The Pros And Cons Of Charter Schools

Charter Schools: Pros and Cons

The success of students may not depend on school’s governance model, but rather families that nurture their children’s academic ambitions, teachers who inspire the children to excel, school management that creates a positive and learning-friendly environment, and communities that value education. All these factors affect the academic outcomes in the same way, regardless of whether the student is in the private, charter or traditional public school. However, while traditional public and private schools have been in existence, someone may get curious as to why charter schools are on the rise in various countries. Considering the advantages and disadvantages of charter schools will assist parents, educators, and

Charter schools are schools opted by parents or communities that choose to approach the public education using a different method (Johnson, 2016). As such, charter schools become the best option for parents, who may feel that traditional public schools are not fit for their kids. In some cases, parents prefer schools that are neither too big nor too small, excessively academically ambitious or those that risk their children to negative peer influence (Mack, 2012). Because charter schools are formed by parents with a common goal, this is good for a closely-knit membership among all the stakeholders. Besides, the schools are usually small in size, and this is beneficial in achieving a close community participation where the teachers can know their students better (Johnson, 2016). Moreover, the strong links between the community and the charter schools encourage parental involvement, a necessary practice when it comes to achieving high standards of

For example, the funding of charter schools depends on the student enrollment (Mack, 2012). As Dower (2017) wrote, charter schools rely heavily on families and communities for funds to run their daily activities, for example, funds to finance locations, build or rent classes among other expenses. As a result, if the student enrollment is high, those expenses are taken care of; however, if the student enrollment decreases the tuition may increase or the administration will have to seek other funding options.

Additionally, some charter schools lack diversity (Johnson, 2016). While some charter schools are located in the inner city, poor areas or serve mostly African-American students, others tend to operate by racial and economic grounds (Johnson, 2016; Mack, 2012). Moreover, most charter schools operate on a very rigorous curriculum which academic slackers may not put up with. As such, it becomes a serious burden or unaffordable to the low income earning families when some charter schools make it a requirement that parents pay for transportation and volunteer for a given number of hours. Similarly, it is a usual case for charters to suffer space limitations and as a result, some of the schools discriminate against disabled students, citing their lack of resources to suit the needs of these