tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post5907508192920046846..comments2024-03-29T03:19:09.227-04:00Comments on The Philosopher's Stone: CHARTER SCHOOLS -- A RESPONSE TO ANDREW BLAISRobert Paul Wolffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-83159054196044218532011-04-12T15:02:23.641-04:002011-04-12T15:02:23.641-04:00"Say what we might about these charter school..."Say what we might about these charter schools, and they are not perfect certainly, they are a much needed complement to the standard schools which are, by necessity, geared to the ordinary, uninspired, disinterested, and mediocre students. We need places where the cream can rise to the top. If that's elitist, so be it."<br /><br />Yes, that is elitist. I am very disappointed. There are no "disinterested, and mediocre" students to be found at William and Mary? Who, furthermore, won't glide through life on God knows what unearned privileges? Think rabbit whompers.Andrew Lionel Blaishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01976034095806583387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-40634753174586741922011-04-08T12:33:04.436-04:002011-04-08T12:33:04.436-04:00A great place to start to learn about the unschool...A great place to start to learn about the unschooling movement would be the excellent "Freedom to learn" blog from Psychology today. I recommend reading nearly all of the posts from the past two years but this one is the ideal starting point: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/200909/why-don-t-students-school-well-duhhhh<br /><br />Another great source of information on the subject is John Taylor Gatto, a retired school-teacher of 30 years who, having won the New York City Teacher of the Year award 4 times, quit at the pinnacle of his teaching career because he "didn't want to hurt kids to make a living". He addresses the Sudbury Valley model in his first book (http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/3d.htm) which you can read from cover to cover for free here: http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/toc1.htmScotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02563179015787569536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-72534227831597596022011-04-07T09:43:28.888-04:002011-04-07T09:43:28.888-04:00Scott, I am not familiar with the experimental sch...Scott, I am not familiar with the experimental schools you mention [I Googled them to get a little bit of info.] The Teachers Coll;ege speech I posted today speaks somewhat tangentially to some of the issues involved. Perhaps I can attempt some broader comments about the subject, though that would involve my pontificating even more than I usually do about things I know very little about.Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-86056262834086437832011-04-07T09:41:35.905-04:002011-04-07T09:41:35.905-04:00GT, that is a great story, and one of which you ha...GT, that is a great story, and one of which you have every reason to be proud. It complements, in a way, the Teachers' College speech I posted today. I suspect you are being a tad too modest about your son's natural gifts, but I have no doubt at all that any normal kid, with that motivation and support and that kind of work, could prepare himself or herself for a first rate job in today's America.<br /><br />What you say about the anti-studying cyulture of the school population is really important, and not something I have a great deal to add to, exscept to say that paradoxically, the one institution I know of that successfully defeats that culture is the military!Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-63041491496842406382011-04-07T08:57:47.460-04:002011-04-07T08:57:47.460-04:00I tried to post this yesterday, hopefully this tim...I tried to post this yesterday, hopefully this time will work:<br /><br />This is a very interesting topic and I'm glad you decided to write something on it, professor. I have found the recent work of Diane Ravitch to be pretty insightful on this issue. She wrote a wonderful critique of the documentary "Waiting for Superman"—a fairly mainstream doc that propagated the charter school myth—when it came out. <br /><br />You can read it yourself (http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/nov/11/myth-charter-schools/), briefly some of the points she made:<br /><br />- Only one out of five charter schools gets results above the average public school. (I think that may have come from the same CREDO study you pointed to) <br /><br />-A number of charter schools have gone to extreme lengths to make sure they didn’t get scores that would hurt their creditability and their funding—including, one incident of where a principal "firing" a whole 8th grade class.<br /><br />-Finally, and I think this is the most significant point about the charter school movement, education has become a competition, both in public and charter schools, to maximize production of high test scores. This is in large part due to Joel Klein—the first non-educator to be the New York City schools chancellor—whose philosophy was to implement a system of checks and balances in the form of standardized testing. Schools that didn’t make the grade would get shut down and smaller charter schools would take their place. I read in a recent New York Times article (unfortunately, a laudatory opinion piece written by my father!), in which Joel Klein claims, quite proudly, that his goal was to create a system of competition against the monopoly the big city school system had (while he was in charge of that very system.)<br /><br />Of course, this is hugely problematic not only because its a war against teachers unions and its privatizing the public education, but because it sucking out all the value that school has to offer—arts, sciences, English, history—and making it all about test prep. With the way things are going, the educational system won’t even be a tool of capitalism to produce subservient members of society, rather it will literally became a factory of production on its own.Amatohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07392156407025334931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-86684949190194011862011-04-07T06:21:07.794-04:002011-04-07T06:21:07.794-04:00Anecdotal:
In the 1990s, our city established two ...Anecdotal:<br />In the 1990s, our city established two "special" public high schools on the charter school model. I am not aware of any special source of funds that might resemble an "angel" sponsorship such as Gates' but there might have been some targeted grants involved. The emphasis of the two programs was to identify and select students coming out of middle school who showed above-average ability on two axes: test scores and a fairly informal assessment of personality, the latter mostly concerned with personal "commitment" to learning. The idea was to find kids who would benefit from an "advanced" curriculum -- defined, more or less, as an "AP Honors" program. In short, kids who could be expected to <i>do the work</i> required to succeed in the advanced curriculum. So there was some "self-selection" involved, and it was entirely up to us, as parents, to apply for the spaces available. There were two programs because there were two "tiers" (and curriculum emphases). One was for "gifted" students, whom we might call "fast trackers" in the savant sense: identifiably <i>talented</i> in math or science, for instance, rather than just "above average." Tomorrow's scientists and engineers, more or less. The second program was a more eclectic cross-section of talent, tending a bit more to the humanities but strong enough in math and science to keep up with the AP curriculum.<br /><br />From the parents' point of view, the motivations to apply were directly tied to a fear of mediocrity in the general school system. As someone pointed out above, we parents thought our kids were talented and we expected a public school education curriculum to match their potential. In the middle schools and high schools, we saw too many factors outside the curriculum that hurt the learning evironment. A cultural milieu, you might say, of marginal students, stragglers, troublemakers, etc, combined with low expectations from both administrators and parents -- just "getting through" school, not <i>learning</i>, as we perceived it. Teachers were getting mugged by students in school. Drugs and guns were rampant. And "smart" kids were targeted for abuse by bullies in an irrational "gotta be dumb to fit in" social structure. What fascinated me most was the fact that both "charter" programs reflected the demographics of the city almost exactly -- 70% AfroAmerican, etc -- apparently showing that scholastic talent has no class or race, and neither does parents' emphasis on achievement. And neither does parents' distaste for the mediocrity and social distractions available in public schools. Ambition is not the exclusive province of the white middle class.<br /><br />My son was a "worker bee," not a genius. Everything he achieved in school was done by pure force of effort. He was an indifferent speller, but in 4th grade he got to the city spelling bee -- by studying. He got As in maths by working his tail off. He was great at history, sociology, humanities in general, very good in science, etc. And he succeeded in that AP curriculum when he got there by the same method: he did the work. To me, this program was a godsend. I don't think he could have gotten the same quality of education even if the same curriculum were taught in the run-of-the-mill high schools, because the social distractions would have interfered (especially the bullying by under-achievers).<br /><br />Say what we might about these charter schools, and they are not perfect certainly, they are a much needed complement to the standard schools which are, by necessity, geared to the ordinary, uninspired, disinterested, and mediocre students. We need places where the cream can rise to the top. If that's elitist, so be it. My son graduated from William and Mary with a history degree, works for the Virginia Supreme Court ... actually knows who Thomas Jefferson was, too.GTChristiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-8259707910224028222011-04-07T04:12:04.443-04:002011-04-07T04:12:04.443-04:00This is a very interesting topic and I'm glad ...This is a very interesting topic and I'm glad you decided to write something on it, professor. I have found the recent work of Diane Ravitch to be pretty insightful on this issue. She wrote a wonderful critique of the documentary "Waiting for Superman"—a fairly mainstream doc that propagated the charter school myth—when it came out. <br /><br />You can read it yourself (http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/nov/11/myth-charter-schools/), briefly some of the points she made:<br /><br />- Only one out of five charter schools gets results above the average public school. (I think that may have come from the same CREDO study you pointed to) <br /><br />-A number of charter schools have gone to extreme lengths to make sure they didn’t get scores that would hurt there creditability and their funding—including, one incident of where a principal "fired" a whole 8th grade class.<br /><br />-Finally, and I think this is the most significant point about the charter school movement, education has become a competition, both in public and charter schools, to maximize production of high test scores. This is in large part due to Joel Klein—the first non-educator to be the New York City schools chancellor—whose philosophy was to implement system of checks and balances in the form of standardized testing. Schools that didn’t make the grade would get shut down and smaller charter schools would take their place. I read in a recent New York Times article (unfortunately a laudatory opinion piece written by my father!), Joel Klein claim, quite proudly, that he was implementing a system of competition against the monopoly of the big city school system (while he was in charge of that very system.)<br /><br />Of course, this is hugely problematic not only because its a war against teachers unions and its privatizing the public education, but because its sucking out all the value that school has to offer—arts, sciences, English, history—and making it all about test prep. With the way things are going, the educational system won’t even be a tool of capitalism to produce its servants, rather it will literally became a factor of production on of its own.Amatohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07392156407025334931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-26399439458887814312011-04-07T00:04:46.083-04:002011-04-07T00:04:46.083-04:00I've read similar reports on the success of th...I've read similar reports on the success of the KIPP Program. (Unfortunately, they were online and I no longer have the URLs.) It's amazing how making students work hard helps, while trying to massage statistics makes no difference (or, worse, diminishes things).<br /><br />I use this technique in the classes I teach. A lot of students drop out initially, because they're not used to working hard (or, you know, learning). But other students put in the work, and it's clear that they are better off because of it.<br /><br />There are a lot of tough issues about how to set up education. This shouldn't have to be one of them.<br /><br />Thanks very much for your post, Professor Wolff.Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11411530873269401673noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-84450912730907215122011-04-06T14:48:07.876-04:002011-04-06T14:48:07.876-04:00In a separate post someday I would like to hear yo...In a separate post someday I would like to hear your thoughts on non-Prussian educational movements like homeschooling and unschooling. It would be particularly interesting to read a post on the Sudbury Valley and Free School movements.Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02563179015787569536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-84186396194817295342011-04-06T13:21:36.813-04:002011-04-06T13:21:36.813-04:00There is tremendous political and social pressure ...There is tremendous political and social pressure to declare a charter school successful. Anyone who asks too many questions is treated like they farted in church. Potential recipients of grant money have no incentive to rain on a donor's parade. Politicians would rather be seen cutting a ribbon than anger parents with an investigation. <br /><br />There have been some real disasters here. There have been schools that simply pretend to have standards they don't have. <br /><br />Charter schools will only work if they are governed thoroughly. In other words, they will have to be like public schools. <br /><br />Charter schools need to be required to raise funds to pay for the education of each student they deny schooling. This could be done with a formula. If they won't take kids with behavioral problems, compute the percentage of students they would have with those problems and make them fund programs that will school them. No wheelchairs? Here's a bill. <br /><br />If Gates can afford to pay for watchers and the denied students, let him. Along with anti-teacher sentiment, charter schools are about parents who consider their kids talented and want privileges bestowed.Murfmenschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00031877154740991965noreply@blogger.com