The Charter School Debate: Which Side Are You On?

The Charter School Debate lies in the comparison between charter and public schools. The comparison between the two is rooted in which is more effective in producing high performing test scores, rapid academic growth, and innovative thinkers. Charter schools, especially in Memphis, TN, are continuing to grow at an alarming rate. Since charter schools are gaining more exposure, charter networks have taken over many traditional public schools. According to the Shelby County Charter School Annual Report, there are roughly 40 charter schools and more are still forming. Here, charter schools are seen as a tool to uplift students by providing up to date resources that public schools do not get the chance to offer. Over time, I’ve realized charters gain more and more support by bribing families and local community members with new innovative courses, up to date technology and smaller classes.  

On one hand, charter schools are praised for providing up to date technology for students, uplifting the community by providing a better education and fostering innovative and entrepreneurship tasks. Ultimately, those three things allow students to succeed socially and academically. On the other hand, the downside of charters revolves around taking funding from public schools, providing minimum transportation for students and not supporting students that fail.

In today’s society, we rely heavily on technology. Charter schools use of up to date technology is a major value. Compared to public schools, computers used are not used or confined to a computer lab. Students exercise responsibility by having to take care of their personal laptop throughout the school day. Students also learn how to use the technology they’re taking care of, taking courses designed to specifically tackle subjects such as how to use Excel or how to use search engines to find specific information. Providing a better education required providing rigorous courses. My charter school made sure we knew that we were always academically ahead of the public schools in our community. We were taking these rigorous courses early in our high school career rather waiting for a specific year to take a certain class. Another significant value in most charters is the push for innovative and entrepreneurial thinking. Having a focus as such further separates charter and public schools. Charter schools include courses that have an academic focus, but more importantly, a survival of life focus. A survival of life focus in public schools was having classes such as Home Ed; Home Ed classes allowed students to experience life while taking care of a baby doll. Now that times have changed, having entrepreneurship courses prepares students for learning basic networking and social skills.

Aside from the three main positive aspects of charters, the negative aspects have a bigger impact on the community a charter formed in.  Based on previous knowledge and conversations, charters take money from public schools by, first, taking their students. The more students you have, the more needs you have to meet, so more funding is required. Although this isn’t the only reasoning, my personal experience relates to this. Growing up in my charter, we were never shy to ask if we wanted to take a class trip or add sports or clubs. Since it was a business school, we always came with detailed proposals on what we wanted, why we wanted it, how it would operate and how it would benefit students. No matter what we presented, we were always told that things students wanted and were interested in weren't in the budget. Furthermore, charters don’t provide transportation. Within my personal experience in charters, we only had one bus. That particular bus only bused kids to and from school in Westwood. This ignored families in surrounding areas as well as those students who lived in North Memphis. Charters also have an inconsiderate rule that they don’t talk about much. Some charters have a rule that if you fail a class, you are not able to return back to the school the next year. This is frowned upon by students and families because it goes against other values of charters, especially the community aspect. It also suggests that charters are successful and produces great test scores because they get to choose who stays and who doesn’t. Charters are based in urban communities to provide a better education for students knowing that some may fail, but they exclude those students and send them back to the surrounding public schools. So, which side are you on and why?