Race to the Top? Critic says Education Plan Takes Advantage of Public School and State 'Desperation'

[IndianaGreen]

More background on what Arne Duncan is doing to our children and the public school system!

Published on Thursday, February 11, 2010 by MinnPost.com

Race to the Top? Critic says Education Plan Takes Advantage of Public School and State 'Desperation'

Charter School Report Finds Widespread Segregation, Including in Minnesota

by Beth Hawkins

Charter schools are more racially isolated than traditional schools in virtually every state and large city in the country, according to a new report released by the University of California at Los Angeles. In the Midwest, more than half of charter students in 2007-2008 were black, in large part because charters are most often located in urban settings, researchers at UCLA's Civil Rights Project found.

In Minnesota, the report found, much of this segregation can be attributed to the fact that many urban charters are targeted at students of a single race or ethnicity. By contrast, in the western United States, where traditional schools are typically more diverse, charters "are havens for white re-segregation from public schools," researchers reported.

The report comes at a time when public attention is focused on the Obama administration's first marquee education initiative, the controversial Race to the Top program. Forty states have applied for the federal grants, which are intended to recognize efforts at innovation. Among other things, the program includes financial incentives to expanding the number of charter schools.

"The states are financially desperate and will do almost anything to keep from firing teachers in the next couple of years," UCLA Professor and Civil Rights Project Co-Director Gary Orfield told Minnpost. "We think are taking advantage of that desperation."

Charters do not have to provide much of the programming traditional public schools are required to offer, such as services to English-language learners. This results in an unequal playing field. "We're not asking that charters be shut, we're not asking that charters not be expanded," he said. "We're asking that they be held to the same civil rights requirements."

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/02/11-7

[LWolf]

1. k&r

[Tansy_Gold]

2. it gets my + vote

Of course, one must understand that regardless how much evidence is placed before them, some people have their minds made up and will not be swayed. I'm sure they are as sincere in their beliefs as, say, we are in ours, but one must keep in mind that often this is an exercise in futility.

HOWEVER, one must also understand that not all those who read, post. There are always lurkers out there, and we have no way of knowing what they think, how they make up their minds on issues, whether they have already formed cast-in-stone opinions or are still working things out for themselves.

Sometimes, therefore, it is almost better simply to post an article or an essay or a link to a study, include one's own commentary, and then walk away. It is not productive to spend a great deal of time trying to persuade the already convinced.


But what do I know?



Tansy Gold

[IndianaGreen]

3. Most excellent advice, Tansy Gold.

Francis Bacon said that knowledge was power. The flip side of that was The Party's dictum of "Ignorance is Strength," in George Orwell's 1984.

[Tansy_Gold]

4. Thank you.

The point is, on certain issues we know who the voices on the "other side" are going to be, and we pretty much know what they're going to say.

So, if one starts a thread with an article pointing out that a member of the cabinet was, prior to being in the cabinet, roundly criticized for positions he or she espoused; and if one further points out that that person is espousing the same positions and advocating the same policies in the administration and with the support and/or encouragement of the President, one can expect to be criticized for daring to criticize the administration. We know this is going to happen.

The question becomes, then, does one engage in the same argument over and over and over and over, with the same DUers, knowing that the end result is going to be the same? Does one back off and let the others have the last word and gloat in what they consider their victory? Does one put them on ignore and then lie awake at night wondering just WHAT they have posted?

I can't answer that for anyone but myself. But as always, I take into consideration that there are lurkers.



Tansy Gold

[KeyWester]

7. "knowledge is power"

you should try it sometime.

[nyc 4 Biden]

5. k&r

"We're not asking that charters be shut, we're not asking that charters not be expanded," he said. "We're asking that they be held to the same civil rights requirements.""

The unrec'rs are out in force against this post.

"...held to the same civil rights requirements."

What a travesty!!!

[Starry Messenger]

6. k & r