So basically what we learned in class and from the video is that there are a lot of different types of schools. At first it was pretty much just public and private, but now there's public, private (secular and religious), charter, choice, and homeschooling. And there are some different reasons why parents choose (or don't choose) to send their children to a certain type of school. They might think their children will get a better education in a private school or feel that religion must play a part in their child's education. They can choose to send their children to a different school in a district if their child attends a failing school (one that does not make their AYP).
Some argue that school choice is really only a choice for the wealthy, people who can afford to make the decision to change the school that their child attends. I agree with this because people from low-income families often have no choice but to send their children to a school that has policies with which they don't agree, or is otherwise insufficient to them. Even if they are in a failing school, there is some cost attached with moving schools, and it is often a long-term cost like transportation to school every day. Plus, then the student often doesn't get to experience extracurricular activities like clubs and school sports because they occur before and after school and their transportation doesn't allow for this.
Charter schools are a good idea, in theory; I still don't really have a full understanding about them, though, because they're sort of new and evolving. The school that I'm doing my service learning at, Carmen High School, is a charter school with an emphasis on science and technology. I think they're still on the first 5-year charter. They have a slightly longer school day (8:20-4:10) and if they get lower than a C on any quiz, test, or overall class, they have to either retake the quiz or test or retake the class the next semester or in summer school. Also, if they fail a quiz or test, they have to stay from 4:10 to 6:00 the next week and study/get homework help/make corrections on the test in order to pass it the next time. It's pretty intense, and most of the kids I've talked to after school who had to come in don't hate it, because they knew the rules and knew that it would happen if they failed a test. I think that charter schools, then, are good because it's a public school that can try new things, and in this case, it seems to be helping the students. (This is just from what I've observed in Carmen).
I went to public school in Aurora, IL (Waubonsie Valley HS) and I really had nothing to complain about. We had new textbooks, good lunch, SmartBoards, etc., but I lived in the suburbs of Chicago. I know that most of the CPS high schools are in pretty bad shape. We did a school exchange with an inner city school, for example, where we spent a day there and they spent a day at Waubonsie. My partner from the other school, Elizabeth, told me about how cramped it was but I didn't really get it until I went. They had 20-30 students crammed in a tiny classroom that was about half the size of a normal classroom, and in all the classes I attended with Elizabeth, nothing really got done. The students talked the whole time, while the teacher sat at her desk looking tired. It seemed crazy to me, but I know that there are a lot of schools that are in trouble this way.
I think that if public schools were improved, we wouldn't need all these other options. However, right now it is just a fact of life that some areas are richer than other, and because of this, some schools are in much better shape than another. A distribution of wealth would be good, I guess, but that's a fine line between a healthy school system and socialism. Good in theory, but often bad in execution.
Excellent Post!!!!
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