[...]An incredibly important speech on education by Diane Ravitch » Edurati Review[...]…

[...]An incredibly important speech on education by Diane Ravitch » Edurati Review[...]…

Humbly,
C

Moreover, it's absurd to blame school choice for a bifurcated society that already exists because of America's deeply held capitalist values and catastrophically stratified public education system. Even privileged schools often track their students thus ensuring more social division than any school choice scheme could cause. School choice exploits the divisions already present in, created by, exacerbated by, and ensured by the way we school our children.

Public schools aren't beating charter schools, either. Does Ravitch think either side of the school choice debate can go it alone in saving or ruining public education?

We're also in the midst of a global economic crisis. Charter schools aren't crippling school districts.

I teach at a small charter school run according to its own charter and division policies in Virginia. My colleagues are heroes serving our division's most needy students. So are our colleagues at other division schools. We're not here to wreck our division. We're here to experiment in finding ways to re-engage struggling students with literacy and learning despite the obstacles they've faced in life and at school. We want to share out what works here with our colleagues at other schools. We want to help all children learn.

Diatribes like Ravitch's exacerbate the divide between charter schools and non-charter schools, and the independent voices of schools like mine that promote learning for all – especially our most-needy students – risk being lost because of speeches like this one just as surely as they risk being lost because of the media and federal government's appetite for Charter Management Organizations.

Ravitch ought to use her pulpit to promote and help scale up awesome public schools – chartered or not – instead of fanning the fumes of a debate that has all the stink of a rotting red herring. Why are we talking about charter vs non-charter when we should be asking ourselves if how we educate matches why we educate. Did Ravitch ask audience members to compare how they teach to how charter school teachers teach? Did ravitch ask audience members to compare their schools' time-on-tests with charter schools'? Lost opportunities.

Rhetoric won;t compete with Charter Management Organizations or obsolete public school practices in structuring, scheduling, and teaching.

I have gladly taken risks in my career to serve students I hope to help. Those decisions have brought me to a charter school. I'd rather not be demonized for that. I'd rather not face other educators coming at me with knives – buy you know what? Here I am. Read my blog. Come visit my classroom. Let's talk real change over lunch.

In the meantime if you want democratic schools, start asking adults to lead by example. Start democratizing teachers' unions or start up new ones willing to protect teachers in the minority of working at independent charter schools from the tyranny of the majority looking to discredit our vital work with children, learning, and systems-change.

Sincerely,
Chad Sansing, NBCT, NETS*T, Charter School Teacher