Why the Racist History of the Charter School Movement Is Never Discussed

[Brewman_Jax]

http://www.alternet.org/education/154425...discussed/

From the article:

Quote:As a parent I find it easy to understand the appeal of charter schools, especially for parents and students who feel that traditional public schools have failed them. As a historical sociologist who studies race and politics, however, I am disturbed both by the significant challenges that plague the contemporary charter school movement, and by the ugly history of segregationist tactics that link past educational practices to the troubling present.

The now-popular idea of offering public education dollars to private entrepreneurs has historical roots in white resistance to school desegregation after Brown v. Board of Education (1954). The desired outcome was few or, better yet, no black students in white schools. In Prince Edward County, Virginia, one of the five cases decided in Brown, segregationist whites sought to outwit integration by directing taxpayer funds to segregated private schools.

Two years before a federal court set a final desegregation deadline for fall 1959, local newspaper publisher J. Barrye Wall shared white county leaders’ strategy of resistance with Congressman Watkins Abbitt: “We are working [on] a scheme in which we will abandon public schools, sell the buildings to our corporation, reopen as privately operated schools with tuition grants from [Virginia] and P.E. county as the basic financial program,” he wrote. “Those wishing to go to integrated schools can take their tuition grants and operate their own schools. To hell with 'em.”

Though the county ultimately refused to sell the public school buildings, public education in Prince Edward County was nevertheless abandoned for five years (1959-1964), as taxpayer dollars were funneled to the segregated white academies, which were housed in privately owned facilities such as churches and the local Moose Lodge. Federal courts struck down this use of taxpayer funds after a year. Still, whites won and blacks lost. Because there were no local taxes assessed to operate public schools during those years, whites could invest in private schools for their children, while blacks in the county—unable and unwilling to finance their own private, segregated schools—were left to fend for themselves, with many black children shut out of school for multiple years.


...

Add the libertarian wet dream of free-market competition and deregulation and the neo-cons love of using public money for private enterprises and keeping gov't out, or at least far away, and there's the tarnish under the shining exterior.

[pappy]

When the black man came to the cities of the north the whites fled to the inner ring suburbs.

When the Hispanics, African Americans and Asians came to those suburbs the whites fled further away to the rural areas.

Now as a last refuge they hope to shield their children from the scourge of the "brown people" by opting out of the public schools.

In every flight from reality they have failed and now they fail their children with shoddy educations and a diminished future.

I do not pity my fellow white Americans that chose that path. As it says in Hosea 8:7 "They have sown the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind." The whirlwinds of time are rapidly overtaking them and perhaps the antics of the most rabid on the right is a sign that they know the end of their domination is near.

[Brewman_Jax]

(03-15-2012 11:52 AM)pappy Wrote:  When the black man came to the cities of the north the whites fled to the inner ring suburbs.

When the Hispanics, African Americans and Asians came to those suburbs the whites fled further away to the rural areas.

Now as a last refuge they hope to shield their children from the scourge of the "brown people" by opting out of the public schools.

In every flight from reality they have failed and now they fail their children with shoddy educations and a diminished future.

I do not pity my fellow white Americans that chose that path. As it says in Hosea 8:7 "They have sown the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind." The whirlwinds of time are rapidly overtaking them and perhaps the antics of the most rabid on the right is a sign that they know the end of their domination is near.

If history is any guide, opting out was the first choice. Moving from the cities to the suburbs to the extended suburbs/exurbs to get away, bka white flight, was next. Now, they can't move out any further and, in a lot of cases, it's cheaper and more cost-effective to move closer to the city. Unfortunately, the need to shield their children from the scourge of the "brown people" hasn't changed for lot of those. If you can't get your white children into private school and home-schooling is not an option, getting a "private" public school (charter) is the next best option.

[pappy]

(03-15-2012 12:07 PM)Brewman_Jax Wrote:  

(03-15-2012 11:52 AM)pappy Wrote:  When the black man came to the cities of the north the whites fled to the inner ring suburbs.

When the Hispanics, African Americans and Asians came to those suburbs the whites fled further away to the rural areas.

Now as a last refuge they hope to shield their children from the scourge of the "brown people" by opting out of the public schools.

In every flight from reality they have failed and now they fail their children with shoddy educations and a diminished future.

I do not pity my fellow white Americans that chose that path. As it says in Hosea 8:7 "They have sown the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind." The whirlwinds of time are rapidly overtaking them and perhaps the antics of the most rabid on the right is a sign that they know the end of their domination is near.

If history is any guide, opting out was the first choice. Moving from the cities to the suburbs to the extended suburbs/exurbs to get away, bka white flight, was next. Now, they can't move out any further and, in a lot of cases, it's cheaper and more cost-effective to move closer to the city. Unfortunately, the need to shield their children from the scourge of the "brown people" hasn't changed for lot of those. If you can't get your white children into private school and home-schooling is not an option, getting a "private" public school (charter) is the next best option.

Exactly! Unfortunately for the children those charter schools are, for the most part, failing. I just saw a report card on the local schools, including charters, in my area and in every case the public schools cored better than the charters. They are shielding their young from the "brown people" but they cannot shield them from their own stupidity.