Comments (33) (Please sign in to comment)

1. 

   DavidGBA said, 2 months ago

   Have I got a voucher for you !
2. 

   masterskrain said, 2 months ago

   Texas politics as usual…
3. 

   mickey1339 said, 2 months ago

   We throw billions at our educational system and our students performance scores keep dropping. I know it is not a panacea for all that is wrong, but the charter schools model is showing success for a whole lot less money than their public counterparts. I teach at the Junior College level and i cannot tell you how frustrating it is to see the poor quality of basic reading, writing and math skills being turned out of our high schools.
   

   
   I teach finance and accounting courses and have had to tell some of these kids that they should go back for basic Math and English classes before they try to take more mainstream courses. It’s sad…
4. 

   ruff said, 2 months ago

   @mickey1339

   Take away their cell phones, facebook, twitter and ipods, and things will improve.
5. 

   Radish said, 2 months ago

   That’s life in right wing wonderland.
6. 

   wbr said, 2 months ago

   yes right wing produces better students cheaper no grand n e a hq
7. 

   ruff said, 2 months ago

   @wbr

   That is quite obvious from your command of written English.
8. 

   hippogriff said, 2 months ago

   mickey1339: Total lie. Study after study has shown negligible difference between the two, despite the charter schools’ advantage in being able to kick out those not learning for whatever reason.
9. 

   mikefive said, 2 months ago

   @mickey1339

   I just finished reading the 8th grade final exam students were required to take 1895. I doubt that many high school and some college graduates could pass this test. It’s amazing how much they had to learn with minimal funding back then. I’m not suggesting cutting teachers salaries, but I think a lot of the fluff that is paid for by taxpayers could be eliminated. (maybe, even, give teachers a raise with some of the savings)
10. 

    motivemagus said, 2 months ago

    @mickey1339

    Not necessarily true that charter schools are showing success for a “whole lot less money.” It’s more complicated than that.
    1. In some areas, they are doing no better than public schools
    2. They are not cheaper. I don’t know where that assumption comes from.
    3. They are often able to cherry-pick students, which has a great impact on their performance
    If you want a model for good education, I would go check out Finland. But it would entail some real work to introduce similar approaches here.
11. 

    Ennui_rudy Rutherford said, 2 months ago

    How many special education students are enrolled in charter schools? How many AAA football, baseball, basketball,etc. teams are supported by charter schools that take an inordinate amount of class time away from the instructors? Apples to oranges, people.
12. 

    wbr said, 2 months ago

    thank you for agreeing with me ruff i unfortunately went to left wing school as i note you did too since you can not come up with an intelligent attack
13. 

    ahab said, 2 months ago

    @motivemagus

    Utah residents sure don’t want it. They voted it down, but their conservative representatives keep trying to jam it down Utahah-han’s throats! Why? $$$$ special interest$$$money. I also note #4. That by cherry-picking their students, they leave other public schools, and their students with less funds.
14. 

    ahab said, 2 months ago

    It reminds me of Valerie Strauss’ column in the Washington Post 11/09/2011, http://washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/reports-on-charter-schools-expose-new-problems/2011/10/31/glQAcMye3M_blog.html
15. 

    Michael wme said, 2 months ago

    @mikefive

    A copy of the exam is here, along with the typical grades. If you’ll look at the results, most 8th graders in 1895 scored above 90%, while most 21st century 8th graders would have a hard time scoring more than 30%.

    
    Don’t take my word for it, click the links!
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