So How Should Reform Look? Open Thread

by Clay Burell · 2009-02-24 07:00:00 UTC
Topics:

Snake Oil

Member Carl Anderson gives me a nice push in a comment to an earlier post - and a fair one, as I've been kvetching a lot recently over what I swear seems an orchestrated burst out of the Obama starting-gate by Ed. Sec. Duncan, Bill Gates, Jay Matthews of the Washington Post, Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times, and the whole Hee Haw Gang to preach anti-union KIPP-juice as the snake-oil for all of education's ills (but as Henry Kissinger said, "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean you're wrong") -  and then broadens it into a question for all of us. It's a good opportunity to clear the air and hear from all sides, so I hope everyone weighs in. Here's Carl:

Charter schools set out to provide an alternative to the traditional model of school for all stakeholders, something different from the traditional model that if I understand things right this forum seeks to change.  It could be argued that to fight against charter schools is a fight against change and an approval of the traditional way of doing things.  Perhaps Clay it is time you lay out explicitly what type of change you are advocating for here at Change.org.  What I have been reading here this past week has sounded a lot like someone who says, "I want change," but when offered alternatives says, "No, I would rather see things done the way they have always been."  What type of school do you want to see?  What philosophy of education?  What pedagogy?  How would that school be structured?  Describe it for us and I am sure I could find a charter school somewhere that closely matches your description.  My guess is it probably won't be a KIPP school.

Actually, now that I have brought it up, I would love to pose the same question to the other readers in this forum:  What does your ideal school look like in terms of structure, pedagogy, and philosophy?  How is it run?  What role does it play?  How do we go about building it?  If it is a reform of the traditional school system, how do we make that change?

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Clay Burell
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