Rethinking Schools, Spring 2011
accessed 3/25/11
Summary/Key Points: In this edited transcript of a talk given in Portland, Karp takes a broad view of the current state of education in regards to reform, finance, and political motive. It is a great summary wrapping together a lot of different points in a neat, readable package, and serves well as the starting point for more in-depth exploration of any of the issues. Karp takes on recent reformist calls to dismantle the system and restart from scratch, and tries to moderate these with the oft-denigrated responses of those who seek more modest change to a broken-but-repairable "status quo" (so often invoked as an epithet that I need the air quotes to neutralize it a bit here). The warning to take with grains of salt the words of those with powerful money but no experience is one that we can't hear too many times, I think.
Intended Audience: this is another general public article, though those with specific interest in educational affairs will benefit the most from it
Relevance: It is always interesting, as a teacher employed at a charter school, to hear these things about charter schools. Especially since the polarizing "Waiting for Superman" was released, "charter schools" as a concept seems to have come under attack. I appreciate that Karp recognizes their value amidst the concern that they are becoming a profitable vehicle for avaricious investors; the one I work at certainly seems to fit his suggestion that "[w]here practices like greater autonomy over curriculum or freedom from bureaucratic regulations are valid, they should be extended to all schools."
From the perspective of the Gates of the world (who he makes a not-so-subtle reference to at the beginning of his talk, referring to "the billionaire with no education experience who couldn’t survive in a classroom for two days, but who has made privatizing education policy a hobby, and who has the resources to do so because the country’s financial and tax systems are broken"), these would be the sorts of articles to keep an eye on as one formulates one's educational reform policy. Surely there is a way to work in language to placate these recalcitrant educators, while promoting the sort of reform one is sure will work?
Ben, your perspective from being actually inside the charter school is a valuable perspective. Thanks! I like the choice that these schools represent.
ReplyDeleteOn the public side however, I'm not sure that there will ever be room for a lot of extra latitude for curriculum or teaching styles. If your school is teaching things parents don't like, people move their students elsewhere. On the public side however, a lot of parents have no choice and that's where the frustration starts. No matter what you order it seems, you get served a hot dog...picked out by the government.
Charter schools are public schools.
ReplyDeletePart of the point of charters is to give parents a choice "on the public side," whether that choice deals with content approach or teaching styles; states dictate overarching curriculum with standards. You are right when you say that "people move their students elsewhere" if they disagree with methods/content/whatever.