… Where does mine? I want to be part of a democracy where everyone has an equal chance at “happiness and safety”, as explained in our Declaration of Independence. I want my children to have an equal chance at success, really as defined in precisely that way: experiencing happiness and safety. It is toward this end that I want my children educated. And I want all the children they ever encounter, or could ever encounter, to have that same chance.
Is that really so hard? Too much to ask? It was the promise I thought I heard while growing up, that story of the cherry tree, and the hot potato walked 4 miles to school, uphill, both ways – all those tropes. I thought they were all facets of the promise of equality and fairness for all.
So then what gives when arranging the best for my own child means that my neighbors’ receives less? What does it mean when you arranging the best for your child results in there being fewer resources for mine? Competing interests in a democratic free market are part of a system that mediates such interests; what do we want the educational marketplace to look like?
It is incontrovertible that market economics are being applied to our children’s education: public, private, parochial and hybrid. Charter schools are run as for-profit entities, subsidized by investors and corporate tycoons. Public schools are underwritten by industry captains, and ideological training camps are pushed by this same sector to saturate the nation’s public school systems with their dogma. When a charter school opens in my neighborhood it draws children away from the school I have chosen, my public school. Resources follow these children; your “choice” precludes mine. It results in my school being underfunded, underutilized, neglected and frankly devolving into a far inferior institution that it could have been with adequate, pooled resources. The current setup that supports, even encourages, such rapacious draining of our public schools results in a public system that becomes increasingly unable to fulfill its mandate.
And what of this draining? It is not even-handed, it is not indiscriminate. It is, as they say, a specific “creaming” or skimming of children, resulting in: segregation. By definition, the setup is exclusionary, generating small pools of children who share one certain characteristic at the expense of another. Children are admitted to charter schools according to some filter, conscious or otherwise. With small, select schools, comes selection, whether through parents who: choose a specialized educational philosophy that appeals to them, or follow parent-gossip that sounds enticing, or are manipulated to feel that attendance is a special necessity for whatever market-driven or ideologically-driven or scholastic-driven requirement is the pedagogical salvation-du-jour.
Regardless, what results is many, dis-articulated, small pools of learning. They are no better in terms of outcome than the larger, and they provide in fact, far less choice, ironically, than that which comes from a large, unified school district.
So when I am asked: ‘What do you care if my child attends a charter school? Send your child where you feel is best for yours, I’ll send mine where I deem best for mine’. That person is really saying: ‘leave me alone; if I feel like siphoning public resources that were once designated for the good of the whole, to my private corner of the universe, this is my right. Buzz off, I want what I want; my own is more special than yours.’
The trouble is: my own isn’t more special than yours. My own feels more special to me; in fact, my own is more special … to me. Therein lies the end of my public claim. We hire intermediaries to adjudicate the public good precisely because we are so close to our own that we cannot generate a public good for them without our own bias getting in the way. When we select on behalf of our own, it is right and proper that we exhibit bias: it is our job. As my child’s parent, it is my job to consider her special.
And that is why we must have a public school district. Truly public, without private bites carved out. Because all these children are special and precious, and someone other than the given parent needs to administer a system that treats them with this understanding and respect. This, they deserve: it is their basic, human right. And unless every child has an equal — not selected — chance of an excellent education, everyone’s best interest is denied.
One Comment
Francesca Mcelhatten said:
April 29, 2013 at 6:41 pm
Beautifully articulated!
When a charter corporation planned to co-locate at my children’s school, Braddock Drive ES, I was horrified at what our school and students would lose, so that other families might have the school of their choice. With the 5 rooms allocated to the charter, we stood to lose interventions and services critical to the education and well being of our most needy children. Speech therapy, counseling, occupational therapy, drama, orchestra, English language learning and intervention services to bring struggling students up to grade level would all disappear with the space necessary to offer them. This dedicated space is needed to offer therapies & counseling in the privacy essential for the dignity of the child.
As a title 1 school, 72% of our families are classified economically disadvantaged and are not able to access these services elsewhere. How can anyone believe it is right or fair to claim the education of their choice for their child, at the expense of the well being and education of another child?
Instead of co-locating on 2 schools, the Charter is now taking rooms at Stoner ES alone. They argue that they are also offering places to local disadvantaged children. Those children are sought after now they bring new funding and grants available only to schools with a 40% of Free and Reduced Eligible students.
But our school will still suffer. Now the poverty model is more lucrative than the fundraising model, our students will be targeted for enrollment as the 2 schools are less than a block apart.
Ours is not a failing school, having an API in the mid 800’s and gaining year on year. We are a California Distinguished School because of the programs that the Charter co-location would have removed.
If any of our Kinder and first grade classes fall by just 1 student we lose that teacher and that class. The school will slowly start bleeding to death.
The charter school is Citizens of the World. It feels like some Citizens are more important than others.