Monday, March 14, 2011

Charter Schools question...



riddle me this: WHY ARE CHARTER SCHOOLS "EVIL" OR "BAD"??? PLEASE PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE ANSWER THIS.

I work for a charter school. My own aunt thinks I am evil and must practice exclusivity/cherry picking and that I must educate the elite who can afford such schools.

Excuse me? Charters are public schools and are free and cannot practice cherry picking...just like a "regular" public school, we must accept anyone and everyone who wants to enroll.

I keep hearing "regular" public school teachers bash charters but I never know why.

Ok I do not live behind a rock (although I do live on bedrock....) so yes I hear of charter problems which could be why they're "bad"
1). They under-perform
2). They misalign funds/money laundering
3.) They do cherry-pick students
4). They hire un-credentialed teachers

Ok, 1-4 are true and do happen. But here's the thing, unlike "regular" public schools, charters can and MUST SHUT DOWN when they don't meet targets, do illegal activity, etc. I have worked at public schools that under perform or what have you, and they continue to operate. For decades. The reason charters get the bad rap perhaps is they they do shut down if they, well, suck. So you hear about many charters shutting down. Meanwhile "regular" schools continue to suck for years and years and no one bats an eye.

So still, please answer my question of why charters get the bad rap. I am not against "regular" public school since I've worked in many of them, but I think they should get the bad rap for NOT shutting down when they "suck".

No comments:

Post a Comment