Come Saturday Morning: The Sting Collapses

[Are_grits_groceries]

Just as the economic house of cards finally collapsed around George W. Bush and his cronies (and did so a good three months earlier than they'd hoped), the efforts to privatize public schools in order to make them "better" have been increasingly revealed to be less than successful at anything other than weakening education overall while lining the pockets of a fortunate few with our tax monies.

The horror show that is Chris Whittle has seriously damaged the public-school systems of Philadelphia and other American cities, in addition to raiding, with Jeb Bush's help, the pension funds of Florida's teachers in order to prop up his Edison Project. (And no, his schools aren't significantly better than the public schools they're designed to supplant. In a 2007 RAND study of Philadelphia's schools, the study's authors stated that "We find no evidence of differential academic benefits that would support additional expenditures on private managers." In fact, studies of charter schools nationwide have found that they usually do worse than comparable public schools.) Whittle, who found that he could no longer count on friendly governors turning over their employees' pension funds to him, has now decided to forsake inner-city students in favor of the wealthy elite; he's stepped down as Edison's CEO and his new "Nations School" scheme has a tuition rate similar to Ivy League colleges.

Meanwhile in Minnesota, the cradle of the charter-school craze, a new, comprehensive study from the Institute on Race and Poverty shows that, far from helping inner-city kids, nearly two decades of charter schools have hurt them: Most charter schools perform worse than comparable district schools on state tests. In addition, charters intensify the very racial and economic segregation that the public schools in the state had previously worked hard to reduce. The drive to cut corners by using unqualified persons to teach could be a factor; just this past week, the state of Minnesota was forced to withhold $60,000 in funds from a Golden Valley charter school that had hired unqualified teachers.

http://firedoglake.com/2008/11/29/come-saturday-morning-the-sting-collapses/

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. We need to figure a way to judge schools other than test scores

The number one way to predict academic success is socio-economic status. In other words, poor kids will always do poorly on the tests. So let's come up with a different way to determine if they are learning or not.

[goclark]

19. Tests are still valid but they should not be the end all

Some of the brightest most successful people that I know grew up in the heart of the inner city.

The common thread seems to be that they were blessed with at least one exceptional teacher/relative/family friend that noticed the sparkle in their eyes or appreciated the way they asked questions.

One friend that comes to mind is an extremely successful lawyer.
He told me one time that he never really knew his father.Two brothers were in jail.
His mother never paid much attention to him - only worried about the two children in jail.

They were on welfare and at that time welfare children were only issued bright pink glasses. He never read a word in class because he was ashamed to put on those pink glasses. Finally in 3rd grade, the State allowed "regular glasses."

His mother sent him to live with an uncle that happened to be gay.

The uncle saved him because he always took him to the library and they came homes with books on geography,famous people etc.
To this day my friend always has a book with him and if he has more than two seconds to relax -- he is reading.

He is brilliant, simple brilliant and his uncle was able to see it.

I always tell him that his uncle was his greatest teacher.

[goclark]

2. R and K as many times as it is needed & shout it on the roof

of every Public and Charter school in the nation...

Charter schools are Wal Marts built for Children!
They were designed to line the pockets of the Bush Crook Buddies.

No unions,lower salaries,parents running the office instead of well trained staff,little or no requirements from the States.

As a former school administrator,I have watched this 1st hand.

While I'm sure I will get flamed, I don't care!

I have seen the good,the bad and the ugly of this horror to the educational system since 1991 - in the heart of the Mid West and in California.

Charter schools were designed by and for Bush Crooks to destroy the inner city schools by designing "Safe" Schools in the same area and taking away the "best and the brightest" from the Public Schools.

Charter Schools and MSNBC Bush Prison Cities are one in the same - $$$$'s for Bush Crooks!

I don't blame the parents because they only want the best for their children.

I'm sure you can give me hundreds of examples of children that thrived/are thriving in Charters. Of course you can!

Trust me, I have been a Teacher, Advisor, Gifted Consultant, Principal for thousands of children in Public Schools.

I have been on the staff of two major Universities after retiring.

During that time, I was assigned to nurture beginning teachers in Public and Charter Schools in various economic settings.

I have watched this Wal Mart for Children blossom onto the national scene and win the support of thousands of parents since the early 1990's.

I don't blame the parents,I don't blame the educators - charter and public, I blame US for being asleep at the school bus wheel.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for posting these findings.
I will bookmark it and remember that until America has "eyes wide open" instead of "Eyes Wide SWhut by Bush", this injustice will continue to Leave Our Children Behind.

[acmavm]

4. I tell you what, I won't flame ya. You posted exactly what I've heard discussed

and what I've read for a long time.

What I've never understood is why have so many people hung on to an idea that is supported and run by the friggin' Bush family and its connections? Do people not see a trend when dealing with these people? Not one thing, nothing, nada, zip, zilch, that that horrible family has ever done or been connected with has been for the benefit of anyone else but themselves.

And look at 'em. They're not brilliant. They're not examples of wisdom and learning. They're thugs who came from families who could afford to send them to good schools. And when it comes to Junior, that money was totally WASTED! Anyway, these are not people that should be allowed to participate in any way in the education of children.

[goclark]

16. They are absolutely not smart enough to

make any decisions about Education ~ they don't really value Education.

The value the $$$ and power to limit the amount of information given to the citizens of America.

Loved what you said, "They're not examples of wisdom and learning. They're thugs who came from families who could afford to send them to good schools. And when it comes to Junior, that money was totally WASTED! Anyway, these are not people that should be allowed to participate in any way in the education of children."

:bounce: and K

[madfloridian]

3. Obama apparently supports charter schools, and that worries me.

That has been the main thrust of the DLC's policies...using the private sector to combine with public schools.

It is an attack on the public school system.

[Fla Dem]

5. WTF? " far from helping inner-city kids, nearly two decades of charter schools have hurt them"

Why did it take 2 freaking decades to figure it out? That's like almost 2 generations of kids who have been deprived of an adequate education. Why weren't benchmarks in place to measure each class' progress at the end of a school year. Didn't anyone care whether or not the system worked? Any competent business model where a new system is put in place would have goals and benchmarks.

[goclark]

6. The benchmarks belonged to Bush Buddies

They were in total control of the Charter Schools.

Their staff did not meet the rigid guidelines of the Public Schools.

As the children in public schools got "Left Behind" parents got nervous and believed that Charter Schools were the answer.

My friend was a dynamic teacher in a lovely prominately minority school in Pontiac.

I would often go to the school to read to the children and make presentations to the staff on the latest curriculum trends.

They were a totally dedicated staff that was completely destroyed as parents rushed to go to the Charter School that just opened in the area.

Many teachers that had been treasures had to leave that Public School because of low enrolled.

The daughter of a friend was rejected as a teacher in a neighboring Upper Class neighborhood and did get a job at the Charter.

It was so frustrating to her because she had no materials of note to work with and lack of support from the other teachers because they were all new too.

The Principal "rotated" to other charters and did not have a clue regarding the ongoing instructional program at the school.

The facility was clean, just as Wal Mart is clean.
It is all show and not much go.

The bottom line is that there were many children that were "Left Behind" in the Charter school but the parents didn't realize it.

As I said before,Charter Schools are a business!
Their bottom line is profit not test scores or school tradition or even the neighborhood school concept.

K again for a post that should be screamed to all parents.

[goclark]

9. Duplicate ~ sorry

Guess I got so passionate I hit the button again.

[Hekate]

7. 5th Rec -- or is that "Wreck"? Bushites, abetting their cronies, set out to destroy public education

Yes, it's been going on since before Bush was installed, but same cronies.

Hekate

[goclark]

8. Bush Co. did a shell game on America with Charter Schools

Please excuse me for being passionate about this issue but I have followed the destruction of Public Schools since 1990 and it breaks my heart......

Public Schools are not hardly perfect but they are not owned by rich Rethugs, WE own Public Schools.

Parents --- Send your children back to Public School and work night and day to see that the school is excellent. Never give up!

Yes, it will be hard because there are only a few Public Schools that have not been ripped apart by Charter Schools and Home Schooling.

Just One Example: There is a fancy national organization of rich African American women. For many years they have sponsored
a "Beautillion."

I attended in the '80's and it was just thrilling to see the best and the brightest young men finishing at the top of their class from Public Schools and headed for Harvard, UCLA, USC, Morehouse --- the "best" universities!

I missed the 90's and didn't return until last year. I was so shocked! One young man was accepted into UCLA from a Charter School. There were 12 students in his Charter school class. This young man was the STAR student.

The Charter is in a wealthy AA neighborhood that has parents beating down the door to get in that school.

On the flip side, one young man was accepted into Stanford from Crenshaw High -- one of the most troubled high schools in the area.

Another was accepted into USC and 2 into Morehouse. The rest were "waiting to hear" from their schools or going to Jr. Colleges,State Universities or Predominately Black Colleges that are struggling to survive.

I am not trying to put down any form of Education.

I'm just trying to point out what is happening to the "best and the brightest" in Southern California. It's not just happening to AA students, it's happening to way too many students of all colors.

When I mentioned the problem to my friends that have sponsored the Beautillion for all these years they said, " It's so sad, something has happened in the last 10 years, we can't figure it out."

I told them I knew exactly what happened -- the destruction of the Public Schools by the Bush Administration!

Excellent teachers are being forced out of Public Education because the enrollment is low, they either go back to school or take a job they have no passion to do ~ Bingo for Bush!

Teacher's Unions have been all but destroyed ~ Bingo for Bush!

Charter School Teachers make far less money and have far less experience and supervision -- Bingo for Bush!

Public Schools that were once the focus of local communities and had traditions have been ripped apart -- Bingo for Bush!

Not sure, but Private Schools may also be suffering because parents have been pushed to believe that a Charter School is safe and can give their child more love and attention and cheaper ~ I'm sure you can give me some examples but for the masses of children in Charter Schools --- Bingo for Bush

K!

PS/ If you are a Parent and would like to email me because you are worried about your child's education. You may do so.

[Doremus]

12. Thank you so much for your compassion.

Your deep concern for education is obvious and much appreciated.

I don't know if we will ever recover from the pillaging of every facet of our government.

:cry:

[goclark]

18. They made us all captives and it is hard to imagine

America ever being the same.

We took a huge leap in the last election but we were Abused Children for for 8 years and that is a lot of abuse. :cry:

[gratuitous]

10. And now Whittle moves on from his fiasco

Thousands more students are left with less than even the little they had, and Whittle begins a new scheme with "a tuition rate similar to Ivy League colleges."

One of the selling points of charter schools was that they could do more for students while spending less money. In the taxophobic United States, it was the equivalent of a traveling huckster selling perpetual motion machines. Except in this case, it wasn't just separating the rubes from their hard-earned cash; it was fucking up their children's education, one of the surest, most reliable routes out of poverty and toward greater self-sufficiency.

Critics of charter schools were derided that they "just wanted to throw money at the problem." Curious that after 20 years, Mr. Whittle seems to have cottoned on to the idea that a school that charges high tuition might attract the best teachers, build the best facilities, and educate the best students? But I'm sure no one will have the bad taste to point out that Whittle's new solution is to throw money at the problem.

And, during the last 30 years, we have consistently been told that there's just no money anywhere to upgrade schools or pay teachers more. Yet, when Wall Street gets a case of the sniffles after its latest eight year binge, hey presto! we have hundreds of billions, if not trillions of dollars to pay off all their bad bets. Now we really don't have any money for frills like schools or health care.

[goclark]

14. He should be tried at the Hague with all the rest of the crooks

Keep kicked so that others can open their eyes to this madness.

It is not too late for us to send the message loud and clear to those that are still in love with Charter schools.

I am a big Obama supporter and I know that he supports Charter schools.

I just sent a copy of this article to his staff and will work with renewed passion to build up Public Education once again.
On January 21 there will be a long letter sitting on the desk of the new Head of the Department of Education from goclark regarding Charter Schools.

My mother graduated from Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore Maryland. It was a great school, grand children of slaves attended Douglass and they were a major factor in building the Middle Class of the city.

Last year, HBO did a special on the school.
There are still great things happening at Douglass but the Special put the focus on the bad and the ugly.

I cried, my mother cried as we looked at her class picture from the 1930's. There were 100 plus graduates.

The young men were in White Suits and Ties and the young ladies in lovely White dresses, each holding a long diploma tied with a pretty bow.

My mother was the first person to finish high school in her family and she went on to receive a Masters in Education and taught in the Public Schools for many years.

She inspired her daughter, goclark, to be an Educator as well.

BushCo really did a number on Public Education and WE allowed it to happen.

Wake Up America and take back your Public Schools that are dieing like raisins in the sun.

[lonestarnot]

11. K but can't R too late!

[Bigmack]

13. "You can't solve the education problem..

by just throwing money at it."

Why not give it a try?

If we can throw $3 Trillion at Iraq and a couple of $ Bazillion at the bailouts, why not try just bombarding education with money and see what happens?

Shit, if we spent as much per pupil in school as we spend per prisoner in the system, we might see real gains.

How about replacing the "military-industrial" complex with the "education-industrial" complex, with lobbyists oiling the way for big bucks spent on their pet school?

Just thinking...

[goclark]

15. Now we are talking!

:bounce: keep kicked please

[goclark]

17. Ding,ding,ding! A winner...Our Children vs the Prison system

is a no brainer.

Yet, MSNBCPrison Station is nothing but an unpaid for advertisment for their "No Child Left Behind" Business.