Comment & Debate
Elly Jo Rael. “A Summary of Arguments For and Against Charter Schools” – “Charter schools are elitist. To the extent that charter schools can expel students and refuse to accept them, then regular public schools will become a dumping ground for the difficult or expensive to educate students, including those with antisocial behaviors and/or learning disabilities or physical handicaps. To the extent that they are allowed autonomy in selection of students, curriculum, pedagogy, and measurement of outcomes, charter schools may also lead to an increased stratification and fragmentation of society along lines of class, race, gender, language, mental and physical abilities, and social, religious, and political beliefs. Not only will such stratification be educationally harmful for some, but it will increase divisiveness in an already too fractured society. Rather than fragmentation, we need to revitalize a spirit of commonalty through the public school system.”