A Reader Writes... Pretty Lies and Powerful Truths - Part 8

In response to the 12/13/12 post, “Pretty Lies and Powerful Truths – Part 7,” a LYS Assistant Superintendent writes:

I don’t want to be thought as a renegade against Charter Schools since I do believe they have a real value for some students.  However, the research on charter schools is not glaringly positive and charter schools take away from the traditional public school funding.  The publication, Texas Lone Star, July 2012 had an extensive study of charter schools regarding instruction, salaries, and teacher experience.  For each topic covered the results were below that of traditional public schools.  If it is competition to have a great education; then we, in public schools must sharpen the saw of our skills and the students must do the same.

  

SC Response

I am neither a charter school advocate nor adversary.  I am a proponent for effective and efficient use of public dollars for public education.  I define effective as educating increasing numbers of students to be critical thinkers and complex problem solvers.  I define efficient as continuously identifying and removing slack from the system.

By those definitions, I can show you schools of all types (traditional, charter, magnet, and alternative) that fail at both criteria.  The problem that I have with the entire education debate is that no one is really advocating for better schools.  Instead the debate is driven by political and personal agendas: 

• “Spend less money.”
• “Divert money.”
• “Spend more money.”
• “Test more.”
• “Test less.”
• “Hold teachers accountable.”
• “Hold principals accountable.”
• “Hold parents accountable.”
• “Don’t hold anyone accountable.”

And so on...

Which brings me to your last sentence, which does a good job of summarizing my beliefs and work throughout my career, “...we, in public schools must sharpen the saw of our skills and the students must do the same.”

How do we do that? 

A. By utilizing our resources proactively.

B. By holding ourselves accountable to on-going success of our students. 

C. By voting for those who understand that the formula for the economic well being of our communities, state and country is a highly educated populace that transcends current socio-economic groupings. 

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

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