Reply #74: And how about those charter schools? They are the DLC baby.

[madfloridian]

I am a retired teacher. For the last two years, I taught at a very poor school with old books and sad conditions. Yet the charter and magnet schools were getting everything.

I treasured my time at that school, it was a new experience. I learned what was happening....that these were the children who were going to be screwed. In my classroom were children with all ranges of intelligence, but unfortunately most were from poor families.

A few of them had been accepted into the magnet and charter schools, but those schools don't have to keep you. The ones who returned to our school were good kids who just could not meet the intense standards and criteria. One slipped and got Cs, in a class with doctor's kids and professor's kids. He was sent back to our poor school.

This is a very long article about the DLC's plan for charter schools. Some of you who do not agree with the public school system may agree with their goals. I do not agree. I think the future of our country is based on a free, public, equal education for all. The children in my school did not have an equal education.

This is long, so I am only including one paragraph.
http://www.lib.utah.edu/epubs/hinckley/v2/lyman.htm

SNIP..."Those at the DLC take a “Third Way” approach to education reform. Their basic vehicle for improving the quality of education in America is the charter school. These schools are freed from most of the traditional rules that apply to public schools, but are in turn held accountable for results measured by performance reviews (Sylvester 1997, 82). Many are also established to address specific needs or talents, including student disabilities such as deafness or blindness or certain concentrations such as music or dance. What this model provides is a focus on results; it exists only as long as it serves its students well and attracts support from parents. But charter schools differ from private schools in that they are still held accountable to something besides market forces. In addition to supporting charter schools, the DLC has called for voluntary national academic standards, more teacher accountability, and an end to social promotion in which students are allowed to move onto the next grade simply because that is what the rest of their age group is doing. Also, the DLC believes that while reducing class size is important, teacher quality is what matters most to a student’s learning....."

You want a discussion. Discuss this.