tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post7698347523177172625..comments2024-01-04T05:57:26.735-06:00Comments on Education Policy Blog: Hosted by the Forum on the Future of Public Education: In the Debate About School Choice, Relevance and Evidence LoseCraig A. Cunninghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160288758906798678noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post-16539576627502387412012-12-19T10:39:44.136-06:002012-12-19T10:39:44.136-06:00What is more, I am not a favor of the status quo o...What is more, I am not a favor of the status quo of public education – that is why I got involved in education policy. I do not want a returning to what schools were pre-charter. But it appears that all of the bad things that crept into public education over the last few decades (e.g., testing) are the focus of charter schools. Increasing test scores does not equate to a testament that educative experiences were had. Nor does it follow that systemic inequality will be solved by a generation of good test takers. Charters want to be the best at what is the worst in pedagogy.T. Jameson Brewerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09668374614225292613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post-71075128089289838652012-12-19T10:08:46.039-06:002012-12-19T10:08:46.039-06:00Peter Sacks (2007) argues that,
“The unavoidable...Peter Sacks (2007) argues that, <br /><br />“The unavoidable policy implications are that good schools can go only so far in raising the achievement levels of disadvantaged children and that attacking the problem with policies that improve the social and economic conditions of individuals and families will be more effective than creating policies aimed just at schools” (p. 14).<br /><br />My worry about what many charter schools are doing is more akin to cultural indoctrination rather than promoting educative and liberating experiences that are (I agree to a portion of your thesis) part of the process of fixing systemic inequalities. Many charters, including the poster-child of charters KIPP, for example, are guilty of this ideology. Horn (2011) points out that,<br /><br />“As long as the focus remains on fixing the insides of children's heads while ignoring the conditions these kids must return to after their ten-hour days [referring to KIPP schedules] of working hard and being nice in their apartheid schools, all manner of indoctrination and extraordinary educational renditions may be deemed necessary and appropriate to achieve KIPP goals. At its unacknowledged core, KIPP [I would also include most charters] remains an intervention aimed at cognitive and behavior control that occurs when we use the happy-talk manipulations of corporate psychology as a means to turn poor minority children into the White Ivy League teacher's version of the middle-class children” (p. 98).<br /><br />Further, Grace Boggs (1970) points out that as long as we approach fixing systemic issues by trying to fix students we simply create a brain drain of a community that is faced with generational poverty. Imagine you buy a house – sort of a “fixer-upper” – you redo some holes in the walls, lay new carpet, paint the inside, fix the leaky bathroom sink, put in a few window box planters, and paint the outside (adds to the curb appeal) and you rest easy knowing that you’ve done everything you could and should have done. However, while your house looks nice you will be surprised when your house crumbles because you failed to inspect and fix the foundation of the structure. Unless you fix the foundation, you can make a house look all manners of good and nice. Charter schools, at some times, tout high test scores as you might brag about the paint color choice of your neatly painted – yet dilapidated and doomed to fail home. We need good schools – no question. Public schools. But I’m in agreement with Sacks that the best way to end opportunity gaps is to end opportunity gaps…not apply Band-Aid fixes that really only seek to concentrate money and power among the reformers and their venture philanthropist backers (Saltman, 2010).<br /><br />References<br /><br />Boggs, G. L. (1970). Education: The great obsession. Monthly Review. <br /><br />Horn, J. (2011). Corporatism, KIPP, and cultural eugenics. In P. E. Kovacs (Ed.), The gates foundation and the future of U.S. "Public" schools (pp. 80-103). New York, NY: Routledge.<br /><br />Saltman, K. J. (2010). The gift of education: Public education and venture philanthropy. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillian.<br /><br />Sacks, P. (2007). Tearing down the gates: Confronting the class divide in American education. Los Angeles: University of California Press.<br /><br />T. Jameson Brewerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09668374614225292613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post-19273735278765861442012-12-19T07:03:06.566-06:002012-12-19T07:03:06.566-06:00Due to an error made by the moderator, Joshua Kilr...Due to an error made by the moderator, Joshua Kilroy made a comment that was deleted. I apologize to Joshua for the error. He wrote:<br /> <br />"We agree that there is a large and growing "opportunity gap" and support aggressive measures to combat it. However, schools do not have the luxury of waiting until broader social wrongs are addressed. And as many of the charter schools in Chicago and elsewhere have shown, we can be doing more right now to help improve children's education."Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14715247066633845922noreply@blogger.com