I guess my question would be why do you charge people for things without disclosing that there will be an extra fee associated with it? You want to charge for answering a queston, fine. I dont like it but fine. But the real issue is you dont even give a choice. You dont say "Hey I can answer your questions but it will cost you "x" amount. No you just answer and charge, Full disclosure on what things cost BEFORE you treat us would be fine but you dont. You ask seemingly innocent questions knowing full well youl bill us if we ask them but never tell us. I went for a physical, my doc checked my ears and said they had wax in them. He asked if I wanted him to clean them out. I said sure. Went to pay and my co-pay was double because he cleaned my ears. He squirted water in my ears. That's it. I can do that without going to medical school and if he had told me he would double charge me for it I would have said no. The deception is the issue. Be up front and people wouldnt mind. But when you take away our choice in the matter and bill us after the fact without letting us know there will be additional charges, well thats just dishonest. Please try and justify that.
While its easy to find faults in the charter school movement (and yes, there are plenty), one could certainly find plenty of problems in public school education as well. Ive been a teacher for over a decade with experience in public, private, charter and colleges. Ive also taught in Europe and in the US so I have seen a lot of what is wrong and right.
The charter school movement has, for many students, been shown to be a success. At the school that I have worked at, students who were failing at public schools have turned their academic careers around and gone onto college. This year we had a 100% college acceptance rate. We also have a very large number of special education students who have found public schools lack the support that they need.
The 'outrage' that this article expresses seems to suggest that the charter school movement is a wholly bad thing. If there are financial issues, then new laws and requirements need to be put into place. The same attitude is prevalent with people who criticize the common core curriculum. I will be the first person to say that its not perfect, but its ideal (that all students learn the same material) is a very logical one. With that, like with charter schools, the solution is not to scrap them but to fix what is wrong.
I will be the first person to say that requirements need to be rigorous before money is handed out. Charters should not be dealt to anyone, and in my opinion, should not be in the domain of for profit corporations. All the benefits of charter schools should be the students of the charter schools.
People also complain about charter schools eroding collective bargaining, but as I work in North Carolina (where teacher pay is abysmal) and it is a right to work state, there is no collective bargaining anyway. In a number of states, collective bargaining has been (unfortunately) broken down. Its a sad state of affairs but if you take away Charter Schools, you take away choices for students who don't fit in public schools and can't afford to go to private schools.
ALEC seems to be about creating jobs, providing better education for our kids and developing a strong domestic energy industry. I can't believe how evil they are! Obviously low wage service jobs, poorly educated kids and reliance on terrorist and international bullies for our energy is a better plan.
If these invade the oceans it will be the end of wild salmon and who knows what else. They may only raise them on land but some farm raised fish are now being raised in great nets in the open ocean. Remember the Invasive Lake Trout that were intentionally released into the wild and what it has done to the bears? These people are stupid, selfish, greedy and dangerous. It's sad because these scientists creating these things have all this education. They could be saving the world instead of destroying it. They must think they are really smart, but they don't have the common sense to look ten steps out and see the consequences of their actions. They have tiny little eyes that they can only focus on their little microscopes with which they play "God" . They are pathetic. Do they know or care that so few people respect them or don't their brains think that far afield?
Thank you, Jonas. I am very familiar with the corruption, scandals, and crony capitalism of the school privatization movement, having written the book Hoosier School Heist which details the school privatization movement not only in Indiana but also across America, a book highly praised by Diane Ravitch and others.
The only way this is going to stop is through a grassroots movement of rebellion. With the exception of the Chicago Teachers Union and a few others, the unions (nationally and locally) are either too cozy with billionaires, too spineless too act, too out of touch with what is really going on, or just don't know or care enough to get the job done. Educators need to be educated, so thank you for getting the word out.
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