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Smart List: 60 People Shaping the Future of K-12 Education
The reality on the ground of one celebrated school is “More than a third of Summit Prep’s students are low-income …” and yet they still write:
“In a recent interview, Guggenheim told us he’s tired of hearing excuses about public schools. We are too. Describing the educators running charters like Summit’s, he said: ‘Here’s a new generation of reformers that are proving that every kid can learn. Even in the toughest neighborhoods, you can still educate every kid.'”
Every day in my morning walk, I enjoy conversations with the wonderful kids getting great educations at the two charter schools that replaced the 100% poor neighborhood school next to us. One is ranked in Newsweek, but its now 43% poor.
Besides not all poor kids are the same, just like not all poor schools are the same. We could have a chance with our 100% poor kids to compete with charters and magnets if our school was allowed to enforce its code of conduct, but that will not be an option until we have what charters have, the power to refer traumatized kids who are emotionally incapable of functioning in a neighborhood school to alternative services that can they address the needs of kids who have been damaged by the most extreme forms of abuse.
I do not understand why people aren’t more concerned about the state of education as it is. If we want all of our children to have a great education then vouchers and lotteries won’t work. We cannot leave the education system in the same place that it has been for 200 years and expect our children to learn. Many things have happened in that 200 years and we need to keep up. Schools just are not working and charter schools are. We need to model charter schools in every school in America. We need to stop telling ourselves that not every child can learn and believe that the education system is the problem, not the child. Every child can learn but at their own pace. We need change in schools NOW!!!!