I live in a suburb of Halifax, Nova Scotia. I had to read up a bit on charter schools, because they aren't a thing here. It looks like a hybrid private/public type of school. Then I came across this article:
Charter Schools – an idea whose time has gone. Part 1 - Nova Scotia Advocate (nsadvocate.org)
Charter schools, an idea whose time has gone – Part 2 - Nova Scotia Advocate (nsadvocate.org)
Summary: The author is not a fan. In the NS context, charter schools look like a solution in search of a problem.
Do you believe that public schools produce unthinking robots? And, if there are only public schools, where would they move to?
As I told Trell- if you haven't lived here, don't tell my I'm wrong. The people in Nova Scotia or anywhere, really, are not the same as people here.
I'm not saying that all public schools are bad- I went to them until college but at that time, we weren't barraged by teachers telling us what to think, as they do here. Yes, they do- you may not want to believe it, but they do. However, WHERE the schools are makes a difference. Unfortunately, the "you need to know 'this' " occurs n both extremes, so it's not a matter of only one side doing it.
Schools are supposed to teach how to think critically, not
what to think but if you were to come here and talk to people below the age of 30, you would be amazed by what they don't know- you know more about this country than they do. For that matter, many people outside of the US know more and that's a problem because they don't have the ability to think in terms of 'how will this help the country?", rather than "What's in it, for me?". Kids aren't very interested in history, so rather than grade them low, they dumb it down so they'll pass. Why would a Math class need to mention CRT? For that matter and WRT secondary ed, why would a college history professor need to force her views about anything on the students?
The link shows part of the problem and it affects all of us in this area, in many ways. If they don't learn the material by the end of high school, and the Math/Reading proficiency ratings show they aren't, they'll never be able to land a job that pays well unless they have some special skill that doesn't require academic excellence. Unless they're lucky and find a job where employees are taught what is needed, outside of the work skills.
The latest school report cards make it clear that school choice is making an important difference in the lives of Milwaukee students.
rightwisconsin.com
There's nothing easy about this but IMO, people need to stop using hot buttons to get what they want, on all areas of the political spectrum. Class warfare needs to stop and the main targets of opportunity are the 'rich', as Pelosi calls them. Well, she IS one of the 'rich', but nobody wants to talk about the people whose names are on hospitals, schools, public programs and in other aspects of society where the ones who gave large parts of their wealth did it do help people. Sure, they
might be able to see their names on these, but only if they make the endowment while they're alive and coherent. Some/many do it as a bequeathment, sometimes because they had nobody else to leave it to but it doesn't happen without serious thought.
I hate seeing people who are stuck in their position in life without a decent way out. Locally, I blame the city government and politics in general, in Milwaukee. It has been contentious my whole life and I'm 65- my parents built their house in a suburb (not a ritzy one, either) so they didn't have to deal with the problems, but we lived only 3 blocks away, so the crime has always intruded into the area. The public schools in this area (I moved back, after 16 years in the city) are definitely better and the $/student is higher because it's a very small district, but MKE spends more/student than all but a few schools in large cities, according to the link. The problem with the MPS budget is the fact that so much is spent on pensions, which WOULD have been less costly if the pension program had been managed more sensibly.
Articles and videos about Milwaukee Public Schools spends $14K+ on each student on FOX6 News Milwaukee.
www.fox6now.com
I don't think the MKE schools produce thoughtless robots, but the end results aren't good- the kids need to be interested, or they'll never succeed and when the news crew and meetings have kids saying "There's nothing for me, there", the school board needs to pay attention. The MKE school board has had infighting and problems with members cooperating for a long time- that needs to change.
Nobody benefits when schools fail. Property tax pays for most of the cost and, while it's expensive in Wisconsin, most of us who don't have kids pay it willingly because it's absolutely necessary.
