The Choice Channel

Excerpted in part from Chapter 10 of “Healing Our World” (Kalamazoo, MI: SunStar Press, 2003).

Can you imagine what a successful school might look like if education were totally freed from government control? Can you imagine what education might look like if teachers didn’t need to be licensed; children were not forced into the classroom for a decade or more; and parents, teachers, and children picked the curriculum rather than the state?

You might think it’s easy to imagine school without the state, but our educational system is so shaped by the government, it’s tough to think outside the box. Consequently, when imagining what education in a free society might look like, starting inside the box and working our way out might be the best strategy.

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“Something happened the other day at the learning center where I work, something that I had never before witnessed. A young lady of about fifteen stood up, told the attending floor teacher that she wasn’t ‘going to do this anymore’ — and then walked straight out the door into the reception area, where she waited until her parents picked her up. Working one-on-one with another student at the time, I didn’t involve myself in the situation, nor have I inquired about it since. Only a few things could have happened. The center director might have met with the young lady and her parents and a) convinced them that she should stay in the program, or b) failed to so convince them. Alternatively, the director, deciding that the girl’s disruptive presence was not worth whatever the parents were paying, could have just called and told them that she was not welcome back. One thing, however, would not have happened: the student would not have been compelled to return by force of law (that is, the law and rule of force).” (07/03)

“The leader of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) has said some parents ‘dump’ their children on schools for up to 10 hours a day. Mick Brookes, at the union’s conference in Liverpool, said some parents were ‘abdicating their responsibility.’ But Children’s Minister Beverly Hughes, who was jeered when the issue of league tables and tests were raised, said his remarks were untrue and unhelpful.” (05/04/08)

“FIRE is pleased to announce its first annual ‘Freedom in Academia’ essay scholarship contest for high school students. To advance FIRE’s mission ‘to educate the public and communities of concerned Americans about the threats to rights on our campuses,’ FIRE is inviting high school students from across the country who will be attending college in the fall of 2009 to enter this contest. The deadline for all entries is November 20, 2008, with the winner announced on December 19, 2008.” (04/30/08)

“For most media outlets that reported on an important new survey measuring the impact of technology on teens’ writing skills, the big news from the survey was that emoticons and text-messaging abbreviations are creeping into students’ formal writing assignments. Buried beneath the alarm of writing ‘purists,’ however, was a promising finding with equally important implications for schools: Blogging is helping many teens become more prolific writers.” (04/30/08)

“The Knowledge Is Power Program—KIPP—an open-enrollment schooling network that serves more than 14,000 children in 17 states and the District of Columbia recently released its fifth annual Report Card. (There is a registration requirement, but logging in is easy and free.) The report results, based on information from each of KIPP’s 55 charter schools and two district contract schools, show strong gains at most schools for the 2007-2008 academic year. The gains may be attributable in part to long hours: KIPP students spend about 60 percent more time in the classroom than typical public school students.” (04/30/08)

“School reformers across the nation thought they had scored a victory in their efforts to weed out ineffective teachers last year in New York. Then-governor Eliot Spitzer convinced legislators to enact a law requiring new teachers seeking tenure to prove that they successfully use standardized test scores and other forms of student performance data in shaping their classroom instruction. Even sweeter, the law was passed over the objections of the state’s largest public employees union, the United Teachers — an affiliate of both the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers — and its largest local, New York City’s United Federation of Teachers, which has battled the much-lauded school reform efforts of Mayor Michael Bloomberg.” (04/29/08)

“Involving parents, families, and communities in the education of their children is imperative for all schools. The potential for parents and families to be skillful, knowledgeable, and effective partners, capable of ensuring that their children receive the quality of education to which they are entitled, should be a goal of every school system. Research confirms that regardless of the economic, racial or cultural background of the family, when parents are partners in their children’s education, the results are improved studentachievement, higher test scores and grades, better attendance, more completion of homework, more positive attitudes and behavior, higher graduation rates, and greater enrollment in higher education.” (04/30/08)

“A recent letter signed by 30 superintendents of eastern Oklahoma school districts (Phoenix April 24 Opinion Page) was critical of Senate Bill 2093, the New Hope Scholarship Act. The bill would give a tax credit to taxpayers who contribute to organizations that provide private-school scholarships for low-income children currently attending failing public schools in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. The superintendents wrongly assert that the bill ‘creates a voucher system that would take public dollars and transfer them through the use of tax credits to private schools.’” (04/29/08)

“Spare me all of this brouhaha about yet another debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, whose policy positions don’t amount to a dime’s worth of difference. What Democrat wants to see more of two strong candidates further sullying each other’s candidacy? Only Republicans would want to see more of it. Instead, what about a Clinton-John McCain debate and a separate Obama-McCain debate? The remaining Democratic primary voters would be the recipients of a ’sneak preview,’ seeing how each aspiring Democratic nominee fares against the Republican in the November election. Clinton and Obama would be less likely to pummel each other, more likely to illuminate the differences between each of them and McCain, and the voters would be better able to make informed decisions about who should be the Democratic nominee.” (04/30/08)

“Gov. Ted Strickland and school superintendents take note: Public schools and charter schools need not be mortal enemies. The Cleveland schools’ successful partnership with the highly touted Entrepreneurship Preparatory School, the district’s sole charter school, proves that peace can be far more fruitful for Ohio’s youngsters than war among their schools. Of course, not all charter schools are equal. Some Ohio charter schools have been just as dysfunctional as the worst public schools. The state must do a better job of rooting them out.” (04/30/08)

“At the April 17 town hall meeting to discuss the problem of in-school truancy, education experts and community leaders seemed to suggest that a charter school is the answer. In his weekly column, Ed Wells has often claimed he has support from the teachers union to establish such an alternative school that would operate outside the restrictions of the teachers’ contract. If Wells really believes that, I want to tell him about a deal I can get for him on a bridge in Brooklyn!” (04/26/08)