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25% of Charter Schools Owe Their Soul To the Walmart Store
theodp writes "Among the billionaires who helped Bill Gates pave the way for charter schools in WA was Walmart heiress Alice Walton. The Walton Family Foundation spent a whopping $158+ million in 2012 on what it calls 'systemic K-12 education reform,' which included $60,920,186 to 'shape public policy' and $652,209 on 'research and evaluation.' Confirming the LA Times' speculation about its influence, the Walton Foundation issued a press release Wednesday boasting it's the largest private funder of charter school 'startups,' adding that it has supported the opening of 1 in 4 charter schools in the U.S. since 1997 through its 1,500 'investments.' But as some charter school kids have learned the hard way, what the rich man giveth, he can also taketh away. For the time being, though, it looks like America's going to continue to depend on the tax-free kindness of wealthy strangers to educate its kids. For example, while it was nice to see the value of Shop Class recognized, the White House on Monday called on businesses, foundations and philanthropists to fund proposed 'Maker Spaces' in schools and libraries. Hey, when the U.S. Secretary of Education turns to corporate sponsors and auctions to fund his Mother's afterschool program for kids of low-income families in the President's hometown, don't look for things to change anytime soon."
Doesn't it make the author smart?
Due to a technicality Alice was let off of on a DUI charge just recently. Maybe she should spend some of her $27 Billion on Drug and Alcohol education in the schools instead?
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
Does anybody know a decent "news for nerds" style discussion forum? Preferably one that bears as little resemblance to slashdot beta as possible?
I have come to the conclusion that the charter school movement was conceived in sin. born in corruption and is too full of conmen and grifters to give it any support.
There may be some decent, honest people trying to make things better in the movement, but it is not the way to bet.
http://eprof.com - free market answer to the failures of government (redundancy detected) 'education' system.
It is that school system that is about to bring you Beta.
You can't handle the truth.
$60,920,186 to 'shape public policy'...
AKA lobbying. What won't a politician do for money?
I'll bet they'll teach advanced shelf stacking techniques, door greeting, making do on low pay, turning your back on further education. etc. Walmart/Walton Foundation is NOT a charitable institution. Everything they do is profit through exploitation.
Where is the fucking government and its taxes. We shouldn't be reading stories about corporations doing government work.
Because of various subsidies, loopholes, transfer of profits to offshore accounts we have U.S. of America in very heavy debt.
Instead "dirty profits" are legalized by Washington lawyers and small chunks of it are thrown to the public to make us feel better.
Screw you.
This site has really gone down the crapper.
Maybe schools should raise some more corporate-sponsored cash by doing product placements. For example, it would be easy to monetize homework assignments:
1a. Juan is planning a picnic. He buys packages of Sara Lee® brand 100% Wheat Home Style® Hot Dog Buns which each contain eight buns. He also buys packages of Osar Mayer® Jumbo Deluxe All-Beef Franks®, which each contain 10 wieners. What is the minimum number of Hot Dogs Juan needs to buy so that there are no unmatched buns or wieners?
1b. Juan plans to put 1/2 ounce of Heinz® Sweet Dill® Relish on each hot dog. How many 12-oz jars of relish does he need to buy? What brand of mustard would best complement the relish: (a) Heinz® Classic Yellow Hot Dog® Mustard (b) some other non-specific mustard?
1c. Extra credit: Juan asks his friend Latoya to buy ketchup for his picnic. List three benefits Latoya would receive if she bought genuine Heinz® Classic® Ketchup instead of the discount store brand. Explain how sometimes what appears to be the least expensive choice isn't the greatest value overall.
I am posting this anonymously because many of my previously upmodded posts have suddenly been downmodded offtopic, troll, etc. Karma be damned, I am fighting for a website I have been reading almost every day for more than a decade. If you care about Slashdot, please do not sit idly by and wait for Dice to add to Beta the features that we care about. Slashdot has, hands down, the best moderation system online. It is no coincidence that it has been ruined in Beta.
There is a reason why "News for Nerds, stuff that matters" no longer appears in the header:
Slashdot Media’s brands include Slashdot and SourceForge. These technology sites provide access to tools, software and forums for enterprise IT professionals working in all industries and companies from the world’s largest to small and medium-sized firms. Slashdot and SourceForge harness the power of social that no other tech site can compete with.
Slashdot Media provides its partners with proven integrated media strategies to effectively influence technology buyers. With over 15 years experience working with the largest and most engaged professional technology communities, Slashdot Media’s expert staff continues to contribute to the success of its partners branding, demand generation, and social media marketing programs.
I, for one, abhor our new corporate overlords.
Andrew Carnegie has his name on more museums libraries and schools than anyone else in the northeast US. He also hired thugs to murder striking workers. Giving your money way rather than trying to take it with you may be noble, but it does not erase the sins of people that have built their fortunes on abusing workers like the Waltons and Carnegie.
The new comment system seems to be designed to be used at full HD resolution with a maximized window. Apparently they didn't consider that with anything smaller than that, the comment are becomes a painfully narrow corridor.
My children go to a charter school and they are getting a far better education than they would at the failing local schools. My wife and I are both involved in the school and we both have a teaching background (I taught engineering at the college level for 4 years and my wife was a preschool teacher for 11 years, both sets of grandparents also taught public school for 20+ years). The teachers and organization of the charter school is light years beyond the local public school in delivering an effective learning experience for the kids. There are always a few bad apples, but anyone who tells you that charter schools as a whole are not far better than public schools is a liar in the tank for the teachers union or someone who has been brainwashed by their propaganda.
The money that charter schools get from the taxes that we pay is a pittance compared to what the pathetic, failing state run public schools get. If we don't want charities funding charter schools maybe we should ban teachers unions and give parents vouchers that they can take to any school that is accredited. Let's also institute a ranking system based on the learning the students actually do so even the laziest parents can pick winner schools. That way charter schools won't have to beg for funding and will be on an even footing with public schools; the problem is the teachers unions don't want that because they know that inside of 10 years all of the public schools would be gone along with their power, massive union dues and a huge fundraising/advertising arm of the Democrat party. The bottom line is the teachers unions exist only to further their own power and enrich the teachers, regardless of how well they teach. Until we break those unions, our children's education will always be second place on the political landscape.
They tried vouchers in DC and it has been an unmitigated success which is now trying to be shut down because the unions are scared spit-less that it will spread to other states.
That was indeed the double meaning. Thank you for spelling it out for everyone.
Fact is though, the beta protest movement has its place. And its not in the other discussions. Even a good cause can lose a lot of support if most ardent supporters start to trash everything, rather than focusing their protests on the issue.
I've read slashdot from the start - posting from time to time as anonymous (I never saw the need to register for forums that offer an anon capability) - and I agree that it's dying and that's actually a real shame. There are so few actual stories worth reading, and when there are, the posts are mostly people not contributing - just trying to be funny. It didn't used to be that way (there were always jokers and trolls, but not like this)
I guess I'll keep reading for now... but what a turn this site has taken...
Does this link blizzard have anything to do with charter schools being in debt or obligated to Wal-Mart, the retail store? Or is it just a Walton heir getting mixed up with charter schools? Not clear at all.
Fantastic how mixing up articles on both public and charter schools can shade people's opinions.
Also, let's take the bitching about slashdot beta elsewhere?
On both counts, you "me too" people disgust me.
Me too.
I specifically notice the change from MS bashing articles to stuff actually interesting. Maybe slashdot has finally grown into something useful.
slashdot troll = you make a compelling argument I do not like the implications of.
There are a few options. We should pick one before Monday; everyone who participates in the week-long slashcott will need a place to go.
altslashdot.org is what it sounds like. It's being setup in response to the Beta fiasco. It's a work in progress and needs volunteers.
kuo5hin.org is an old slashdot spinoff. It's more or less dead now, but the site still exists. Stories are submitted and voted on by readers. At the moment it's giving me a key-expired error.
technocract.net is a site that was run a few times by Bruce Perens. He's been asked to set it up again. The goal was to have a slashdot-like site, but the problem was always getting enough people. At the time of writing, it's not up.
Do you think the Gates, Walton, or Obama kids will be taking shop class, other than as a hobby? It's the wealthy's condescending solution for the less privileged. Their kids will be knowledge workers; the poor aren't good enough for it.
Similar is the backlash against college education (and liberal arts). Most of the people saying college isn't necessary will be sending their kids; it's the less wealthy who they think shouldn't go.
"College isn't for everyone" they say, but there is a strong relationship between income and academic performance. Perhaps the solution is to give the poorer kids an opportunity, instead of writing them off.
Today, the main purpose of charter schools is to tap the huge pie of education spending, wrest it away from the commie democrats and unions that control it, and siphon it into Republican pockets.
That's not all Alice has done. My wife and I recently spent a few days at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, a world class museum in Bentonville, Arkansas created by Alice Walton, and had an incredible experience. "Located on 120 acres of native Ozark forest, Crystal Bridges' grounds invite visitors to enjoy the natural environment as a continuation of their museum experience. The Museum's distinctive architecture immerses visitors in the landscape, while three miles of nature trails encourage exploration and reflection." And admission is free.
"tax-free kindness of wealthy strangers"
Why do some feel that charitable contributions should be taxed? Say someone makes a billion dollars this year and gives away that billion dollars to feed the hungry or buy clothes for the poor... that should be it. If the government takes half a billion off the top, that is half a billion less for those hungry and poor.
It's the same as giving someone a welfare check and then taxing half of it. Suggesting that would be considered preposterous by the same people who want to tax the hell out of the charitable contributions.
All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
Correction: Good parenting means not letting your children become shit, regardless of the state of the school, corporations or politicians in control down the road.
Respect the Constitution
Good parenting means keeping your kids off Beta.
Many many decades ago, I went to a charter school for k-6th grade. The school had to allow everyone in the area as part of its opening up in a richer suburb. I lived along the border and was included in the school map. School had computers while only the jr high and high schools. My parents could have never afforded to to send me to a private school with lower population sizes and computers. I was lucky. And being a poor rowdy kid, they never kicked me out. Lucky that's where I got my introduction into computers.
Only thing I'd like to see is smaller classes, and charter schools on average have higher. This is supposedly with them kicking poor performing kids out. But charter schools differ so much, there is no "standard" model used. I think we can all agree smaller classrooms with more individual help is what schools should have, but thats gets very expensive. I'd rather take all those billions of dollars in state taxes on alcohol and marijuana taxes go to directly fund schools instead...
There's always usenet.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
And how exactly is sending our kids to schools that are not failing and who have and maintain actual standards
"Siphoning the education spending pie into Republican pockets"???
The education pie should not be going to commie Democrats, which it has been for many years now, any more that it should be going to Republicans (which to my knowledge it does not). The whole reason that our education system is broken is because of the teachers unions and the entanglement with the Democrat party, who would sooner cut off their left arm than face the real problems in the education system.
Taking over the place for a few days is not 'trashing everything'. Don't be so short-sighted.
Boycotting the stories forced them to try to explain themselves, but we still need to force them to abandon the Beta plans. Every on-topic post reduces the chance they'll break.
It looks like US education is moving towards a more efficient and profitable business model. Too bad learning outcomes aren't profitable.
Next, the corporations will lobby to de-couple learning outcomes from awarding funding to privatised schools. It might work well for the school-to-prison pipeline; lots of profit to be had from funnelling children into correctional facilities.
Slashdot Beta == Any given Linux DE. Rob Malda == Adlof Hitler.
Do you have a child in a failing school? Have you spent time time talking to clueless administrators? One of them told me "it was against state law" to teach the multiplication tables. They won't teach fractions except for 1/2, 1/3 and 1/4. That is unfortunate because you don't get to pick your fractions in algebra. One of the (first grade) teachers directly criticized my wife for not speaking more to my son in Spanish. The kindergarten teacher said he "didn't want parents in the classroom". The public school principal spoke with me in very thinly disguised contempt.
I could either run for school district or send my son to a charter school. When we asked about math, the principal of the charter school said, "Oh, so that is why none of the fifth graders who come from the school district can't do math."
So no, my presence, my ideas, my concerns were not welcome at the public school. Your theories fail the actual children in the schools. I like choice. What does it matter that a "corporation" does it rather than the school district? If you don't like charter schools, then don't send your children to one. If enough people don't like them, they will close.
These charter-school folks have a long-term agenda, and that is the conversion of public education from a public service to a fully privatized profit center, with the added perk of eliminating teachers unions as a political force. A key factor in achieving this is that wealth inequality has become so extreme that local governments no longer have the resources to educate the nation's children, but billionaires do. Can parents and boards of education afford to say "no" when, in the face of decaying buildings and teacher layoffs, big-time donors come offering modern, well-staffed facilities, with all the latest IT and other equipment, if only you let the donors do it their way? Once the public school system is reduced to being merely a dumping ground for the worst, most disruptive and unresponsive students, the donors won't have to be so generous, they'll be making handsome profits as the contractors in a privatized fee-for-service education system. It's just like the 1990s when deep-pocketed for-profit HMOs offered healthcare at below-market rates. Once all the nonprofit hospitals and insurers were driven out of business, the for-profits jacked up premiums at double-digit rates for decades. It was a brilliant strategy, and it's happening all over again, in education.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Andrew Carnegie was a ruthless industrialist. He would rather spend the extra money building *free* public libraries than give his blue collar workers a raise. Today we have Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Hall, (and many others) which only reaches the college-educated masses, which by the way only constitutes 25% of US population. Is this a tax on the poor the same way Walmart is "exploiting" so only the well-to-do benefits? Then what about the lottery, which I have heard in some circles being called the "tax on the poor and stupid?"
I don't think Walmart is as evil as people claim, but I don't think they're the angel philanthropists they're trying to portray themselves.
People are complicated. Complex, emotional, walking bags of blood.
So Walmart opens up 45 minutes away from my home town, most local business close within a year. The community's economy took a huge hit, but in that town 45 minutes away, they see their local businesses close doors to a company selling USA made products, they counted the new jobs, not the small businesses lost. What a victory.... The town also saw their average wage drops as well, but more jobs right? Years later Sam Walton dies and shortly after that Wallmart is selling almost entirely foreign made products, nothing local, not even the owners. How hypicritcal can be, you strong arm a community calling it capitalism, became greedy and sold cheaper products at higher prices without the care of the community. You siphon off any remaining wealth the community has, then you say charter schools owe their souls to Walmart, Walton's? Those charter schools with privilege kids owes their souls to the underprivileged kids who now have a much harder chance to even match the same wealth class as their parents.
Change your settings. I have humor as -4. Voila.
Why the fuck is this "news"? I don't worry Who funds education; I worry about the quality of education. Now, if the curriculum is not optimal, that's a different matter. However, the source of the funds do not automatically translate into optimal/not-optimal education.
Much like a city depends on fines for it's budget so will the government on philanthropy. The government would spend more on social causes if philanthropy did not exist. Cities would not have a vested interest in not reducing income from fines if it did not depend on it for its budget.
I'm confused. At first glance I thought the summary was saying that the Waltons were donating hundreds of millions to charter schools as an act of grand philanthropy. I'm sure the schools could use the money. But it looks more like the money is going toward lobbyists for charter schools and not charter schools themselves. Am I reading that right? I'm sure that's exactly what kids need.
Step one: Form a union for government employees.
Step two: Force all government employees to join said union.
Step three: Force all government employees to pay dues to said union.
Step four: Have the government collect dues from government employee's paycheck and pass it directly to the union
Step five: Funnel millions of dollars of dues from employees to those politicians that favor you.
Step six: Wind up with government for the government by that government, AKA the Democratic Party. Fuck the people who pay for it.
Another problem with public state run schools. In CA they got around $9k per student last year. In a classroom of 30 kids, do the math: $270k/classroom. The teacher gets paid $70K in salary and benefits, that leaves $200k, assuming $20k a year to provide the room and books, that leaves $180k a year that gets blown out the ass of the state run schools on principals, administrators, superintendents, union facilities workers, janitors and who knows what else incompetent wasteful spending. This is the fundamental problem with state run schools, they are incompetent on almost every level.
Caring for your children is a basic genetic imperative, and I would lay dollars to doughnuts that by far more parents care about their kids than anyone else, teachers included. There are exceptions, but I would wager that there are far more teachers who don't care than parents who don't care. If parents could vote with vouchers, the free market would chop out most of this fat and waste and the resulting schools would be much more efficient and effective, bad teachers would be flipping burgers, people who are good at teaching would be teaching with just a basic requirement to know the subject matter, and we could also easily cut the classroom size to 12 or so students per class, without any increase in spending at all...
Until the trolls show up. Gets tiring spending more time adding things to the kill file rather then discussing. Currently most of usenet is great because the idiots are on web forums.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
Can there be any more links to articles than this summary?
I rather see corporations spend billions then having that money come tax payers. The lack of education I think comes down to the parents, if the parents don't take any interest in their education other then "whats your grade?" then that "wealth inequality" (which is a very stupid term to begin with) will get bigger as the kids who want to learn will out earn those who drop out or just don't care.
Get rid of teacher unions, make it so teachers can actually be fired, make it so teachers WANT to be good teachers. Stop thinking that just throwing more and more money at education can fix anything.
Some of the public school systems right nearby Bill G. already have something of an alternative to private charter schools.
http://www.lwsd.org/schools/Ch...
So not sure why they have to push so hard to get private charter schools stood up.
Admission is by lottery, which is just as self-selecting for motivated parents as charter schools... that is to say, you will probably get into one of them if you bother to apply. Once in, you're expected to put in so many hours of community service (both students and parents), as well as make a "voluntary" donation of $200 per year (as a public school, they can't really mandate collection).
The schools themselves tend to be small and very tightly-knit. They're usually run entirely by a handful of "star" teachers with free reign over the curriculum and virtually no administration... they usually share a principal from the nearest conventional school. The real "scam" is some legal loophole that allows these schools to be built with none of the extra facilities - usually when school campuses are constructed, they need a certain minimum allotment of athletic fields, gyms, cafeterias, multipurpose rooms, etc. While some of these choice schools have such things, the majority of them are just a handful of classrooms - so funds are purely focused on academics (kids can still participate in sports and activities at their local conventional school). The other scam is no school busses; parents have to drive the kids there themselves, though a lot of them carpool and the kids also get public bus passes.
So it's actually not all that much different than what you describe. Most of them have themes (art/theater , environmentalism, politics, foreign language / history, STEM, etc.). The big complaint is that there aren't more of them, which is funny because they appear to be much cheaper to run than most typical school campuses and draw on a lot of parent involvement.
America spends vast amounts of money on its public education system, but it's not yielding better outcomes.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
What these people who you denigrate as "wealthy strangers" are doing is provide a better, and usually less costly, alternative for education, after public schools have already sucked vast amounts of money out of the pockets of low and middle income Americans and wasted them on a poor public school system.
No, of course, things won't change. The problem with US public education isn't lack of money; it has plenty of that, it's is structure: an ineffective mix of curricula, bureaucracy, social engineering, tenure, unions, test scores, and outdated teaching methods. And the solution is to create alternative forms of schooling, and private money is important for that because tax dollars alone can't do it, in large part because of demagogues and ideologues like you.
Taking more money in taxes and shoving it into a failing educational system under the control of the same people who have given us our current system won't help students; creating viable and better alternatives, tailored to the needs of communities, will.
"Fact is though, the beta protest movement has its place."
And you'd like it confined to a "free speech zone" far from where anyone will actually be aware of it?
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
and the road to serfdom will be complete
Because clearly this is an issue of free speech. Arguing against people spamming topics with item completely unrelated is stifling free speech.
And somewhere, people are hooking up generators to bodies of people who actually fought for free speech, to make money on electricity they will generate after that claim.
In order to secure desires of the owner's of Walmart concerning how education is to be granted in the USA, everyone should accept higher prices at WalMart. Its not as if you have a choice in the matter anyway.
especially in a highly dynamic technological society, where all parents have an innately excellent grasp of differential equations and the advanced mathematics needed to be competitive in the marketplace.
Who needs usenet, when we can still send smoke signals. Global warming is just a lie anyway, right?
If they just increased the default font size a little and if one could more clearly mod-up posts which are actually on topic.
As everyone knows that most parents have a far better understanding of differential equations and other mathematics skills than do math teachers. Besides, parents always have Fox News to rely on if they are weak on subjects such as history, social studies, as well as how to prepare their children for a reverse mortgage and life in the unemployment line.
Is that the one that teaches intelligent design and creationism in biology class?
So that the 60% of the money to pay teachers can instead go to charter school administrators, whose salaries vault into the 7 figure range. Clearly, one of the advantages of being a not-for-profit charter, just like the NFL.
In counties that have large school systems you can bet your last dime that organised crime has infiltrated many departments. That last 6% of so of funds that just can't be pinned down by audits is available for criminals and in billion dollar school systems that 6% is a huge ongoing pay day. Here is the way it actually works out. Somebody decides that efficiency saves money. A county with 200 schools will open a building and trades department so that each school does not have to hire out maintenance work. Also new construction and contracted repairs will be handled by a central source. That will involve a huge fleet of maintenance men and vehicles and equipment. Because of the shear size of such departments any audit will in itself consume millions of dollars and virtually cripple a maintenance department for months. It also means that organised crime will target positions and individuals with planning and maintenance departments, Purchases and contracts can be steered to include Mafia owned or controlled vendors. I have seen first hand the vast waste caused by this issue and can tell you that it even reaches deep into local governments and can even reach out and control law enforcement and investigations as the sheer size and complexity of the issues make elected officials very shy about upsetting such a huge apple cart. Not to mention that anyone who allows himself to be seen as vaguely aware of the nonsense will limit is career in such a system.
Is that the same Kentucky charter school that teaches intelligent design and creationism in biology class?
Bitch is worth $20+ billion. $158 million is what, like a half a day's pay? It's chump change for a Walton. Want to be a real humanitarian? Spend some of those billions ensuring your workers earn a living wage so their kids don't have to live in poverty while they're not attending one of your fancy expensive charter schools.
This is a story? Rich people (read: evil people.. unless they're Warren Buffet or George Soros) donate to help kids' educations, let's denounce that and find all kinds of fault with it because it wasn't from a democrat sponsored and controlled government program. This reeks of one-sided leftist propaganda seeking to accuse the other of propaganda.
This is all about rallying against the freedom of charter schools because big government and teacher unions can't exercise the level of control over them they want to.
I'm so sick of this posturing from opposite ends of the aisle: but this is illustrative of the fact that the left is all for "compassion" only as long as they can claim exclusive ownership of it and can twist it into a PR bonanza; if the other side does anything remotely similar, it's ridiculed and belittled, items are sarcastically referred to in quotes ('research and evaluation'), you get stories like this and.. well, Melissa Harris-Perry. Amazing hypocrisy and piety at work.
I'm perfectly positive that Gates and Wallmart have some ulterior motives at work, in fact - tax write offs at least.. but this is absolutely as true of the left as it is the right. They all do things for ulterior motives.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
Makes me wonder what the price of these schools is, in the end. The extremely rich are paying the bills, does that mean they get to say what is taught or not? Are we going to end up in an era where most of our schools are privately funded by creationists? It's not an issue of separation of church and state if the state isn't involved to begin with.
It makes me worried about what our country is going to turn into. The republicans keep trying to privatize everything, and make sure that privatized things don't have to follow the rules. So, instead of this being a country of the people, by the people and for the people it's going to turn into a country where a very small population, a royal caste if you will, decides everything for everyone else and there's not a thing we're going to be able to do about it.
The Walton's aren't exactly liberals.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
It seems that whenever a discussion/argument about occurs, whether it be about charter vs. public or whatever, the conversation almost always comes down to good teacher / bad teacher. There are then anecdotes about their personal experiences in school and that sets the stage for all the commentary afterwards. To begin, each person's experience is unique. Each person had one school experience, in one place, and at one time. This is equivalent to having taken one flight to one place, once and being qualified enough to tell all the other pilots how to fly airplanes. If you say to a person, “Since you know so much, why not become a teacher and show us how to do it right.” That same person will demure, “No, I couldn't be a teacher. I couldn't deal with a classroom of kids all day long. It would be too stressful.” No where did this person mention, charter vs. public, what they were teaching, or anything else outside of dealing with students. Deep down, people know that it boils down to a classroom full of unruly children and the stresses of all the “outside” experts telling you how you should do your job. They are right. If you can't handle the stress, you shouldn't be there. Moreover, you shouldn't make judgments about the people who are. In my experience, there are two basic kinds of teachers. There are those that had a pleasant educational experience. They graduated, went to college, got certified, and began teaching. This is the only career they really ever had or experienced. They got a rude awakening once they entered the classroom. The other kind had a career first. They did this for years, then started a new career in teaching. These teachers have a more realistic view about what these kids are going to face after they get out of school. In both cases, these teachers have the understanding that all the problems in societies boil down to hate, bigotry, greed, and poverty. Mostly, societies act this way out of ignorance and fear of the unknown. The only effective way to make the world a better place is to make the unknown, known. What better place to start than with the young? Teachers, for the most part, are interested in promoting social justice. Unless, something ruins them. Teachers are like cops. Teachers usually have teacher friends. It is the only people they deal with every day except kids. Just like cops and criminals, who else would understand your life? Who else could you talk to? Certainly, not parents. They are only interested in their “little Tommy”. They could care less about any other child. Like all institutions, schools contain many different kinds of jobs, each with their own agenda. So among staff, there is a lot of political intrigue. Whether a school is concerned with satisfying a state's needs for accountability or satisfying a charter's income needs, the politics is the same. The only difference is the cause. The public thinks that teachers get a 3 month vacation every year with pay. The reality is that teachers are only paid for 9 months work and laid off for 3 months. Only, their paychecks are spread throughout the year. The public also thinks those 3 months are a vacation. Many teachers work summer schools, take courses to keep their certifications, or take summer jobs. In any case, they are not “having fun” taking time off. Many teachers plan lessons during the summers, because what they teach and how they teach is constantly being directed and changed by outside forces every year. Pedagogy, the practice of teaching, is both an art and a craft and have to be constantly tweaked to improve practice on an ever-shifting sand, of politics, policies, and educational standards or reform. Teachers do not have as many rights as other people. They are basically public figures without the fame. Anything you say, write, or do publicly could be a career ender even if it is perfectly legal. If a teacher were to promote gay marriage, legalization of cannabis, be caught publicly smoking cigarettes or drinking, that could end their jobs. The
http://newint.org/features/201...
Casteism
gosgog: ....answer "Oh we're gonna learn how to use make up in domestic science today!"...this a 14 year old who already used make up!.....American Public Schools...UGH!
Some years back I lived in South Houston, Texas, where we had NASA headquartered. This local Public school, in an a strong middle class location with many kids who had a dad working for NASA. The school in my opinion was AWFUL. I went to a few parent teacher meetings! At one point I questioned daughter,"what are you doing with that lurid paperback novel?" Answer, "we have to provide a book report"...."are you gonna read that book?" Answer "No I just read the Blurb about it on the Back Cover & turn it in!" SO I WENT AND ASKED THE ENGLISH TEACHER "why aren't your class reading 'Classics'....answer. "we don't have any books!" & she showed me a couple of sheets of paper, with the type of lessons she was provided by the school..."Have your kids do a Book Review" was one such! Another time I asked same daughter."Why are you taking your Mom's make up?"
American's prefer to 'own' their children. Thus we have few gains (evolution) and continue to harbor prejudice and promote greed. Tis how we beat (mostly killed) the Indians and others out of their lands and stuff, lives. We're Christians and God Help you! Many schools or perhaps most dwell on competition and not cooperation. It often gets worse in college depending on the path you're on. You've heard the motto: "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." Besides Wolves are too much like Dolphins, only not on the menu, as yet.
Hard to know what's charity if the agenda is produce more of the same. And the number one reason they do this stuff is for the tax deductions they get and PR, plus pick the schools who will teach them to be good little Associates and later, impoverished greeters or Box dwellers, down by the river.
Why are there so many 'single quotes' in this 'Post'?
Are 'double quotes' just for rich people? Or are we telling the interpreter to 'ignore' and special characters inside them?
There's more to being a good parent than doing what only benefits your own child. Being a good parent includes creating a community for the benefit of everyone, which in the end benefits each individual. Parents abandoning the public school system only benefit your own child or an elitist sub-group of students. Parent should have the ability to "home school" if they choose. But that process should merely be an option via the local public school system. Meaning materials etc. are distributed via the local public schools. Not via some *for profit" (read "personal gain) enterprises. School vouchers are undermining not only local public schools but also dumbing down national public school systems by sucking valuable resources out of those educational systems. For what? The ability of a select group of parents to send their kids to elitist schools? Charter schools have the option of selecting who they want to educate. Public schools don't have that option. And privately run charter schools often require that parents be "engaged" in their children's educations. Public schools don't have the ability to demand the same. Their mandated to take any and all, where the parents are engaged or not. And that's why the public schools give the appearance of "failing". Parents have a sense of entitlement and feel ALL the educational responsibility falls upon the public schools and teachers. When the biggest problem is a vast majority of parents have abandoned their responsibilities to ensure their students are meeting educational standards. So, the problem with the public schools is the attitude on the part of parents in general.
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." - Voltaire
You've done a great job covering the major criticisms of charter schools. The Arizona charter school system exemplifies all of the problems, and more. The 'more' is the faith element. Many charter schools are religious and while the Catholics and Mormons (big in this state) are supportive of science teaching there are others teaching faith instead of facts. I accept that parents must be allowed to make education choices for their offspring, however execrable, but it should never be on the public dime. Another aspect that may be the tip of an iceberg is the corruption engendered by the absence of accountability. Some charter schools here get their supplies from a corporation run by the school's owners' cronies such that they pay over the top prices. Again, the taxpayer is footing part of the bill. To me, the most disturbing element is the lack of accountability. Once accountability is removed mostly bad things happen, true in any context but worse in any profit center masquerading as a public benefit.