A friend of mine sent an email to me that said, "I don't understand all of this education reform stuff. I don't know the difference between vouchers and charter schools and magnet schools and education reform, and the other options. Can you give me the 'idiot's guide' to understanding this stuff before my daughter starts school next fall?" This is my response to my friend:
Dear __,
You and I have been friends a long time. I know I can be completely honest with you. This is how I see things as a parent whose kids are much older than yours. Take my opinion with a grain of salt and ask others in addition to me.
First you must understand that wolves want to eat your children. Not the furry kind of wolves -- the human kind that are much more devious and dangerous.
There are three camps of "education experts" -- two of whom are really wolves in sheep's clothing: Corporate Wolves, Religious Wolves, and the Shepherds of Public Education. The Wolves love to call themselves "Education Reformers".
Corporate wolves are usually Republicans and centrist Democrats (Democrats In Name Only, or DINOs) who worship business as a god. They want every student to grow up to be a slave to corporate America. Some corporate wolves know nothing about education but somehow seem to always have the podium because they are wealthy and their friends give big fat checks to political candidates. (A certain University President comes to mind.) Corporate wolves want you to forget well-rounded educations, learning to think critically, developing one's potential, and encouraging meaningful dialogue. All education, to the corporate wolf, is to make bean-counters and worker bees. Drones. Zombies. Non-unionized cubicle inhabitants.
Corporate wolves can't wait to get into the public school system using things called "public-private partnerships". That is a fancy way to say, "We're going to put unhealthy, high-profit margin, sugary foods in your kids vending machines in exchange for some cash dangled in front of your Principal's face".
Corporate wolves see art, science, physical education, and other subjects that honor the holistic development of each child as their enemy. Kids who think critically might question their superiors or their employers. "We can't have that", they say. Corporate wolves hate teacher's unions. Corporate wolves love to say things like, "Any idiot can teach" and to show it, they pass laws allowing business people who have never had a single course in Teaching Methods or Educational Psychology to teach your kids.
Then their are Religious Wolves. These people want to brainwash your children to believe dinosaurs never existed, being gay is a "choice", the founding fathers were all religious fundamentalists, and white people were the first and only "true" Americans. Religious wolves love vouchers.
Vouchers are money certificates public school districts collect (your taxes) and then turn over to the religious wolves so they can indoctrinate your kids in their religious dogma. Vouchers do not require the private schools that use them to hire teachers who are licensed, unionized, or even trained (state and federal standards for teachers only apply to the public schools) Case in point, I had a Mom-friend once who believed people can get AIDS by kissing someone with the virus. She also believed there is no such thing as climate change. This person is now a teacher in a private school in Arizona. (Where is the ACLU, you ask, crying foul because private school vouchers are a clear violation of the constitution's "church and state" boundaries? Great question! I don't know.)
One important thing to know about both of the wolf species above is, they know they are more likely to capture your children if they can get legislators to slash funding for education. When schools are weak, they cannot fight back. They also figured out that when they merge their packs together and make a super-pack, they are much more successful in their hunt.
Then you have the "Shepherds of Public Education" who are the vast majority of parents, teachers, and level-headed citizens. We are the ones who say, "We do not want our children eaten by either corporate wolves or religious wolves. We believe in growing human beings, not bean counters, worker drones, or religious zealots. We want our kids to learn to think for themselves, to ask questions, to listen critically, and to create, not just consume. We want our kids to be well-rounded, to stretch their imaginations, to make healthy choices for themselves, and to be tolerant of people from every culture and every tradition. We want them to learn all theories of creation, for example -- the popular beliefs as well as those based on scientific evidence. We believe children should come to their own conclusions (a very dangerous idea to wolves, apparently!)"
The Shepherds are often blamed when it's raining (times of financial stress), the sheep are sick from disease (poverty, poor nutrition, families with substance abuse, etc.), and for attacks from other wild animals on the herd (gang violence, parents who are not home, etc.). Recently, the greatest threat to the sheep are the Foxes (Fox News Network).
I think newly-registered Democrat Muhammad Ali Hasan hit the nail on the head when he descibed the pedagogy espoused by the Shepherds when he wrote in his blog post, "Why I Am Leaving The GOP":
Since our inception and the creation of small, red-bricked schoolhouses, our practices of pedagogy have seen little change. Pedagogy is the way, in which our teachers instruct their students, and sadly, today's pedagogy is based on an IQ score, a shallow evaluation that can somewhat test one's linguistic and logical skill, but too often misrepresents true intelligence. Instead, we need a public school system that is driven by new pedagogy - a system based on Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, Spencer Kagan's Cooperative Learning, and John Dewey's Project Based Learning. Training our teachers to practice these methods of pedagogy, when writing their curriculum and lesson plans, as well as rewriting our evaluations to test based on such theory, will advance our public schools to the next level.
Magnet schools are schools that are set up to attract kids interested in a subject area or discipline. An "arts" school or a "tech" school is an example of a magnet school. Magnet schools are given their name because they offer something special -- they "attract" students to neighborhood schools that might otherwise be declining in enrollment. Magnet schools can be part of the public school system or a private school network. My youngest son went to an arts magnet school based on Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Theory in the Cherry Creek School District (CCSD) that was excellent. I wish it was around for all of my kids! (Tragically, CCSD's Rolling Hills Elementary has reverted back to a regular school. I have no idea why.)
Charter schools are a huge controversy right now, especially in Denver. Charter schools, by definition, are schools that have a charter, drawn between the people who pay for the school and the people who run the school. Charter schools are often created when a local, neighborhood school is not doing well. A public school district may say, "Parents, we've tried everything. We are turning this school over to you." Cherry Creek Academy (CCA) is an example of a charter school. The district allowed the parents to create the rules, choose the curriculum, hire the teachers, etc. Although the back-to-basics philosophy ("sit down, shut up, read your textbook at your desk and dress like everyone else") does not mesh with research on Best Practices (education practices based on empirical research of successful outcomes rather than partisan politics), many parents seem to love CCA.
Some charters are not drawn with the local neighborhood parents, but with Corporate Wolves. Those are the charter schools that organizations like Defense Denver, see red over. Basically, the school district says, "We give up" and the Corporate Wolves are allowed to sweep in and take over. Sadly, many people in Defense Denver forget there are other types of charter schools (not just corporate ones), so when they rail against them, people with other experiences (like CCA parents) cannot understand their fury.
When Corporate Wolves run charter schools, they don't tend to know what to do with kids who have special needs, kids for whom English is not their first language, and kids living in poverty. The corporate dog-eat-dog mentality tends to victimize and punish these kids, rather than help them.
Perhaps the biggest objection to charter schools is the possibility that those who agree to run the schools according to the charter, may choose not to hire unionized teachers. Personally, I am sympathetic to that argument. Unions made the middle class. Unions not only protect workers, but they encourage professionalism. Unions work in partnership with public schools and communities to improve education by making teachers feel safe and secure in their jobs, and by providing their members with opportunities for continuing education that is relevant, research-based, and realistic.
Colorado is still looking for a Rancher brave and wise enough to chase away the wolves, to give the Shepherds respect and autonomy, and to provide the needed resources for them to do their work as they were trained.
I hope I've answered your questions in a rudimentary way, ___. I encourage you to ask other parents what they think. No matter what you decide for your daughter, stay involved in her school. The more eyes on the flock, the better. Many successful charter schools and private schools are successful because the parents who send their kids there are involved parents who volunteer often. If you do that, any of the schools described above might be the right choice for your daughter!
Fondly,
Your opinionated friend and experienced mother, Nancy