Diane Ravitch: Charter Schools Won't Save the School System

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I am a current teacher in the Mississippi Delta and technology will be a key component in the future success of my students. We must incorporate technology into teaching higher-order thinking skills which will prepare my students to be today’s learners and tomorrow’s leaders.
You can help my students break their cycle of poverty, a main problem is that they are not given the resources to do so. Please help!
http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=374608&sharebar=true

Mr. B of MS 10:11AM April 27, 2010

First, thanks Mandy Cat. :)
I just wanted to suggest that rather than arguing about who is or is not responsible for public education's deficiencies or who should or should not be responsible for correcting them henceforth, perhaps ALL of us need to be taking responsibility. I actually saw Diane Ravitch speak at Stanford, and that was one of the messages I took from it. Surely even the most conservative of Ravitch's critics approve of bringing personal responsibility to bear in creating solutions to problems.
I encourage those of you who reject Ravitch's position out of hand (and perhaps without even reading her book) to see her speak if you have the opportunity. You can get a feel for Diane Ravitch "live" by reading this reflection: http://kl.am/Ravitch

Kenni Smith of CA 6:40PM April 21, 2010

in Our age of computers (and I recommend Edubuntu Linux for far better and cheap or free software) gives us the ability to let those who can go as fast as they need and those who need more help, More time to get help from the instructor. Of course if they are laptops and they go home with your child you may not want them to have on-board web-cams or mikes because with everybody spying on everybody a problem could arise(don't ask for trouble).
education and health care should be thought of as one subject because as in my cases a doctor can make a educators job much harder, The teacher needs a voice with the doctor or active parent in many cases but in my days that is not the way things were done.
Don D. Brock

Don D. Brock of AZ 4:42PM April 21, 2010

Ron Smith has hit the nail on the head. I am also a retired teacher who has taught in schools of differing sizes and economic diversity. Regardless of any variable, teaching and learning was most successful when the students came from homes in which the parents had an interest in their learning and an interest in the teachers' quality, the students were prepared for classes, and the school provided resources to take this mix and produce solid students and solid citizens.

Roger Franke of MN 2:31PM April 21, 2010

Uh, that's not me saying that. It was both Richard Nixon and John Kennedy during their debates in 1960.
The times they are a changin' - Well, maybe not so much...

R.L. Schaefer of CA 1:09PM April 21, 2010

I was able to spot four grammatical, syntactical and punctuation errors in five sentences. It's never convincing when the functionally illiterate commentator takes on educational theory.

Mandy Cat of AZ 12:34PM April 21, 2010

it's fine to blame teacher's unions, but the results are very similar in "right-to-work" states where unions have very little play. In fact, the union-busting red states in the South genrally have the worst outcomes of all.

wendy w of KS 12:20PM April 21, 2010

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steroid of FL 4:56AM April 21, 2010

thinks that we are wasting money on "overpaid teachers who have lost their desire to teach". Teachers never lose their desire to teach. Some are, in fact, beaten down to tired pulps by the snotty attitudes of horrible administrators and school boards. Some are tired of being constantly criticized by nutball parents and the likes of the tea party crowd who think they know it all about how to fix the schools by publicly berating the teachers. Some are weary of dealing with many kids having been captured by cultural distractions brought to us by corporations (TV, movies, music, cell phones, texting, facebook, twitter, fashion). And some are a bit depressed that so many of their students are living in poverty or near poverty and being raised by "couldn't care less" parents.
But ole Sherlock would have you believe it's the unions' fault.

Muser of NM 11:22PM April 20, 2010

It's good to hear some wisdom from a veteran of "reform" in education. Who can argue with insisting that students who come out of any educational system know Civics, History, the Arte, and so on. The question is how to get there--how to produce the desired outcome that "No Child Left Behind" has failed to.
My wife and I, both retired educators married previously to educators, are of the same mind: In education, nice-sounding slogans like "No Child Left Behind" seldom produce good-looking results. Assuming that tests are high in importance overlooks the role of parents as motivators and guides to their children and puts the full weight of success on teachers who are too often overburdened and underpaid. Teachers who have the full cooperation and involvement of parents, who are given the resources and rewards they deserve, and who work in uncrowded classrooms have a chance of leaving no children behind--tests or no tests.
It's really that simple. There are and have been a lot of experiments going on around the country, the charter school movement, conceived for wrongheaded reasons, one of them in the process of failing for the most part. What my wife and I would like to see is an experiment in which money is poured on the problem--teachers truly rewarded, schools and classrooms fully equipped, all administrators eliminated with teachers rotating administrative chores, and teachers fully responsible for class sizes, subject matter mastery, involving parents and other volunteers in the day-to-day, and more.
Expensive? You betcha. These are our kids, and they're the future of America. Let's treat educating them as though it's REALLY an important matter--something I've yet to see in my longish lifetime.

Ron W. Smith of VT 4:21PM April 20, 2010