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Charter Schools
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Kia Mullins

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8/19/2010

Writing 101
Professor Allen

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Section 4082

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Charter Schools

Mullins.1
Charter schools are established privately by parents, teachers or activities who feel

generally bounded by some of the restrictions of contemporary public schools. The basic

idea behind charter schools is to develop a liberal realization towards education. Charter

school brings in relaxed norms amongst the students since it can be attended on choice.

Substantial difference among public and charter schools lies in following some specific

decorum that is discussed throughout the paper.

According to the latest survey conducted by a private body it was seen that in just one

year the demand for the charter schools has increased up to 21%. As most states limit the

number of students that can be enrolled in one charter school therefore due to huge

wasting list around 5000 more schools would be needed to accommodate the children on

the waiting list.

It has been stated that

We frequently talk about the problems plaguing America's education

system," said Jeanne Allen, president of The Center for Education Reform.

"Charter schools and school choice demonstrate what's working in

American education. When provided with good choices, parents make

informed decisions and select the best schools for their children.

Lawmakers should listen to their constituents and expand access to charter

schools by allowing multiple authorities to create schools, ensuring fiscal

equity, allowing schools to operate with more freedom, and lifting

arbitrary caps on the number of schools permitted to open. (2010)

Mullins 2
One of the reasons quoted for charter schools to be more favorable than public schools is

that it brings a fresh look to the environment. Prosperity can only be achieved with

relative and Mutual Corporation of students, teacher and community.

Charter schools are not bound by the same rules and regulations implied on local public

schools therefore they provide a free and refreshing atmosphere to the students to think

on their own and be as innovative as the students can. A Stanford economist conducted

research and found out that children who attend charter schools from kindergarten to 8th

grade can actually lessen their learning gap as compared to the affluent students in public

schools by 86% in reading and 66% in math. (2009)

Although charter schools are similar to public school except for the fact that they are

generally more relaxed than public schools when it comes to following rules and

regulations set up by unions and bureaucracy. A child at young age is very tender and

sensitive and this should be the years when upbringing must be done properly in order to

secure a better future for the child. Charter schools actually provide that healthy

environment to develop a strong base for the students without the extra burden of work.

These schools enhance the thinking and creative ability of the child so that the child’s

personality does not dwell into something which is ethically unacceptable.

The majority of the students in charter schools are poor black or Hispanic and due to this

the gap between white and black community is being lowered. Today society is

extremely diverse and the country that wishes to be successful needs to take care of the

minorities dwelling there and once that gap has been eradicated it forms a nation. Hence

Mullins 3
if the children of the nation learn to respect moral codes of the society then a country can

be as progressive as she wants. That sense of realization in children can only come from

good schooling. This is what charter schools offer. Children of today are adults of

tomorrow that is our future in disguise.

Due to the popularity of the charter schools it can be concluded that they do provide more

educational and creative diversity than public schools and they do that by self-paced

learning which means that each and every child has a different capacity and ability to

retain information therefore every child’s potential to learn varies from student to student

and charter schools understand this which helps in letting the child work its own way by

giving slight pushes every now and then.

Charter schools particularly pay more attention to arts or sciences. Due to low strength of

student in school the level of individual attention is far better then any public school. A

child might be very good in one subject but lacks in another, thus special attention would

help the teachers to find out the weakness in the students and work on that point.

In addition, the parents have a say in what their child is being taught in the charter

schools. This again builds up confidence in the student as they are not being taught the

regular curriculum or subjects that they are not interested in instead newer subjects with

effective methods are being taught in charter schools. (Robinson, 2005)

Less restrictive classroom environments are provided in the charter schools, students are

allowed frank discussions which inculcate the freedom of speech. This helps students

Mullins 4
learn to listen as well as take the criticism from others that would be beneficial in their

professional life. They discover how to communicate and how to agree to different point

of views.

Charter schools also are freed from the bureaucracy of traditional schools.

Due to the lack of restrictions on how charters are able to organize, they

can reduce hurdles posed by the larger size of traditional school

bureaucracies. This allows for more creative control over instruction, often

increasingly the likelihood innovative best practices and of student

success. (Cofield, 2009)

Due to this reason the school has more innovative, creative, and expressive styles of

learning which helps the student understand better. Students especially younger ones

have low concentration span and therefore lose their attention easily, so to keep the

lecture alive, crisp and interesting, teachers present themselves with new and innovative

ideas.

One of the famous author describes his personal experience of charter school in following

words :

Charter school programs are great for at-risk students. For example, I had

fallen into the wrong crowd at my regular high school and was planning

on dropping out. Although I did not enjoy going to the charter school, it

Mullins 5
 did put me on the right track, and I also made much better friends and was

therefore spending less time doing the wrong things. (Hess, n.d)

Thus it states that children who have had troublesome past can turn to charter schools for

help. The free atmosphere and fewer obligations would help them become a better human

being. Children in general don’t like to go to any school but this school changed authors’

(mentioned above) entire life and pushed him on the road of success.

The opponents of charter schools often talk about the stability of the schools, as they are

required to meet standards and if they do not their licenses are under a threat of being

canceled and they could be shut down. As stated in one of the article

In exchange for the funding and freedom, charter schools must live up to a

higher standard than traditional schools by setting specific academic goals

for their students. If a school fails to meet its contractual goals, usually

within four to five years, the state can revoke its charter and close the

school. Public schools are not required to meet this type of standard.

(Needlman, 2001)

On one hand principally this is unfair to the charter schools because public schools are

not answerable about the number of drop outs or the poor result produced by the students.

On the other hand this makes charter schools much more challenging as they would work

harder to achieve better results and bring a sense of competitiveness in educational sector.

Developing some specific goals makes charter schools much more competitive as they

Mullins 6
have to get a good result, since it is also a prerequisite of establishing such schools. This

could be of a huge advantage for the students as teachers and the management work even

harder to save their school. Thus even the principal criticism is a blessing in disguise.

Another major criticism about the charter schools is that they promote inequality and

group exclusion. Any charter school that is sponsored by any individual community can

reject important values and can exclude particular groups.

But again this can be easily rejected by the statistics of the 2010 report issued by CER,

which states that

Data indicates that low-income and minority families make up the bulk of

the parents seeking entrance into charters-meaning that new charter

schools would primarily benefit low-income children and children of

color. Already, more than 54 percent of students in charters are classified

as poor, half of America's charter schools serve student populations where

60+ percent of the children are poor, and children of color comprise 52

percent of charter school attendees. (2010)

This clearly negates the criticism about the inequality the charter schools are evidently

enhancing the process of equality in the local education system. They are favoring the

deprived ones and are working hard to achieve their goals.

Mullins 7
It has been stated that students from charter schools are deprived of extracurricular

activities and that they are deprived of activities such as prom or sports and because of a

lack of after school programs, clubs, and school oriented activities, charter school’s

student feels under privileged in front of the students who continued in normal school,

and may often feel like the heavier course load is not a benefit in contrast to being a

regular high school student. (Hess, n.d)

This is the fault of government as they should increase the funding of the charter schools

as they have already seen the productive results they have shown so they are ought to be

provided more authority and greater financial benefits for the enhancement of extra co

curricular activities. In this way children studying do not feel left out from the rest of the

regular public school students and enjoy a regular school life at the same time. In fact

government should be more concerned about the charter schools because of the under

privileged students there. These communities should be given extra benefits as compare

to others because granting minorities their rights is what causes a nation to be great. This

is what charter schools are aiming in their curriculum.

Last but not the least it has been evaluated that the more impositions are put forward, the

greater one feels imprisoned. Let the innovative thinker, artist inside the child dwell and

let the child think on its own. Let them decide what subjects they want to have and what

curriculum they want to follow. All students cannot work at the same pace therefore

individual attention is required at one point of time so charter schools are there for that

purpose so that the child could be creative and excel in its profession later in life.

Mullins 8
 References
Buckley, J, & Schneider, M. (2007). Charter schools: hope or hype? Retrieved from

http://books.google.com.pk/books?

id=r7Bw3QRtgkwC&dq=scholarly+articles+on+charter+schools&printsec=frontc

over&source=in&hl=en&ei=tPhoTOeBCoaKvgOizfj9Aw&sa=X&oi=book_result

&ct=result&resnum=11&ved=0CEIQ6AEwCg#v=onepage&q&f=false

Cofield, C. (December 18, 2009). Pros and Cons of Charter Schools. In Suite101 .

Retrieved August 15, 2010, from

http://teachertipstraining.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_be_a_more_successful

_teacher_in_2010.

Dobbs, M. (December 15, 2004). Charter vs. Traditional. In The Washington Post

Company. Retrieved August 15, 2010, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-

dyn/articles/A64713-2004Dec14.html.

Editorial. (July 1, 2010). NCA debacle could harm charter school movement. In Idaho

Press-Tribune, . Retrieved August 15, 2010, from

http://www.idahopress.com/editorials/article_e05d49b6-84bb-11df-be8c-

001cc4c03286.html.

Hess, G. (undefined). Understanding the charter school movement in America . In

Helium, Inc. . Retrieved August 15, 2010, from

http://www.helium.com/items/293364-understanding-the-charter-school-

movement-in-america.

Mullins 9
Needlman, R. (June 13, 2001). Charter Schools. In The Dr. Spock Company. Retrieved

August 15, 2010, from http://www.drspock.com/article/0,1510,5910,00.html.

Robinson, G. (November 14, 2005). Charter Schools. In Gotham Gazette. Retrieved

August 15, 2010, from

http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/iotw/20051114/200/1653.

Undefined. (April 5, 2010). Annual Survey of America's Charter Schools 2010. In CER

Press Release. Retrieved August 15, 2010, from

http://www.edreform.com/Issues/Charter_Connection/?

Annual_Survey_of_Americas_Charter_Schools_2010.

Undefined. (November 4, 2009). No Child Left Behind. In The Wall Street Journal.

Retrieved August 15, 2010, from

http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB100014240527487035746045744

99592392782438.html.

Undefined. (n.d). What are Charter Schools?. In National Center for the Study of

Privatization in Education (Teachers College, Columbia University). Retrieved

August 15, 2010, from

http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_What_Charter_Schools/?page=2.