Charter Schools Rebuffed by Scholar
WBGZ Radio 10/17/2012
By Jim Anderson
Gov. Pat Quinn isn’t buying everything charter schools are selling. The governor invited education scholar Diane Ravitch to speak to a civic group in Chicago. Ravitch told the audience that charter schools are no better than traditional public schools, except that they allow the private sector to make money off education.Click here for summary
Ravitch, a former U.S. assistant secretary of education who served in appointed capacities under presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, says charter schools were intended to help the poorest, least-able students, but they’re being used now to skim the kids who are easiest to educate.
“And my fear, having attended segregated schools in Houston, Texas, is that we are returning to a pre-Brown vs. Board of Education society, in which segregation will be based on class, not on race, in which the charter schools will take the most