Re: Tory Policy Turns Upside Down on Charters, er, Academies

[aburke5054@aol.com]

You don't like the fact that Black parents and Hispanic parents in urban areas are sending their children to charter schools?  Perish the thought that Black parents and Hispanic parents might actually know better than you what kinds of schools are best for their children.

If charter schools served only to segregate poor children and minority children and did not improve educational opportunities for them, America's civil rights watchdogs would be fighting against charter schools tooth and nail. Instead, if anything they are fighting for them ...
 
http://www.nclr.org/content/news/detail/27831/


 
If you believe that poor children and minority children in the South and Southwest would benefit from transportation that allowed them to attend charter schools, then you should advocate for that instead of coming up with increasingly bizarre arguments against charter schools. 

For years you said that NCLB was a racist plot against poor children and minority children and a stealthy ploy by the Business Roundtable and the Fordham Foundation to privatize public education.  You were depantsed two summers ago, when the nation's civil rights establishment rose up to oppose legislation that would have weakened NCLB's accountability requirements. Why you continue to parade around in a state of undress is beyond me.

Art

 

-----Original Message-----
From: James Horn <ontogenyx@gmail.com>
To: arn-l@interversity.org; epata@interversity.org
Sent: Sat, Jun 12, 2010 11:56 am
Subject: [arn-l] Tory Policy Turns Upside Down on Charters, er, Academies


In the U. S., we have two kinds of charter schools, even though both are

segregated.  In the urban centers of the North, we have the "no excuses"

behavioral chain gangs that contain the children of the black and brown poor

in order to perform that special KIPP style brand of cognitive

sterilization.  In the South and Southwest, we have the exclusive

high-performing white charters located in white neighborhoods, with

curriculums fit for the Seths and Caitlins and with no transportation

provided for the black or the brown who live in the slums.



Back in 2007 when David Cameron's chances of becoming PM were slim to none,

he was preaching the virtues of the former charter variety, all under the

banner of justice for the poor.  From the *Telegraph*, May 23,

2007<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1552349/Cameron-wants-US-style-charter-schools.html>

:



In a newspaper article yesterday, he said: "In Wisconsin, for example, a new

generation of charter schools is bringing the highest standards of schooling

to the poorest kids in the poorest neighbourhoods. I believe we can do it

here too."



Well, being PM is different than talking about becoming PM.  Already Cameron

has rolled out a plan to create a whole bunch of publicly-financed private

academies that look almost exactly like the U. S. Southern charter gated

model that favors walling off the white middle class children to prepare

them with everything they need to know to take over the reins when their

white parents retire on their BP-funded pensions.  The word "charter" has

become so toxic and synonymous with corruption that Cameron's Tories have

opted for the Southern term, too--academies.  The unwashed will remain in

the publics, at least for now.  From the

Observer<http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jun/06/academies-michael-gove-poorer-children>

:



. . . .The government's education plans have been criticised after it

emerged that hundreds of

schools<http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schools>being offered a

fast-track to academy status are the most socially

exclusive.



An analysis by the *Observer* found that secondary schools judged as

"outstanding" by Ofsted are taking 40% fewer poor pupils than the national

average. Michael Gove <http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/michaelgove>, the

secretary of state for education, has written to all schools inviting them

to apply to become academies <http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/academies>,

a move that will free them from local authority control.



However, he is particularly urging "outstanding" schools to join the scheme

and has approved them all in advance. "We specifically want to provide

opportunities for outstanding schools to open as academies as early as

September 2010," he wrote to headteachers.



Campaigners are warning that the policy risks creating a two-tier system in

which resources and attention are focused on the most middle-class schools.



"The figures do suggest that the new cadre of academies will be more

socially exclusive than schools as a whole," said Dr Lee Elliot Major,

director of research and policy at the Sutton Trust, a group that works to

improve the educational opportunities for young people from non-privileged

backgrounds.



Major argued that the "admissions code", which is supposed to stop schools

from selecting middle-class children in an attempt to improve behaviour and

results, needs to be strengthened.



"The freeing-up of state schools makes it even more important that strong

checks and balances and incentives are in place so that school intakes

reflect the social mix of the communities they serve â and that any

education reforms benefit all children, not just the most privileged," he

said. . . .







--

Posted By Jim Horn to Schools

Matter<http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2010/06/tory-policy-turns-upside-down-on.html>at

6/12/2010 01:54:00 PM

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