Unintended Consequences
Our schools are at a critical juncture.
Educational reformers are demanding change. Many in our educational
institutions are arguing for working within the existing system. They
claim that alternatives serve only to steal time and attention away
from solving the real issues that face public schools. Others argue
that systemic change is possible only if we redesign the entire system
through, among other legislative changes, "strong" charter school
initiatives. Regrettably, the debate over what to do is often driven
more by ideology than facts.
Until now, the primary focus of the market-based effort has been America's urban and rural poor school systems—systems historically fraught with the greatest variety of endemic problems—where community dissatisfaction with schooling outcomes is most prevalent. The challenge is greatest where parent education levels are low, nutrition is not adequate for critical brain development in early childhood, and resources for essential stimulation are in short supply. The lack of "kindergarten readiness" in urban and rural poor areas is not new, and neither is frustration that proposed answers are not universal solutions. While there are many heartwarming exceptions—one being the story of 3.9 GPA student and All-American football player Sirr Parker, documented in the new Showtime movie "They Call Me Sirr"—most children who live in extreme poverty carry their social and learning problems with them to school.
Pro-market libertarians and others applying a business-commerce paradigm to schools promote improved educational opportunity through enhanced competition. According to these groups, capitalism produced a great America, and those same market forces can produce better readers and more competent teachers. Economists who study education reinforce the point by suggesting that competition results in lower school spending and higher student achievement. Competition for students is supposed to be a byproduct of charter schools. If it is, then charter schools and expanded parental-choice programs are clearly...
This article is available to subscribers only.
To keep reading this article and more, subscribe now or purchase this article.
Subscribe to Education Week and Save
Get a full year and save up to 45%!
Viewed
Emailed
Recommended
Commented
- 2 Positions -Associate Superintendent and Chief Academic Officer, and Director of Human of Resources
- Washington County Public Schools, Hagerstown, MD
- Elementary School Teacher
- Success Academy Charter Schools, New York, NY
- K-8 Principal
- EdVantages/Performance Academies, Detroit, MI
- Superintendent
- Pinellas County Schools, Pinellas County, FL
- Program Coordinator
- Institute for Educational Advancement, South Pasadena, CA
