Diane Ravitch & Jon Stewart

On Wednesday, October 30th, educational historian Diane Ravitch was the featured guest on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show.  Stewart invited Ravitch to the show to discuss her most recent book, Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools.  Stewart begins the interview by asserting that Ravitch makes a bold, thematic statement in the book, arguing that the American Education System is not in fact "broken" as many reformers ahead of her have declared.  Ravitch supports this assertion by arguing that students today are actually members of the smartest generation yet, with lower drop out rates and higher test scores than their predecessors.  

Ravitch proceeds in saying that the root cause of educational issues is poverty and hardships that relate to this underlying source.  Ravitch continues by saying that all students should have the opportunity to attend a school with health clinics, nurses, physical education, etc.  Stewart interjects and asks why she is so opposed to charter schools that provide these options if she feels students should be granted these basic educational and personal needs.

Ravitch's main gripe with charter schools is that charter and independent schools create consumerism in the educational world.  Parents go out and "shop" for a school when the time is right.  The Baltimore City School district is an example of a "broken" district, with the underlying root of poverty.  Charter schools are popping up all over the city with the hopes of amending some of the city school statistics.  While I support the intent and mission of these schools, I do not think that they are successful.  Many of these charters face the same issues as their local district school- teachers are over worked and students are underserved.  A testing focus provides temporary results but deep down, little learning is occurring.

A few years ago, while job searching, I applied to a KIPP school.  My interview took place in the faculty room, where teachers names and test scores were posted along the walls.  While KIPP is cranking out graduates who are scoring competitively, their graduates are not matriculating on to higher learning institutes at very high rates (Rotherham, 2011).  This example completely supports Ravitch's statement that poverty is the underlying root in education.

Perhaps instead of bouncing students between schools, revamping dead public schools into charters, and commercializing education, a stronger focus can be made on placing supports in our already existing schools.  Providing low income students with the structures and supplements that their homes are missing may be the first step towards educational successes.