Charter schools: Padded cells, Rubbish Instruction and so much more! - Polidicks

[quote]Imagine your 5-year-old boy went to a school where he was occasionally thrown in a padded cell and detained alone for stretches as long as 20 minutes. Or you sent your kid to an elementary school where the children are made to sit on a bare floor in the classroom for days before they can “earn” their desks. Or your kid went to a school where she spent hours parked in a cubicle in front of a computer with a poorly trained teacher who has to monitor more than 100 other students. Maybe you don’t have children or send them to private school? So how do you feel when you find out the local school that you pay for with your taxes is operating a scam that diverted millions of dollars through fake Medicaid billing? Or the school used your tax dollars as “grants” to start up other profit-making enterprises … or pay lavish salaries – $300,000, $400,000 or more – to its administrators … or support a movement linked to a reclusive Turkish cleric being investigated for bribery and corruption. Welcome to the world of charter schools. Are there wonderful charter schools doing great things for kids? Probably. Are all these cumulative anecdotes an unfair representation of the value that charter schools can bring to some communities? Maybe. But neither of those questions matters because of what the charter school movement has come to represent in the landscape of American education... ...Turning Our Backs on Abuse Keeping a running tally of charter school scandals could amount to so much cherry-picking if it weren’t for the fact the tree is so loaded there’s practically nothing but fruit. Two of the anecdotes cited above surfaced recently in schools operated by a nationwide chain called KIPP, which has been acclaimed for doing “wonderful things” to poor kids that most middle-class parents would not want to see done to their kids. The incident where a 5-year-old student was confined in school to a padded cell prompted Chicago (where the incident occurred) blogger Mike Klonsky to write, “Brutal forms of discipline have become routine for KIPP. “No divergence is permitted and deviants are quickly labeled, punished or expelled. KIPP has the highest student attrition rate in the nation. I recall one KIPP school where African-American children were made to sit on a bench with a sign around their neck that said, ‘CRETIN.’”... ...Rocketship to Nowhere The questionable practices of many charter schools go beyond classroom management. The charter cited above where students spent hours stuck in cubicles, in front of computers, is part of a nationwide charter chain called Rocketship. According to ed-tech media outlet EdSurge, “Rocketship Education is a charter school network in hot demand, courted by urban school districts across the nation. Both Kaya Henderson, Superintendent of D.C. Public Schools and New York City’s outgoing mayor Michael Bloomberg have publicly said they’d welcome Rocketship schools in their districts.” (emphasis added) Tech market enthusiasts at EdSurge claim, “Rocketship has broken down the traditional factory school model, rethinking things like the bell-schedule, the role of teachers, the way kids are grouped, and even the physical space itself.” What does all this “innovation” look like in practice?... ...Movement Interrupted If it weren’t for the great marketing job the charter movement has employed, this education “innovation” would be a P.R. disaster. So far, only the most well-informed fans of charter schools, who aren’t wrapped up in the movement ideology it has become, have changed their minds about what’s befalling schoolchildren and communities across the country. An impartial observer of charter schools, Rutgers professor Bruce Baker, once hoped charters would be a possible source of “some creative, energetic leadership … that might be associated with a mission-driven start-up school, coupled with an ounce or two of deregulation.” Recently, however, his perception has changed. “This whole movement has gotten way out of control – it has morphed dramatically – especially the punditry and resultant public policy surrounding charter schooling. Sadly, I’m reaching a point where I now believe that the end result is causing more harm than good.”[/quote] [url]http://www.salon.com/2014/01/10/the_truth_about_charter_schools_padded_cells_corruption_lousy_instruction_and_worse_results/[/url]

eh this is why you don't just blindly send your kid to a school without doing your homework. i mean im at a college where if you didn't come from a local public school you came from a private school in cleveland or chicago and they aren't anything like the ones described here. catholic highschools and primary schools are one example of a trustworthy charter school usually, there are those nuts out there but usually they are equal in curriculum to public schools and are in areas where the public schools are just not an option

[QUOTE=Sableye;43550252]eh this is why you don't just blindly send your kid to a school without doing your homework[/QUOTE] Why take responsibility when you can blame others for your lack of research?

Jesus christ. I never knew there were schools that bad. None of the ones I saw seemed bad. They seemed to be not much different than normal schools.

[QUOTE=Durrsly;43550278]Jesus christ. I never knew there were schools that bad. None of the ones I saw seemed bad. They seemed to be not much different than normal schools.[/QUOTE] The vast majority isn't it's just the special flowers that stick out.

I went to a charter school for a while and I can vouch, they're absolutely horrible.

I went to a charter school and it was great. I guess I got lucky.

[QUOTE=bord2tears;43551082]I went to a charter school and it was great. I guess I got lucky.[/QUOTE] Same here, but that's probably because everyone there has experience in public school.

Some of them are good from what I've heard, others bad. It's really a mixed bag. It's why you do your research, some public schools are awful, others great. Don't just blindly send children to whatever is nearest.

When was the last time privatizing any public service actually turned out to be better for the public at large? Giving a for-profit corporation money and making it contingent on nothing but test results, what did you expect to happen? Naturally, they will do whatever is necessary to produce test results and make money. It's not the number one priority, it's the only priority.

I think anyone whose care a child is put in should be liable for child abuse, not just the parents.

god damn, and i thought that what my brother told me that elementary school teachers have the power to use tazers against children was awful. Those schools really need to be DEMOLISHED.

My cousin works in a charter school and honestly her school has done some amazing for kids. This article is painfully aware of its own bias.

[QUOTE=Winters;43556507]My cousin works in a charter school and honestly her school has done some amazing for kids. This article is painfully aware of its own bias.[/QUOTE] Yeah, this article does a good job of generalizing all charter schools. Are there any other articles?