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Tstewmoneybags99 t1_itmgwn0 wrote

Reply to comment by ManBMitt in Unsatisfied Richmond-area teachers leaving in droves by CrassostreaVirginica

Charter schools are propped up with tax payer money but aren’t beholden to the same legal standards as public schools. While this can look good and in some cases be a good thing for areas of schools districts weak in certain geographic locations. Long term is sets up a terrible situation of breaking legal standards and potentially rights you have through the public school system in return for a more localized school by school education.

This is bad for a number of reasons but mostly because the standard of learning isn’t agreed upon, curriculum isn’t agreed-upon, accreditation isn’t a thing, discipline oversight isn’t a thing. It’s basically a situation where on paper it can sound great, but in practice it will have many severe unintended consequences, that are lived history in the public school system, while making the politicalization even easier in schools.

It’s not “for profit” in the precise terms but it allows for profit parts of education to effects students to much greater effect.

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[deleted] t1_itmm85d wrote

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just-the-pgtips t1_itmutp2 wrote

Religious people can just homeschool their kids. It’s very easy in VA. They have no need for charter schools. What a strange take.

VA has very few charter schools, but coming from a place with many more of them, most charter school parents i knew lived in an area where racism and classism have so thoroughly ruined the district, they feel as though they have no other choice. They can’t afford private schools and they are unwilling to send their sons and daughters to schools where kids are stabbed or molested by their classmates (which are actual things that happened to actual people I grew up with).

Please consider that there are real people (poor, black and brown people) who also think that the school system is horribly inadequate and want the opportunity to get their child out of the system. Not everything boils down to “white Christian nationalists.” Black parents want good schools too, and the system has failed us over and over and over (and over, and over again).

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Tstewmoneybags99 t1_itn5use wrote

However the issue with this take is that charter schools don’t actually produce better results in these neighborhoods. In fact they produce pretty much the exact same results as public school systems and have similar issues as public schools.

Charter schools are not the golden ticket for poor urban school districts.

Also kids have the potential to get stabbed and molested at any school they go to, this isn’t a school problem. It’s a cultural and socioeconomic problem that doesn’t change with charter schools across the board. If it worked for your friend great that doesn’t work everywhere.

Edit- this issue in your last paragraph is income inequality as well as resource inequity. Your too poor to live in the nice area of town you don’t get the nicest schools. What parents are willing to sacrifice for there kids future is a personal decision and varies from family to family according to resources.

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just-the-pgtips t1_itn913x wrote

I agree! I’m not saying that charter schools are actually better, just that there seems to be some idea that the only people who are for them are white nationalist republicans or “stupid” poor/black/brown people who’ve been conned into thinking that they’re a good idea. There are lots of black/brown/poor people who are also in support of charter schools because they feel (correctly) that they have been let down by the public school system.

I feel like “public school above all else” people tend to have a narrative that removes agency from the people they say they want to help. Can’t you see that in a scenario where you have two bad choices, it might be reasonable to try the option that hasn’t totally failed you yet? again, not saying that charter schools are actually better, but please acknowledge, at least, the century of inequality that might lead to a distaste for public school.

Re: your edit, I did start my rant with a reference to the class issues. However, in the US in general and in Richmond specifically, race and class are inextricably linked. It is naive at best to think otherwise. I am sorry for the rant, but this issue always gets highjacked by middle class white people who talk a big game and then move out to the suburbs when their own kid has to go to rps. Poor people (which again, in Richmond city generally also means pocs) have no such escape route.

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Tstewmoneybags99 t1_itnafwm wrote

I can see it but I don’t think two wrongs make a right nor do I think fixing two broken systems is easier than attempting to fix one broken system. I can see why, I just don’t think people have through through the unforeseen consequences which to me look far far worse

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just-the-pgtips t1_itndksp wrote

That’s fair and a more reasonable take than I normally see.

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Tstewmoneybags99 t1_itnj8xd wrote

Listen I’ll try and give a better less simpler take,

I think to your first point about republicans/white nationalist/poc who want change and people understand you want change but I think they see you as getting the wool pulled over your eyes. So willing to get a better situation for your community that your not seeing the underlying reasons why charter schools aren’t any better than what you have while also opening up the door for further unforeseen issues about accreditation, curriculum, discipline that currently have some oversight. When you take that oversight out of the picture it can quickly become a much worse nepotism, favoritism, straight up don’t have the accreditation to get students into college. While you might have a massive uphill battle in RPS to graduate and culture, I think a lot of these issues that have been created are community issues on the importance of an education how much of a role the parenting has in supporting that child in overcoming the odds in school. That to me has more to do with how successful kids are than the bureaucrats on the school board.

This is where I understand that income inequality comes into play, have to work nights and weekends to provide but not help the child thrive, and honestly idk how to fix that other than pay people more, and have subsidies for parents to stay home more work less, but I also think there are plenty of jobs out there that will provide a more normal work week and pay but many people are too scared to leave a situation they have benefits at already.

So honestly when I look at this I don’t look at charter schools and say all bad and public schools as all good, but see this more as a community culture issue of family’s not valuing there kids education over there own personal desires mostly. And I mean this as a whole community, I know there are people doing 1000% to make it work and the odds are against them, but I don’t see how charter schools will honestly change anything. It’s literally the same thing schools with less oversight and less educated teacher qualifications. Like your getting the teachers from the same place, your paying them the same or less, and your dividing up the tax income to pay for it more so to me I look at it and go how is this really any different and how will it fix low income neighborhoods? Cause I don’t see it. I see something with the potential to be even more corruptible than the current public schools system.

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Tstewmoneybags99 t1_itmn1mc wrote

I mean no and yes, I can see it happening in certain parts of the country but currently no it’s been used more in very rural locations and urban locations that lack quality teachers and resources. Ironically, they don’t really have better academic achievement, and it’s basically just like restarting the education system by taking off the legal protections of the public school system for your children and parents.

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[deleted] t1_itmnek6 wrote

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Tstewmoneybags99 t1_itmol29 wrote

Yeah agreed with all your points! I just don’t think it’s all religious based, as I don’t even think most of the republican party is religious based. It’s a prop for power.

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