This post was written by a black parent in Massachusetts. Her son attends a charter school. She is worried about the “preschool-to-prison pipeline.”
She wrote:
“Because we may listen to the speeches of MLK and others like him yet never act on their wisdom or heed their warning, we are faced with a Charter School Expansion. One that is extremely questionable and controversial for good reason. The “CHAINS” schema should not be allowed to ooze into “urban” schools because CHAINS cannot be broken. And let’s face it; a charter is a ship. The last time we got on a Chartered ship we were forced into bondage!
“Look at Walmart’s impact on Mom and Pop stores. Same family, same rules, same game — they are big supporters of charter schools.
“I do not support CHARTER SCHOOL CHAINS whatsoever and neither does the NAACP or the Black Educators Alliance of Massachusetts.
“Why don’t we see the Charter School expansion in the burbs? Why don’t the “haves” want them? Have they not seen the value or heard of the “scholar’s pledge” and the no excuses drill em and kill em while you make sure they sit still em’s ? Or have they not observed the following snapshot: instead of teaching “Fox in Sox” by Dr. Seuss, the acceptable utterance is —“you better be wearing matching socks, Or you’ll go straight to the principal’s office, you little 5 year-old you!
“My son attends a Charter School, not a chain. It’s my best forced “choice”. The other option was homeschooling him – real talk…However, I have to work full-time to keep our little house out of the hands of the big bank so I could not pull it off.
“I want my son in a community in the midst of his peer group. I want him to be held accountable to high academic and social standards yet I will not allow his person-hood to be ignored. Therefore, I work with the school. Oft times, I feel resolution. Sometimes I wish someone would turn off the White( Noise, that is) and keep the light shining on the action steps that have to happen in order for his potential to be fully realized. Would I recommend his school to others? Yes, it’s a decent option But like any school, parents have to know how to advocate.
“I cannot find the “enrichment” that he deserves within this school “choice” context bc it’s inclusion. You get (1) size fits all instruction. There are no AP tracks or gifted education programs for the students in his school. However, there is a subsidized travel opportunity for “well-behaved” scholars. Well behaved as defined\filtered through the white female gaze and backed up by the white male authoritarian gaze… so he’s left out.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I am confused. Her son goes to a charter school, but she mentions a number of negatives about it? Even though she doesn’t mention the public school option, I have to assume it is not a viable option for her son where they live.
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She likely lives somewhere where public schools have been closed in favor of charters. That’s why she calls it “forced choice.”
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Exactly…..something sounds fishy
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“My son attends a Charter School, not a chain. It’s my best forced “choice”. The other option was homeschooling him – real talk…However, I have to work full-time to keep our little house out of the hands of the big bank so I could not pull it off.”
Thank you for writing this letter and to Diane for posting it along with all of the others that help up think about ML King’s legacy. The strongest advocates for “choice” and “charters” are counting on many more parents being forced into a limited array of choices.
If you have not seen the photoessay at Mercedes Schneider’s website on the criminal neglect of schools in Detroit–the mold, toilets leaking through the ceiling, duct taped windows, and other undescribeable levels of toxic neglect, please go there. Imagine teaching in these schools and having students learn in them.
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Unfortunately, in many areas the black community felt the public schools were already under-serving their children, and why not? Look at the pattern of school closings in Chicago. They turned to charter schools for hope and relief. Now many minority parents are finding out charters also short change their kids. We really need to start recognizing the effects of poverty and stress on our kids, and put needed services back into our schools, our PUBLIC schools, subject to the oversight of a democratically elected school board.
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Our country has a long history of exploitative behavior toward black and brown people. If we consider how we “won the west,” it was through a lot of shameful lies and unethical acts. Our laws reflect equity, but the implementation always seems to benefit white males more than any other group. Our criminal justice system treats people of color differently. If we had pursued equality and integration with conviction, we would not have had the huge funding disparities in urban public schools. Our failure to act on behalf of the millions of poor minority students in urban schools has led us to another scheme that purports to address,”the civil rights issue of our times,” Rather than solving inequity, charters are often school of last resort for poor urban students, create more inequity, and they are more segregated than public schools. Students lose a comprehensive education from trained, certified teachers, and their parents lose democratic input and often a neighborhood school for their children. How is this progress? This is another separate and unequal option for black and brown students.
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I’m not sure what this poster is advocating. Is it an argument white teachers can not teach other races? Is it that discipline systems must be different based on race? The ‘burbs can have issues. Our own experience was in a declining suburban school where personal safety became an issue. A major reason parents cite for leaving schools for alternatives is the aggressive and disruptive behavior of other students and their families.
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I doubt he is advocating all minority teachers for minority students. I taught in a diverse suburban district. My district actively recruited and retained competent minority teachers and administrators. I think it healthy for all students to see a variety of people in positions of leadership and authority.
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I agree. But “someone turn off the White” is pretty revealing.
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He’s probably responding to attitude of “colonialism” in many charter schools. Their message of “we only take high achievers” generally translates into a white teacher. As a white ESL teacher of mostly black and brown students, I had a great rapport with my students, and I learned a lot from them about being a person of color in our country. In my school district of about 30% minority students, we had about a 20% minority staff. I credit the community for making sure we had a balanced staff.
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Please read, although I children do not attend charter school there are days when I feel exactly like this mom.
Sent from my Windows Phone ________________________________
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In this decade, the finest reporting, comes from the Center for Media and Democracy. They estimate that the U.S. taxpayer spent $3.7 billion on charter schools. (That’s just the federal costs, and does not include state, local nor, oligarch priming-the-pump money for charter schools.) Quoting from documents, requested by CMD and, released by the U.S. Dept. of Ed. (on Christmas 2015 eve), “The agency noted more than 1/2 of the 5000 charter schools are still operational.” IMO, that’s the best spin possible. Further deductive assessments of failure, by CMD, are impeded by gaps in the information provided to them. Taxpayers, students, their families and communities have been fleeced by an “influential network with a league of federal and state lobbyists seeking redistribution of funds from traditional public schools to other entities under the watch word of ‘choice’.”
CMD’s work can be read at Truthout, “Education Department Released List of Federally Funded Charter Schools”. It is worth a read as, evidence of a government department that, IMO, colludes with the richest 0.2%, against the American people.
Charter schools are not here to stay because they don’t work. They lead to government corruption. They take scarce resources from students and put them in the pockets of schemers. And, they undermine an educational system that fosters economic opportunity for the middle class and, a democratic system of government.
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Linda,
You state “In this decade, the finest reporting, comes from the Center for Media and Democracy. They estimate that the U.S. taxpayer spent $3.7 billion on charter schools. (That’s just the federal costs, and does not include state, local nor, oligarch priming-the-pump money for charter schools.)”
Let me add the public school costs. It is ~$600 billion a year and for a decade it is $6,000 billion or $6 trillion. The amount spent on charter schools is 0.06% spent on public schools during the same period.
Is there anyone who can stand up and say (prove) that wastage/corruption/fraud in public schools does not exceed 0.06% spent on charter schools?
Stop blaming every thing on charters and apply your efforts to improve public schools. Charters do have problems, but public schools have many more.
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Read the Walton-funded “74” site, about Ohio charter schools. Or, read, KnowYourCharter.com, which has public research data, acknowledged as accurate, by proponents of Ohio charter schools. Bribing politicians is unnecessary for a product that has merit. And, venture philanthropy inducements are pointless, unless you’re promoting shoddy merchandise, i.e. privatized public education and Silicon Valley’s test and tech products.
Speaking solely for myself (I’m not a teacher. I’m just a taxpayer and citizen of a democracy wanna-be nation), if you have something better than a D game, it would break up the monotony of your comments.
A government contractor is guilty of fraud on the entirety of his contract and the contract amount is allegedly (no citation), “0.06%” of some total of something, is his failure inconsequential? Assume the contract is for shuttle O-rings or fighter plane instrumentation.
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What, really…there has to be a better “choice” for her son….
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” The Purpose Of Education “,
It seems to me that education has a two-fold function to perform in the life of man and in society: the one is utility and the other is culture. Education must enable a man to become more efficient, to achieve with increasing facility the ligitimate goals of his life.
Education must also train one for quick, resolute and effective thinking. To think incisively and to think for one’s self is very difficult. We are prone to let our mental life become invaded by legions of half truths, prejudices, and propaganda. At this point, I often wonder whether or not education is fulfilling its purpose. A great majority of the so-called educated people do not think logically and scientifically. Even the press, the classroom, the platform, and the pulpit in many instances do not give us objective and unbiased truths. To save man from the morass of propaganda, in my opinion, is one of the chief aims of education. Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction.
The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals.
We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character–that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate. The broad education will, therefore, transmit to one not only the accumulated knowledge of the race but also the accumulated experience of social living.
If we are not careful, our colleges will produce a group of close-minded, unscientific, illogical propagandists, consumed with immoral acts. Be careful, “brethren!” Be careful, teachers!
by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
Why aren’t we talking about real issues such as the purposely under education ,mis-education ( dumbing down ) ,and unfair behavioral school polices , that exist within a great deal of schools, in majorly urban communities ,that are mainly peoples of color period?
Are we saying that ,the state of the minds of black and children of color , is not an issue?
Are we saying, The Unions Anti-Charter School expansion campaign , that is cutting in to their monopoly funding,is well more important?
The last time I checked parents gripes about any of these schools have nothing to do with expansion, these are not the peoples issues.
Mothers are worried about proper education ,and strict school policies, not expansion.
Less Charter Schools being created doesn’t change what already is and has been.
Thee plight of parents of color dealing with the Public School system’s, history reaches as far as the days of busing. When Charter wasn’t an issue.
How, many schools today that are an option to most urban parents ,would truly measure up to Dr. King’s Ideology on education?
Placing all of our energy into halting school expansion, or reform is not a solution ,it’s a temporary band-aid, that will eventually
fall off. We must learn to be action figures ,rather than reactionary figures, more so, than,not.
This post should really be about: How Do Parents Position Themselves, In A Place Of Power?
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