As segregation grows worse than it has been for decades, the problems are worsened by current “reforms.” School privatization intensifies segregation, high-stakes testing creates cause for closing struggling schools instead of helping students.
As Wendy Lecker writes, there is a growing grassroots to prevent the corporate takeover of public education and to turn schools into profit centers. The victory of Ras Baraka in Newark is the latest example of a community fighting for dignity.
In many cities and states, this is a bad time for public education. Plutocrats want to take control of the schools and decide which children to educate.
Over time, history teaches us that bad things don’t last forever. This is a democracy, and when people organize and unite, the plutocrats lose.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Actually, there has been and is a grass roots movement that has overcome a number of powerful, well funded groups opposing charters.
Most charters are independent, not a part of any group. Many are doing a fine job. No one forces a student to attend a charter. And virtually all charters are open to all, unlike, for example suburban school districts that sometimes hire detectives to insure that children from outside the suburb attend their “public” (in name only) exclusive suburban school.
Diane, have you criticized the practice of suburbs hiring detectives to “protect” their children from inner city children whose parents want to attend the suburban schools.
Have you written letters to the Mayor urging that he end the practice of allowing magnet schools to use admissions tests? (He might be interested because his family has used one of these admissions test magnets.)
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Deflect, deflect, deflect….
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Nope – lots and lots of people of color sending their kids to charters. Lots of people of color helping lead charters. As Richard Wright wrote in “The Invisible Man,” I am invisible not because I don’t exist – but because you refuse to see me.”
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Joe Nathan,
A rose by any other name is still a rose. Racial segregation is racial segregation.
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Many people understand the difference between being TOD where you must go to school because you are black, brown or American Indian – and being giving lots of options, along with the choice to decide.
There are few things more American than being allowed to decide. There are few things than more un-American than being forced to go someplace you don’t want to go, because of your skin color.
Some people use the same word – segregation – for being told where to go, and having an active choice.
The rose is opportunity. The thorn is assignment to an inferior school.
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Dr. Ravitch,
Do you have an opinion on historically black colleges and universities? It seems to me that they might well be criticized under your standard of “racial segregation is racial segregation”.
Should we close North Carolina A&T for being 88% African American? How about Lincoln University, 79% African American? What should we do about Fisk? Howard?
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Oh, I’ll bet you know the difference between choosing a black college and being required to attend ONLY an all-black college.
Segregation is about confining black children to all-black schools without affording them the option of an integrated school. Once that child is a young adult, he might choose to go to Ohio State, Berkeley or Howard. “Choice” and “equal opportunities” are what we are discussing.
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I do agree that there is a great difference between the two. That was my point. I am less sure that Dr. Ravitch sees a difference.
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Let’s all hope for the day when any child, of any color, can choose to attend any tax supported school, regardless of zip code.
Education by zip code is the true “status quo” of education in our country with privileged, mostly white children attending well-equipped schools and mostly brown and black children relegated to segregated urban schools.
Charter schools limit choices for parents and children and almost always result in highly segregated schools with questionable methods. This cannot be an ideal for our country. We can do better and I predict that we will.
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Suburban schools tend to be well funded because local taxes pay for local schools. If you live in a community with a good tax base, the schools will probably be decent. I’m not sure how you would arrange a choice system that allowed all children to choose their own school. There is a reason why people like neighborhood schools and why people choose to live where their children can attend a neighborhood school. Providing equitable funding would lead to more equal educational opportunity, but it would not solve the problems of the surrounding community. Those issues must be addressed by the wider community and not left to the responsibility of schools. No society with close to a quarter of its children living in poverty can blame the schools. We are dealing with much larger issues. While the urban/suburban dichotomy is easy to stereotype, there are many transitional communities that are neither wealthy or all white. We are also ignoring the rural communities that have distinct regional compositions. If we moved away from state funding formulas that rely solely on property values, the state could distribute funds more equitably. Wealthy communities would still find ways to provide more resources, but at least we would be providing a basic level of funding to everyone. The higher the proportion of poverty, however, the more need for social services beyond what the schools can provide. The bottom line as far as I see it is decent jobs so that people can support their families. A little dignity that comes with feeling productive goes a long way.
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A number of states have established choice programs that permit cross district public school choice. Here’s some information about how various states have done this:
http://www.ecs.org/html/educationissues/OpenEnrollment/OEDB_intro.asp
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Joe, I can tell you truly want better schools for poor, minority kids because you are willing to have all children in your community schools (open enrollment). That’s how it should be. Yes, in many places it is almost impossible to transport children to a “better” (whiter, richer) school district but in most places, poor communities are just a few miles from affluent ones.
Please reconsider your support for charter schools. Where tried (Chile) these schools cause even more segregation and relegate the least privileged children to certain schools. They result in a two-tiered system and state schools become weakened. Also, without strict oversight of the money, tax money is soon stolen from the children for which it is intended. This (segregation and fraud) is already happening in all places that have charters.
The way to go is through fair housing, job opportunities in all communities and open enrollment in all public schools. Please support these measures for the sake of children who have a right to equal educational opportunities.
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Linda, thanks for your note. Chile used a voucher program, which allowed public funds to go to religious k-12 schools. I oppose such programs.
They did not have the kind of charter school program I think makes sense, which includes contracts for performance, requirement that charters be open to all, no admissions tests, that charters be non-sectarian, etc. etc.
I also think there need to be opportunities to help create options within districts and have worked with a number of funders and districts to help make that happen. This is a way to empower district educators, something I think makes a lot of sense and have seen work out very well.
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Joe Nathan:
Who was the actual author of Invisible Man? You can find the answer on the Internet.
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Thanks, Randal and my apologies. The author of the Invisible Man was Ralph Ellison.
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Sadly, the only way to bring change is parents opting out. After Occupy, Iraq War and the failure to receive coverage in the media, There are too many seemingly benign NGOs funded by corporate interests like United Opt Out.
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Interesting how Michelle Obama cites the growing segregation in American schools as a problem when the policies of the U.S. DOE are a part of the cause.
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Organizing and uniting parents in the state of “big bullying politics” of Texas has been a slow process; however, it is gaining momentum. Edy Chamness, the parent who initiated the Texas Parents Opt Out Movement, as well as parent leaders like Kyle and Jennifer Massey of Waco, and the “mommies” of Texas called TAMSA, are inspiring other parents to challenge the “bullying” environment that has been created by STAAR.
For too long we have trusted the school’s authority. That trust has been violated with the obvious psychological abuse that we can observe to children from Pearson designed STAAR, and the punitive authoritarian environment it has created.
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Joe Nathan, Are you going to hang your hat on one solution – charter schools? Have you written to the mayors of any suburban schools about the hiring of detectives? Have you taught, ever, once, even for a day in an urban school, a rural school, a suburban school? Were you ever concerned about the plight of people living in poverty? Are you fighting for the ideal – which is well-funded integrated neighborhood schools for all children? It is time to admit the charter schools are not solving the problem and move on to a more just and equitable system. Change is hard, Joe.
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Charlie,
Yes, Joe has been an urban school teacher. His children attended public schools and I believe his wife is/was a public school teacher. Yes, he is concerned about the “plight of people living in poverty”. I don’t think he could have written to “mayors of suburban schools” but I’ll leave that be as it appears to be a statement written in rage.
From what I’ve read of Joe’s comments here and elsewhere I’d say Joe is very concerned about public education. Yes, he is a strong charter school supporter but I believe that his support is for non-profit, locally controlled, transparent charters as an addition to the public schools.
Give him grief for supporting charter schools I suppose, but I do think that he is quite honest in his attempts to listen to, interact with all sides of the debate. (Unlike myself who has a tendency to be a bit more ornery, s: grouchy, grumpy, cranky, crotchety, cantankerous, bad-tempered, ill-tempered, dyspeptic, irascible in dealing with the edudeformers and their educational malpractices, but especially the GAGAers who refuse to stand up to this nonsense.) Joe is not an edudeformer.
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If memory serves, his spouse recently retired after teaching for 33 years in an urban school system, one of his children currently teaches in an urban school district, and his mother founded the head start program in the state of Kansas.
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Thanks for notes from Duane and TE.
Charlie, as noted repeatedly, I don’t think there is a single solution to the needs of youngsters from low income and limited English speaking families. For more than 40 years, I’ve tried (as others have) to work simultaneous on problems in the community and in public schools.
Yes, I was an urban public school teacher, administrator for 14 years. Student, parent, professional and community groups gave me awards for my work. I also served as a PTA president and member of Mn’s state PTA board.
Since 1989 I’ve written a weekly newspaper column carried by a number of Mn newspapers and have written guest columns for a number of major urban papers. I currently write a weekly column carried by a number of suburban and rural papers.
Since 1989, I’ve praised, question, challenged things going on in public education:
http://hometownsource.com/tag/joe-nathan/?category=columns-opinion
As others noted, our 3 children all attended and graduated from urban, integrated non-admission test public schools.
Our center has several projects that bring together district & charter educators to work with and learn from eachother.
Anyone who wants to receive the weekly column can send me a note, joe@centerforschoolchange.org
I’m here in part to learn, as well as share.
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I have trouble sorting out where and for whom you have worked when, Joe, since you consider charter schools to be public schools as well and refer to them as such. You need to insert non-charter in your descriptions for me to really understand where you and your wife have worked and where your children attended school.
I also would like to hear from more teachers and parents from Minnesota. Minnesota has a much longer history with charters and seems to have a bit more sense about it. They do not seem to be interested in starving their public schools out of existence. Given some of the documented scenarios presented here,however, how can we not express concern and scepticism?
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Our children attended district public schools in St. Paul. My wife and I worked in the Minneapolis and St. Paul district schools.
Why won’t you tell us your name or where you worked?
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For a long time, I hoped to get another job teaching in the public schools. I still sub in a local district, but just don’t have the energy anymore to deal with the increasingly toxic environment. In addition, my age makes me less than a prime candidate. As a sub, I have the freedom to teach and to enjoy the kids without the day to day responsibilities. As a sub, however, I am also very dispensable. The district in which I sub has had some fallout in connection with changes in the teaching environment related to reformist insanity. They could do without me quite nicely. I also have to be aware that my comments could negatively impact my husband’s business interests. While he supports me completely, I am not willing to risk hurting his business. Let’s face it. I am nobody and an easy target for petty cruelty. I probably invited abuse in the past because of my own naive belief that I could close my classroom door and teach. I am through being naive.
By the way, thank you for answering my questions. I do not doubt your sincerity, but I do not trust your advocacy for charters. I have been spoiled by very good public schools (other than my last job) and I have met many amazingly talented teachers. The closest model I have of charters is within the city of Chicago. They have done nothing to endear themselves to me and Rahm Emanuel leaves me spluttering. This blog has provided numerous, documented examples of charter malfeasance that have been allowed to continue. I see little reason to champion them in the present environment.
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cx: skepticism
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quote: “Yes, he is a strong charter school supporter but I believe that his support is for non-profit, locally controlled, transparent charters as an addition to the public schools.” this is what is concerning me, Duane, because in some states there are literally scams that are fly by night…. and, there are “loopholes” so that someone only interested in profit incentives can form any type of “school” they want in some states. I don’t want to be an unsuspecting person and say “anything goes” when it comes to “charter”….. but the constant drumbeat of “charter only” by Fordham Institute and Education Next actually does enrage me…. we need to know what is going on in education across the states, how local governance and accountability are maintained and how the policies of Arne Duncan are influencing the Commissioners and Governors to do specific things that are incentivized with federal dollars. This is a significant part of the discussion and it’s a discussion that needs to take place.
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The tea party movement is a good example of this kind of grass roots push back.
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all of this nonsense. Opting out on testing will lift all boats.
In her new book, Indian author, Arundahti Roy, says:
“Armed with their billions, these NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations)
have waded into the world, turning potential revolutionaries into salaried activists, funding artists, intellectuals, and film makers, gently luring them away from radical confrontation, ushering them in the direction of multiculturalism, gender equity, community development- the discourse couched in the language of identity politics and human rights.”
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You’re plugging this book as much as Duane S. cites Noel Wilson. I won’t buy the book (yet) but I will take the bait: In a nutshell, what is your beef with NGOs? What’s the short version of this story?
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Yes, I plug Wilson-duh-ha ha-because the concepts of educational standards and standardized testing are epistemologically and ontologically bankrupt, i.e,, ERROR FILLEER and therforer,INVALID. When on starts with invalidities one more likely than not will end with invalidities. Why so much time, energy and resources are devoted to INVALIDITIES is way beyond my capabilities to comprehend.
Add to the top of that the fact that these educational malpractices cause untold harm to the most innocent, the young students in many ways and perhaps one can understand this educator’s frustration with such INSANITIES>
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Joseph
May 18, 2014 at 7:32 pm
Diane, I was a professor too. You are saying that you and Mark are not related to an NGO. I accept that on your honor.
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