In recent months and years, there has been a lot of chatter concerning the state of our educational system today. Since the introduction of charter schools to the New York City educational system, there has been an ongoing debate as to whether or not charter schools are better for our children than public schools. While parents and community leaders are entangled in this debate, more and more public schools wind up on the chopping block allowing charter schools to infiltrate and take over the vacant spaces left behind. I can remember a time in which a child's education was a collaborative effort. The teachers worked with the parents to ensure that their children got the best quality education. Times have definitely changed. There is a new separation in order, and it's becoming a cancer in our educational system. The separation: money vs. quality.
Many of our charter schools are privately funded. This means more opportunity, more programs and more educational resources than that of the public schools. Sounds good, right? Here's the monkey wrench: Your child has to be accepted via lottery. That means a "random drawing" exists to choose which student attends which school. Any child not accepted to a school must register their child to their local public school, if there is one to register to. There are five charter schools appearing to every one public school that closes. The gut-wrenching fact is that most of the public schools that are being closed are in the minority communities. Why is that??... because the collaborative effort to educate our children has dissolved and disappeared.
In order for our public schools to prosper, parents must get involved in any way possible. Getting involved means more than being at the school volunteering or joining a PTA, it means getting your children up on time to go to school;making sure that they have the tools needed to have a successful day;checking homework and classwork and ensuring that it's complete;sitting down with your children and discussing the days events and keeping on top of your child's progress; attending open school nights and meetings, even to the point of making random visits to your child's teacher to check on his/her progress; keeping on top of the teachers and administration to ensure that the safety and well being of your child's education is not being compromised; and most importantly making your voice heard at all costs. By keeping a constant presence in the schools, there can be no excuse for a child's failure. The more children succeed, the less chance of school closures and charter school invasion in our communities.
Not only do we need our parents to be a constant force, but we need our community leaders involved with the effort to keep public schools open in our communities. Our Councilmen, Assemblymen, and Congresspersons need to get heavily involved in maintaining free and unbiased access to education for our next generation. By uniting with the parents of the community, it can happen and make a strong difference in the progression of our youth.
I am not against charter schools at all. I am against, however, the sudden invasion that has taken place in our impoverished communities. Public schools have been a way of educational life for many years. If the lack of community involvement continues, there will be an overwhelming stronghold in the education system that will not be able to be reversed. I am charging parents, educators, and politicians of our impoverished communities to band together to give our children a chance at success. The wealthier communities could care less if our children are educated or not. Fear is not stricken with violence, the strongest fear is stricken with intelligence!
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