An exchange with a reader this morning:
| Diane, I thank you for calling attention to the challenges of public schools working well with public charter schools. (when i say public charters, i’m referring to those I’m familiar with where the local school district is the authorizor and the transparency and accountability measures are in place).
As a strong supporter of teachers, i’m surprised you don’t think it is a positive for some schools to be able to get out of all this ridiculous tying teachers to test scores…isn’t this a good thing ?? Or is this just really galling because because your goal is for ALL schools to be exempt and transparency? I’m reading all of your blogs posts, and you are posting many, and I love your perspective. Your book The Great American School system actually educated me at how much I had been”fooled” into using many of the buzzwords (like choice). Now, as a parent serving on a governing board for a local not-for profit-public charter I feel i now have to use instead of “charter school” to accurately share what kind of public school my kid attends and to avoid rapid rush to judgement during conversation! After reading your book, I was left seeking the solutions to preserving the pubic schools and promoting the quality charters who work well with the district. YOur blog posts point out many areas of concern, but I’m not seeing enough solutions. ARe there any? Is there one group you’d recommend supporting or a school district you’d suggest as a good model of public charters? Thanks.
My reply:
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
I think the problem with this model is how charter schools believe they have been tasked with demonstrating to everyone else how they should be teaching, which has encouraged them to elevate TFAers and their ilk to leadership positions and the establishment of graduate schools for promoting their ONE right model of education.
We are not in a position to say there is one right way to teach all children. I think we also have to resist the inclination to believe there is one right way to teach children from lower incomes and different ethnic groups, and another right way for teaching kids from more affluent communities –the boot camp for them, rainbows and lollipops for us mentalities.
I have heard black teachers say their kids NEED tougher teachers. I have heard black parents say their kids NEED to be hit. Personally, I wonder whether this kind of thinking is an outgrowth of the history of slavery. I’ve taught many young children from a variety of income levels and ethnicities and, in my experience, no race or income level needed me to be more strict than others.
I attended a neighborthood public middle school which was VERY much like boot camp. A white line was painted around the perimeter of all the hallway floors and kids had to walk without talking, in single file, square our corners, etc. I don’t know why they ran the school that way but I suspect it was because our classes typically had 45+ students. The approach was very similar to what I’ve seen on KIPP videos, so I have some experience being on the student side of that model.
Here’s the thing about that kind of school. While it appears the adults have a lot of control over kids’ behavior, just because students are conforming does not mean they are paying attention and learning. I was not inspired by authoritarian teachers. I thought they spent way too much time on classroom management, because making sure all eyes are on them, all of the time, is disruptive to teaching –though you probably won’t see too much of how that plays out on charter school videos, because cameras in the classroom change the dynamics. I was bored by that approach and had learned how to appear like I was paying attention, while I had in fact zoned out or was thinking of other things. I wasn’t acting out though and, generally, my grades and test scores were mediocre.
However, not all teachers were like that within their classrooms, and I was inspired and excelled when I had teachers who were less regimented, more humane and creative. Fortunately for me, that turned out to be in English classes, where I developed an interest in reading that I’d not had before, and I was able to develop my writing skills. That continued into my (much less regimented) public high school and resulted in my being placed in Honors courses there –a whole other matter that I won’t go into now.
The bottom line is that I lucked out because of the teachers who were creative in positive ways, more flexible, and alert to the strengths and needs of individual students, and inspite of those who treated everyone like wild animals that needed to be tamed. –which I’d already had my share of in the primary grades.
Here’s an example: In 2nd Grade, on day one, my teacher told our class that walking heal to toe was “unnatural” and that, therefore, everyone was required to walk “toe to heal” at all times. Yes, she enforced “toe to heal” walking all year long. Of course, that would inhibit running, but this was in an old classroom where desks were bolted to the floor and there was not much room for mobility, so I believe it was intended to keep kids in their seats. And, rather than having to consciously pay attention to walking this ridiculous way, kids did stay seated. I was glad to have a seat next to a window –which is where I first learned to zone out…
I’ve often wondered why such teachers were not as creative in establishing positive approaches as they were in coming up with negative approaches to classroom management. It seems that not much is different in charter schools today, but I have seen some really wonderful things going on in public schools –especially in those with small class sizes. Unfortunately, you don’t hear very much about that.
Perhaps we need a new high-profile initiative, so that veteran career teachers can demonstrate MULTIPLE ways that are effective in reaching diverse students and managing classrooms.
I worry based on what I am reading that the purpose of Charter Schools, especially the corporate owned ones, is for profit and to separate high performing students from the rest and not to improve all schools so that all students receive a quality education. When I taught school, the poor minority students were often times labeled EMH and placed in special education classes where the teachers were given limited resources. To me this appears to be one step up from this. I truly hope that that is not the case here.