents claim. Despite all of the “perks” charters schools boast of and attract parents with, these schools do not necessarily perform better than average schools. Charter schools give an unfair advantage to stronger students, leaving students who struggle in weaker schools with fewer resources to help them. Perhaps most importantly, they are not available to all students, even though they are funded by public tax dollars. Although the motivations behind charter schools are admirable, they are not worth it. Our efforts in improving education are better spent investing in the public schools we already have.
Despite their intended purpose, charter schools do not statistically perform better than other schools, making them ineffective. Amy Ruck, the New Jersey director of the Office of Charter School explained that the charter school law allows charters to be ...
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...em is in desperate need of help, but charter schools are not necessarily the answer the problems.
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"Education." Galegroup.com. Opposing Viewpoints, 2012. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.
Hernandez, Javier C. "De Blasio Seeks to Halt 3 Charter Schools from Moving into Public Spaces." New York Times. The New York Times Company, 27 Feb. 2014. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.
Ravitch, Diane. "Moving Past the Blame Game." Editorial. NJEA Magazine Nov. 2013: n. pag. Print.
Rotherham, Andrew J. "KIPP Schools: A Reform Triumph, or Disappointment?" Time Magazine 27 Apr. 2011: n. pag. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.
Ruck, Amy. "NJ Director of Office of Charter Schools." E-mail interview. 7 May 2014.
Tyson, Alec. "Many Americans Say Educational System in Need of Overhaul." Pewresearch.org. Pew Research, 13 Aug. 2013. Web.
Review of Kozol's Article on Urban Public Schools. Elements The first element of Kozol’s article is the reality of urban public schools and the isolation of their students. Jonathan Kozol illustrates a grim reality about the unequal attention given to urban and suburban schools. The article explains how Kozol specifically looks at how they reflect institutional discrimination and the failure to address the needs of minority children.
America’s public school system started off very rough, but through the dedication of many hard-working Americans, it was starting to shape into a system that allowed all children, regardless of race, gender, religion, or nation of origin, to have an education.
One of the most pressing issues facing the United States today is its failing educational system. While many solutions have been proposed, the idea of charter schools has been both popular and controversial. The topic of charter schools is being debated in as many places as local school board meetings to state supreme courts. Though on the surface, charter schools seem like an exciting and promising step for the future of education in America, they are not the answer to this country’s ever-increasing educational problems. Charters will drain already scarce funding from regular public schools, and many of the supposed “positives” surrounding them are uncertain and unpredictable at best.
In the text, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, author Diane Ravitch explores her ideological shift on school reform and the empirical evidence that caused this shift. Once a proponent and contributor of testing, accountability, choice, and market reforms, Ravitch’s support began to diminish as she realized that these current reforms were not viable options. She came to realize that the new school reforms focused entirely on structural and managerial adjustments and that no focus was given to actual learning.
Schools may not be equally available to all students and thereby result in unequal treatment for those not eligible to attend or not selected. Public schools could become "dumping grounds" if the "good" students were to leave and go to charter schools. The drain of funds from the public schools could also present a problem. Transportation issues would arise as well as a reexamination of state athletic association rules and regulations. Choices to attend may not be made on the basis of attending a better school or district but because the school is closer to childcare, it's perceived as easier, more convenient or has better extracurricular activities. Lawsuits could arise due to the fact that the schools would make promise regarding school performance and/or educational offerings that might not materialize. Schools could file for bankruptcy. Other issues include possible discrimination toward students and violation of state of federal laws.
In a nation dominated by capitalism and free trade, steps are being taken to turn the ability to learn and other education rights into commodities that can be manipulated and controlled by companies. Charter schools are public schools funded by state money, but not unionized; they also can be in the form of a traditional brick and mortar schoolhouse or an online school (Ravitch)(Molnar)(“Preface to 'Are Charter and Magnet Schools Good Alternatives for Students?’”). According to their proponents, charter schools allow parents more sway over their child’s education (Jacoby 77). A charter school proponent Jeff Jacoby states, “Their goal: to build the kind of school that used to be commonplace in America-one providing a rigorous, traditional, fact-based
While private invested charter schools may seem to be the right choice for some children,
There may be opponents to the idea of having charter schools, but they have been wildly successful lately and are quickly expanded throughout the states. This
Under NCLB policy, if a public school in the state standard exams results in consecutive unqualified scores, the school will be closed soon. Although the government gives parents more choices to accept the way of education, the students just can go to school in poor communities where the environment is bad. When there are charter schools, the public schools are going to be closed, the company or person can take it with permission, the foundation all comes from the government. The biggest difference between charter schools and public schools is that the charter schools have it own operating system, foundation and teachers.(Ravitch, Reign of Error, chapter 16, p157-160) There also are some disadvantages in charter schools, first is the quality gap, due to the quality of teaching which almost depends on teachers and principals. The second one is differentiation between races and classes. Some charter schools’ mission is serve minorities, such as African-American and Hispanic, because they want to save the nations’ culture. However, this limit of communication with other communities will result in a big gap objectively. Charter schools only pay attention to the scores and do not share their strategies to collaborate with public school, because they want more students to get high scores so they can enter to famous schools more than public
KIPP’s School District still focuses on enforcing a different teaching concept as compared to public schools. They implement bright colors, singing, and hand motions into everyday learning. This keeps the students attention and helps with their involvement. KIPP’s business level strategy would still be focused differentiation. They focus on kids that live in poverty and are failing in a normal public school. Most of the children that live in these areas are minorities. “There is 58,000 students, more than 88 percent qualify for free or reduced-price meals at school, and 95 percent are black or Latino” (Monahan). With most of the students living in poverty, the teachers need to pay special attention to them and have commitment plan with the student’s parent. This means the teachers need to put in more hours than most teachers in public schools. This has caused a low retention rate for KIPP teachers. There are also major issues with funding and management. These are some of the major issues shown in the 2012/13 case
Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, the American educational system has undergone much transition in response to our changing society. Though there have been many problems raised throughout the years in regard to what our school systems should be teaching our children, there have also been many developments.
Zimmer, R. and Buddin, R. (2009), Is Charter School Competition in California Improving the Performance of Traditional Public Schools?. Public Administration Review, 69: 831–845. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6210.2009.02033.x
For decades now, there have been educational problems in the inner city schools in the United States. The schools inability to teach some students relates to the poor conditions in the public schools. Some of the conditions are the lack of funds that give students with the proper supplies, inexperienced teachers, inadequate resources, low testing scores and the crime-infested neighborhoods. These conditions have been an issue for centuries, but there is nothing being done about it. Yet, state and local governments focus on other priorities, including schools with better academics. It is fair to say that some schools need more attention than other does. However, when schools have no academic problems then the attention should be focused elsewhere, particularly in the inner city schools.
Bethell, Tom. "The Quality of Public Education Has Declined." Opposing Viewpoints: Education. Ed. Mary E. Williams. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Chaffey College. 6 Apr. 2010 .
United States Department of Education (1997). Overview of Charter Schools. Retrieved April 3, 2003 from the World Wide Web: http://uscharterschools.org/pub/uscs_docs/gi/overview.htm