Charter Versus Public Schools
It’s very unfortunate that some kids don’t value an education, but at some point enough is enough—what about the vast majority of CPS students who frankly don’t want classroom disrupters dragging them down? —skeptic
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I tutored a (very bright) kid through eighth grade, and then he went to a Noble high school on the south side. Like a lot of freshmen, he had difficulty making the social adjustment to high school, and started having difficulty. Like a lot of parents would do, they went to a guidance counselor/adviser for suggestions. To this day, I can’t believe that someone who was actually supposed to advise students gave this recommendation: The guidance counselor actually suggested that he be allowed to “transfer” to an “online high school” that had no oversight or in-person component to it whatsoever. The “online high school” was a sick, sick joke. Even if the (14-year-old) kid did have the discipline to complete the courses—which he didn’t have, and he subsequently dropped out—the “courses” were so weak on substance and homework, that they couldn’t possibly have been of any real value. He might as well have spent his “school time” browsing Wikipedia—in fact, that might have been better for him, because at least that would have been interesting to him. Making things worse, there was no mechanism for preventing cheating during exams, and the exams could be taken again and again until the student “passed.”
Another great exposé by Ben Joravsky. Charters must be held accountable for their unfair enrollment and transfer-out policies and practices. Politicians need to be held accountable for the lies and half-truths they tell about charters (Rahm Emanuel’s claim that charters make up most of the top high schools in Chicago, for example). Thanks, Ben! —Julie Woestehoff
I would be very interested in seeing just what branch of CPS is formulating and implementing the studies that show such an interesting gap in achievement between charter and public schools. They certainly have a vested interest in making them look like the panacea we are told they are. I don’t trust it or believe it, and am hoping Mr. Joravsky will investigate this further. Thank you for this. —Pambasilea
Dear Mr. Sula,
The editors reply: Mike Cahill is correct. Kelly edged Schulter in 2000, 51 percent to 49 percent.
