‘School choice’ is an idea whose time has passed
For more than 25 years, I have cautiously supported school choice — at least in terms of homegrown charter schools offering alternatives to local families.
Oklahoma City has been fortunate. We have excellent private schools and charters serving lower-poverty and alternative-school populations, and we even have a few outstanding higher-poverty charters serving as many at-risk students as they can handle. But, the first generation of competition-driven school improvements went hand-in-hand with the outmoded 1990s gentrification and the urban revitalization that sought to lure sports teams and convention centers from one city to another.
Urban charters, like other schools embracing win-lose policies, helped some children gain access to a better education while leaving others behind in even worse conditions. Thus, choice helped create schools with more brutal concentrations of kids who have endured extreme trauma from generational poverty. And, we must not forget, many charters and private schools have failed in their own right — imposing education malpractice, increasing segregation and opening the doors to corruption.
Perhaps the worst thing about today’s school choice is that it has created a climate 'School choice' is an idea whose time has passed - NonDoc: