I was recently perusing the Austin American Statemen for editorials when I came across an article by a UT professor named Cynthia Franklin, titled "Commentary: All lose when charter, public schools presented as rivals" I have a specific interest in education and was intrigued enough to read the authors opinion. In the article, professor Franklin outlines her 20 years of experience in educational research and then states planely,
"I can tell you that regardless of which side of the debate you may fall, pitting charter schools against public schools does not lead to better education for anyone."
Professor Franklin then describes modern research that indicates the majority of charter schools performing no better than public schools. She describes the need to look at the variables that matter: Faculty, staff, and resources. She then describes the fundamental assumption behind charter school advocacy.
"Charter schools have been positioned against public schools based on the idea that school choice will lead to a better education. To most Americans, choice is a cherished value, but offering school choice through charter schools is not a cure for educating all children."
Professor Franklin then highlights special needs children, or children struggling with mental health issues as illustrative cases in which Charter schools may not be willing or able to enroll these students. This effectively eliminates choices for the families of these children.
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I agree with the authors' initial assertion. Pitting charter schools against public schools does not lead to better education quality for everyone. However, I believe there is a deeper issue.
It is an error to assume that interpersonal competition within education will lead to the best results. This philosophy can be seen at the micro level by students who run the stress gauntlet and compete for GPA's, placement exam scores, and esteemed university attendence. If you pull back a litter further, you can see local schools and colleges fighting for their share of public education resources, and frantically highering experts to help them 'fix' low graduation rate issues. If you look at the issue nationally, policy makers scramble to adjust to a data driven world in which the US has only a middle of the pack ranking in math, science, and reading. (Pew Research)
I argue that the problem isn't resources, it isn't teacher quality, it isn't public schools or charter schools. Out biggest issue with education is that we slap reactionary policy band-aids to fix EXTERNAL indicators of academic success, when in fact, we have a very real INTERNAL issue.
We do not approach education in a healthy and sustainable way. This is an actual article I found after a quick google search "Getting First Graders Ready for Standardized Testing and Evaluation". These are children who are 6 years old.......They are barely cognitively aware of the world, and yet they are expected to perform. The joy of intrinsic learning is quickly replaced with an achievement expectation, and with that, an internal belief is programmed, "If I perform well, then I have value. If I do not perform well, I am not valued." This leads to a fear-based system of performance in which a persons' identity, value, and self-worth are intrinsically tied to their level of achievement.
We do not perform at our best when we are under psychological duress. People are designed to function at their best when they are happy, intrinsically motivated, and can be creative. This has been known to psychologists for generations. Corporations caught onto this in the late 20th century. (Think of Googles' method of employee care). There is a host of educational resources that confirm results like these. Schools with Montessori philosophies, centered around fostering innate curiosity have been in the US since the 1960's.
We need to rethink our approach to education. Our current performance-based model is unsustainable and unhealthy. We need to focus on developing an educational model at the national, local, and individual level, that leverages intrinsic learning motivations. Instead of trying to steer the educational ship, let go, and let us do what we were designed to do.
