Charter schools its discontents

Charters don't work--it's that simple!

Charters and its discontents.

News item:

Rhode Island H.S dismisses all teachers and staff in an effort to turn-around a failing school.

The school in question, Central Falls H.S in Rhode Island, situated in a poor minority community with high student transfer rates, has a disappointing 48% rate of graduation.

In this regard it is no different from the rates of most urban high schools and even the rates of the four charter high schools in Boston. Remarkably, even though the Boston Charters get to select their own teachers and students, they do not best the public schools. Diane Ravitch, the leading scholar of the school reform movement and long a critic who argued for choice, charters, merit pay and accountability , no longer feels that way. “Charter schools, she concluded, were proving to be no better on average than regular schools, but in many cities were bleeding resources from the public system. Testing had become not just a way to measure student learning, but an end in itself. New York Times, (Scholar’s School Reform U-Turn Shakes Up Debate By Sam Dillon, Published: March 2, 2010). http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/education/03ravitch.html?scp=2&sq=diane%20ravitch&st=cse... See More

If charters, etc. don’t work their magic on impoverished communities, what might? There has long been a correlation between parents income and student achievement (See SAT scores). In this regard, A good jobs program, when everything else fails, might well prove to be the royal road to educational excellence.

“Disadvantaged children have been cemented into an underclass by third-rate schools” argues the New York Times' Nicholas Kristof in a recent op-ed entitled, “Democrats and Schools.” Teacher Unions and the impossible-to-get-rid-of-bad teachers are the villains and charter schools are the good guys. But let’s wait a minute before we clean out the Augean stables.

In a recent Boston Globe story, it was reported that half of Boston’s Charter school high school students fail to graduate, and, according the Kathleen McCartney, Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education , this is same as the public school rate for urban high schools . Moreover, we have the recent Stanford University study reporting that charter schools do not outperform public schools. This part is really odd, given that the charters cherry-pick their students and teachers. It seems that the "whiz kids" who teach in the charters are no better at their task than the "unionized dinosaurs" in the public schools.

Yet, charters have their fans as well as many parent advocates. Since it is not about academics, it must be about atmospherics. As parent-involvement is a must at the charters, a well-behaved student body will be evident (as any unruly are sent back to the public schools). With the charter movement, we seem to be on the road to a two-track public school system—raucous, underfunded publics and the well-mannered charters. And this just might be the beginning of the dismantling and privatizing of the public schools. And we will still be left with disadvantaged youths.

Schools--what is to be done?

What's up with the schools and no child left behind?

International education expert says US "Schools are inheriting an over entertained, distracted student." hmmn

A Senate panel learned that more students in more countries graduate from high school and college and score higher on achievement tests than students in the United States.

So that's it. US student's minds are not in the classroom (their minds are on hand-held devices) and are too damn twitchy. Just as I thought.

So what's the answer? One answer is to keep the politicians away from the schools. The other answer is to ask: "Do we need smart"? Probably not. Rich can always buy smart from anywhere in the world. Also, since we've left manufacturing behind, how smart do you have to be to sell sub-prime mortgages or credit default swaps? It's not a lack of smarties that are leading us to 2nd tierdom; it is the rich-ies who can't stop gorging themselves on the financial sector that is leading us there.

But what about charter schools, another gleam in the eye of the "we'd rather fiddle than watch Rome burn" crowd? Charters are no better on average than the public schools, report scholars at Stanford U. and Diane Ravitch.

So we're left with the public schools: love them or leave them. I say leave them alone--they're doing the best they can with what they've got to work with.

New from the old Bronx

A friend sent me news of the old neighborhood:

Bernie N. was taking out the garbage at his father's slum-lord house when the kindergarten pictures were being taken.

Pookie Beck now owns a candy store in the middle of Broadway

Freddie the cop's gun went off when he tripped over Muck when he fell off his 3 wheeler and a bullet hit Nora bad breath and chipped her tooth.

Sam Senzar was seen just last week still standing on the corner, or on the coroner.

Off the shoulder is now walking Lenny the Dog Walker.

Raymond Berr's mother is still looking for a nice girl for her son.

Donniel Zing has never been found. Still lost in the basement in the coops as it's believed that we are still playing cops and robbers.

Fixing Wall Street will be a steep uphill climb...

Fixing Wall Street will be a steep uphill climb, but I applaud all those who are trying.

Obama's single biggest contributor to his campaign was Goldman-Sachs--sometimes called Government-Sachs for its ability to run our country. Potential saviors like Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd also receive piles of money from the banks.

More woe--Geithner and Bernanke represent the banking industry. The problem with Wall Street is an intrinsic one--what's good for them is bad for the rest of us. To wit: the banks make gobs of money quickly through investing in speculative activities--oil prices, housing market prices (ups and down), Greece, etc. This is the leading/bleeding edge in banking circles. Lending to businesses is so yesterday; derivatives and credit default swaps so today.

Regulations of any sort will rain on Wall Street’s parade--whether it be transparency in derivatives sales, stopping the ratings fraudulence in securitization, lowering bank leverage or stopping banks from trading/gambling with taxpayer money.

So Obama, Geithner and Bernanke and Dodd and Frank et al. will go through the motions of banking reform but at the end of the day will have the same old financial system--that is to say, primed for disaster. (Something tells me that the bankers see this as a thrilling rush....) I’d say that after the next disaster we will be quite ready to dump Wall Street.

News item: Obama visits Kabul.

President Obama pressed President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan to crack down on corruption while strengthening the judicial system and promoting good governance, and he invited him to Washington.

Onward Christian soldiers in the Muslim Middle East. (Bound to be a losing cause). So, Mr. Obama, we continue our efforts to make the Middle East safe for Israel and safe for our oil and gas supplies. Big mistake. At best this is huge drain on our treasury and, at worst, a losing proposition--we will never make the Middle East safe for Israel. As we fiddle endlessly, Wall Street is still running its gambling casino and is bound to come up short once again...and our overextended world reach will topple us.

Say no to Israeli take-over of Palestinian lands

Considering we give in the neighborhood of 10 billion a year to Israel (20% of the Israeli budget)and given that the Palestinians are losing their land at a sickening pace, it's time to say "no" to Israel and its settlers.

Settlers now comprise 1/4th of Israel's population. They are a powerful bloc; much admired by the rest of the country for their "pioneering" spirit. They provide the push for Israel’s illegal (see UN resolutions, Geneva Convention) expansions. The only way to stop Israel from taking over all of the "Palestine Mandate" (Israel now has 80% of the land both parties were supposed to share, and it grows larger every day ) is for the US to pull the financial plug.

The US gives Israel--over 10 billion a year (approx. 1/5th of the Israeli budget)--3 billion direct, military loans that are never repaid, tax free giving by US citizens, etc. Cutting this subsidy will, hopefully, bring Israel to its senses, if not, we will have succeeded in not enabling their land grabbing and crushing of the Palestinians

Schools--what is to be done?

What's up with the schools and no child left behind?


International education expert says US "Schools are inheriting an over entertained, distracted student."

A Senate panel learned that more students in more countries graduate from high school and college and score higher on achievement tests than students in the United States.

So that's it. US student's minds are not in the classroom (their minds are on hand-held devices) and are too damn twitchy. Just as I thought.


So what's the answer? One answer is to keep the politicians away from the schools. The other answer is to ask: "Do we need smart"? Probably not. Rich can always buy smart from anywhere in the world. Also, since we've left manufacturing behind, how smart do you have to be to sell sub-prime mortgages or credit default swaps? It's not a lack of smarties that are leading us to 2nd tierdom; it is the rich-ies who can't stop gorging themselves on the financial sector that is leading us there.

But what about charter schools, another gleam in the eye of the "we'd rather fiddle than watch Rome burn" crowd? Charters are no better on average than the public schools, report scholars at Stanford U. and Diane Ravitch.

So we're left with the public schools: love them or leave them. I say leave them alone--they're doing the best they can with what they've got to work with.

Debt and its discontented

US government debt was worse in the decades following WW2--120% of GDP. To reach that point we would have to have 18 trillion dollars of current US debt. We're short of that by a couple of trillion.

Recall, that the decades following the war were some of our more robust economic times, before Reaganomics reduced our tax base by giving tax cuts to the rich. Years of Bushnomics and Clintonomics further eroded our tax base. Foreign wars and a trillion dollar a year military are further putting us into a hole. What the economy needs is spending--since business is reluctant to spend and consumers are reluctant to spend—the US government must be the spender of last resort. And spend we must to get us out of the hole we're in. (What hole?-- 18 million under- and unemployed, massive housing foreclosures, an economy that is speculation/investment-centric rather than manufacturing-centric.) So, raise high the debt and watch the good times roll once more. Once our ship is righted, we can pay down the debt, and restore the tax cuts for the rich and start manufacturing again and reduce the powers of true rulers of our country--the huge Wall Street banks.