Marie Corfield: The Ten Commandments of Public Education
Marie Corfield: The Ten Commandments of Public Education:
The Ten Commandments of Public Education
I. Public schools are open to everyone. Thou shalt not call charter schools public because they aren't.
- Charter schools do not have elected boards that answer to the public
- Charter schools are not subject to the same laws and regulations as public schools
- Charter schools can and do cherry pick the best students
- Through convoluted business deals many charter school operators make enormous sums of money but the schools perform on average, no better than public schools
- Education is a right of every citizen in the US. Closing schools, and denying students access to a thorough and efficient education (New Orleans and Newark are 2 recent examples) takes away that right.
- 'Choice' does not equal 'Access'. A lottery does not guarantee every child who wants to attend a charter will be able to attend—and graduate.
II. Thou shalt not take the name of teachers in vain.
- No bashing, trashing, demoralizing or name calling
- We're not greedy, lazy or selfish
- We're not all inept or incompetent. As in any profession, there are some who are not doing a good job. It's the administrator's job to take all legal steps necessary to help the educator, or file tenure charges.
- We are not sitting around waiting to collect a pension
- We are not responsible for the physical, emotional and psychological baggage our students carry with them to school every dayMarie Corfield: The Ten Commandments of Public Education:
