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[quote=Anonymous][quote]Anonymous wrote:
"I believe that parents are absolutely qualified to create schools. The charter board will determine if the school meets the criteria for public funding, and if the education offered is in keeping with minimum standards ie continues to operate. Charters DO close after all."

But what makes them qualified? This is a serious question. Just because someone went to school doesn't make them an expert on education, so what makes these parents, any parents qualified to identify what makes a good school?

Or is this the wrong question? What is the right question?

(and for the PP who doubts, yes, DC is absolutely one of the easiest places to start a charter. Do yourself some research. As for your parochial remark, I'm not sure what your point is...other states are more difficult to start a charter in? Yeah, that's my point.)

What is this "qualified to identify what makes a good school" BS? What makes a good school is functional proficiency. Kids who can read for content, kids who can write and present well, with coherent structure and proper grammar and spelling, kids who have learned and can apply principles such as algebra and geometry, kids who know who our Presidents were and what our history is, kids who know the continents and countries, kids who understand a bit about civics, ethics, world cultures and so on. DCPS churns out thousands of kids each year who don't have any of that - kids who can't even manage to read and write well enough to fill out a job application for themselves. This is not rocket science. Don't dare sit there and presume to pontificate down upon us from on high in your imaginary ivory tower about pedagogic theory and an educator's qualifications when the fact of it is that you and the rest of the public education system you represent is getting it all so very wrong at even the most fundamental level.[/quote]

Um, calm yourself down. I didn't pontificate from anywhere, angry person. I asked questions. Asking questions is not pontificating and frankly, your attempt to insult and shout down questions is very telling. You aren't interested in a real dialogue about education reform. You are a one note angry person whose only note is in bashing DCPS. Cool, you have the absolute right to be that person. But some of us have more than one dimension and are actually interested in what makes a good school and how to create one.

And to divest you of more of your attempted insults....I am not a part of nor do I represent the "public education system" that you think gets it all "so very wrong at even the most fundamental level." That kind of wide sweeping generalization is what does the most damage to your arguments. Why not try to actually engage your brain in the intellectual discussion? Too hard?

In spite of your insulting and specious words, you do, try, in spite of yourself, to detail some things you think make a good school. Functional proficiency. OK. What is that, exactly? A certain score on a test? Are you seeing that you believe in a testing culture to determine a good school? Fine, but what test do you want to use? Does it matter if that test is reliable and valid? Who writes the test? Is the test the same in every school system? How do we, parents, know a good test if we haven't any experience in assessment and evaluation?

What about the rest of your criteria for a good school?

[b]Kids who can read for content, kids who can write and present well, with coherent structure and proper grammar and spelling, kids who have learned and can apply principles such as algebra and geometry, kids who know who our Presidents were and what our history is, kids who know the continents and countries, kids who understand a bit about civics, ethics, world cultures and so on.[/b]

OK, this is a good start, especially with the reading and writing...but why should kids know how to apply principles of algebra but not know any life science? Any biology? Any art or music? Why should kids be burdened with memorizing the Presidents in the age of Google? Whose ethics should be taught? Why?

Clearly, you have a lot of misplaced scorn for education experts who spend their professional lives studying these issues....yet, you have no thoughtful responses to add to the discussion.

Sad.[/quote]

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