One of the best things to happen to
education is Charter Schools. They receive a minimal amount of money from the parents of students, as they are
State supported and are run autonomously by their owners. Essentially, it takes the affordability of a public
school and combines it with the creativity and adaptability of a private
school. These schools live and die
through their students. If they can’t
attract enough students, they lose money and may as a result shut down. This means that if they want a parent to send
their child to a charter, the charter school has to innovate and improve upon
itself to be worth the cost. It is meant
to appeal to parents who have lost faith in the public education system, but do
not have the ability to send their child to a private school.
Here are the benefits: For one all students are treated the same
with the same high standards. Another
benefit is that teachers in charter schools can work longer hours and more days
as opposed to their public school counterparts who are limited by stricter
contracts. One of the best features of
charters is that the teacher’s contract has a fire at will clause. While this may sound terrible to some, it is
actually keeping teachers in line as they are hired and fired based on performance. This also means no seniority and so it does
not matter how long a teacher has been teaching if the school is forced to fire
someone only the best performers are kept not those who have been there the
longest. The reasoning behind this is
would you send your child to a bad doctor, so why send them to a bad
teacher. Quality is measured by
standardized tests and performance evaluations to ensure quality and ensure
fair and equitable treatment.
Freedom: Charters allow their teachers to
choose and/or develop new methods of teaching which is retained as long as it
works, again keeping with being competitive.
Classes are not designed to let kids skim by, students receive homework
per subject and gym classes are not about playing games, but actual physical
fitness. Discipline is also innovative
in some charters with Saturday schooling, pushups in the hallway or even
placing a misbehaving sixth grader sit in front of an eighth grade class in the
case of Dr. Ben Chaves’ charter in Oakland California. Of course expulsion rules and rules on
religion remain the same as those in public schools as per State requirements.
Critics: Two arguments exist against charter
schools. The first is that people feel
that charters are stealing students from public schools. However, this is school choice 101. This creates smaller classrooms in the public
schools which mean more attention to the remaining students. Also, this means that the money that was
going to educate that student in the public school can be reallocated to other
areas of the school that need it. It
could also mean a small budget cut as those funds being collected to educate a
child no longer in the system are not required anymore, so it could mean a bit
of tax relief in education taxes. The
other argument against charter’s, and also against the elimination of tenure,
is that rather than create a charter we should improve teachers abilities by
training them giving them a second or even a third chance. People do worry about a teacher’s lively hood
if they get fired and want to help prevent that. However, the question must be asked, whose
kids will be sacrificed to bring the subpar teacher back up to par? Are you going to let your kid be taught by a
bad teacher, setting your child back, so that bad teacher can get batter at
teaching? How many bright futures must
be sacrificed? An education system is
not about improving bad teachers or protecting the livelihood of a teacher. It is about the future of Americas
More Innovation: Other innovations in education due impart
to the creation of charter schools have occurred. One such innovation is active listening where
students show they are listening by using various hand gestures to show they
understand, have a question or are confused.
It is designed to keep the children engaged while allowing the teacher
to better monitor how much their students understand. Disposable teaching methods have also been
created such as songs to help instill the basics of a subject like geography or
math. Another innovation is teachers
having earpieces where the principle is at the back of the classroom giving
advice and pointing out students who are not engaged allowing the teacher to
adapt the lesson on the fly. Some
charters even pay their students to tutor other students which provide a
financial incentive for the student to listen and provides backup to teachers
for students who need a little more TLC.
The ideas keep coming: Another innovation, as shown on John
Stossel’s show Stupid in America
Similar to Khan Academy.org is the
concept of individualized education through online schooling such as through
the group k12. Enforced by parents,
students enter a virtual classroom with an actual teacher on the other
end. They can actually see each other
via web camera. It allows students to
learn at their own pace while the teacher aids them when and where they need
help. It is also flexible as a student
will have to go on at specific times, but allows them more time for social
activities like sports. All the while,
standardized State exams are used to measure performance.
Alternative ideas:
Ever hear of Community Education Resource Network? It uses volunteer teachers to teach students
at just $30 a month, and if a parent cannot pay, the parents themselves
volunteer time to make up the costs. In
general, they use old textbooks to educate students. Some might be saying old text books, but in
truth those old textbooks are not always outdated. The newer textbooks may just have a format
change or politicians ordering the books to be more feminist, or accommodating
to a specific ethnic group. So in no way
are the textbooks outdated as they contain all the useful information as their
later edition counterparts.
Conclusion: These innovations are all well and
good, but are met with resistance. This
resistance sometimes comes from departments of education who will reject
charter school applications but are under no obligation in instances to explain
the reasoning for the rejection. It
could be something as trivial as a paperwork error. To solve this monopoly on approving charters
and their innovative framework, we should allow universities and private
schools to sponsor their own charter schools.
As both universities and private schools already have the proper
documentation to teach students a charter can piggy back on that and end the
board of educations monopoly on approving the creation of charter schools. Of course these charters will be given the
same resources they need from their sponsors as now their sponsors reputation
is on the line. Who wouldn’t want their
child to go to a charter sponsored by Princeton
or Harvard?
Education is going through a
revolution that is making it cheaper, more effective and more accessible to
everyone. It is true that the foundation
of every State is the education of its youth, but it is also true that failing
schools equal failing neighborhoods. Now
with schools competing and resistance to change faltering, the future looks
bright for America
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