- Joined
- Oct 15, 2020
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- Greater Boston Area
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- Political Leaning
- Conservative
Believe it or not I'm actually more cynical on this matter than are you.The problem is this. Certain segments of our society push to support "public schools" controlled by teacher unions and school boards with "political education agendas."
For decades public schools have been "dumbing down" lessons to suit the lowest performers, and have recently started eliminating "advance placement" classes in the name of "equity." Then there is the mass politicization of education, adding the negative of indoctrination instead of education.
Parents in general, with of course exceptions, don't appreciate their kids NOT getting the best education possible. They expect schools to teach, not indoctrinate.
Charter Schools still have to meet basic education standards, but because the teachers are not "locked in" by union contracts, they have to perform to standards or they lose their jobs. That job is to properly educate so kids can meet the parent's goal of getting them a better shot at improving their future lives.
Seems to me some people don't think this is as important as pushing political indoctrination.
I don't believe they're dumbing down the curricula in the name of equity. I believe they're doing it because it's easier to author and administer one lesson plan (which happens to be aimed at the lowest common denominator) than it is to develop multiple lesson plans geared to students at different levels.
FWIW, this is the principal reason we left our local trad and applied to a charter. We have the good fortune of having academically strong kids, and they simply weren't being challenged because too many teachers (not all) at our local elementary were too lazy to do their jobs well. That was decidedly not the case at our local charter, to everyone's benefit.