Desecration of Public Education in Urban Settings

Desecration of Public Education in Urban Settings

Desecration of Public Education

Attack on Public Education

Urban Education

Public Education: A Democratic Demand

Government's Interest in Charter Schools

Why Charter System Needs to be Opposed

Division of the Community

Failing Public Schools will Loose Funding to the Charter Schools

Difference between Public and Charter Schools

Innovation

Funding

Choice

Accountability

Educational Philosophy

No Standard Policies

Peer Pressure and Violence

Lack of Extracurricular Activities

Learning Disabilities

Authority and their Rigid System

Ignorance about Children's Bad Habits

Following measures can be taken to improve public schools

Charter Schools vs. Public Schools

The Basics of Educational Policy: The Pressure for Reform in American Education

The Pressure for Reform in American Education

Traits of Charter Schools

Why Charter Schools Exist in Urban Settings

Why to Save Public Schools 21

Conclusion 23

References 24

Abstract

The purpose of this research paper is to decipher the truth about private and public education and to express the pros and cons of charter system of education in urban settings. Education is considered the only way to impart kowledge and excel. It is the only measure that can help in making a difference. It is the right of every individual to attain education. It is believed that public system of education is in severe crised thus charter system is the best possible alternate solution in urban settings. It is the only means to eradicate the loses incured by public education system but this is not the reality. Youth needs to analyze a deeper picture. Although charter has gained government backing and support but it is not a fair system like public education. It does not give equal opportunity to every individual, it makes choices while selecting people to impart education. It does not guarantee education for every one. Instead it is dependent on public funding and aims to abolish the weak public schools is the neighbourhood by getting their funds. Thus this paper brings these facts to light so that impulsive decisions about educational system can be avoided and sane and wise decisions can be made by government and individuals. This paper also discusses the advantages of investing in public system of education. It would be wise on the part of the government to improve already existing public schools and expand its infrastructure rather than establishing a new setup as it would be more cost effective and better decision for future growth and progress. These measures can be implemented with the support of the government and can reap fruitful results in near future by saving the minorities and deprived classes and gaining their support by joining in for future growth.

Introduction

Acquiring education is the right of every individual. It forms the basis of success. No matter how privileged or restircted an individual is, one has the right to acquire atleast basic education. Education helps people to evolve. It gives them an opportunity to rise above the horizon and change their lives positively. It does not only benefit the individual acquiring knowledge but also benefits generations to come. In order to cope up with financial crises faced by any individual, public education system paves a way to get the mission of providing education to the destitute ones. This system of education is the main organization in a society responsible for conveying a mutual culture to a varied people. If the children from dissimilar families share mutual education, class difference would vanish and people would cooperate with better civility. It reflects the commitment of the government to it's nation to give these destitute individuals a better quality of life by helping them acquire education. It is an extraordinary resource for individuals from different races, color, creed belonging to different social setup. It is a useful measure to improve the life of the destitutes by helping them rise above the line. It will give them an opportunity to excel and avail opportunities to progress and this will in turn benefit the government. Providing education to middle class and poor children will help the youth to obtain good jobs and this in turn would reduce the inequalities in wealth and reinforce the country's economic development.In short, public education is a necessary resource to progress. It is a strong system that is essential for the growth and progress of all citizens. Investement in this sector needs to be maintained in order to retain a standard to lessen the gap between private and public education system ( Behrman, 1997). Despite of all these benfits being provided by public system of education, it is losing its significance and position in urban settings. Multiple reasons can be blamed for this downfall of public education in urban settings. One of the major reason for this collapse is the negligence on the part of the government. Government is playing a negative role in public sector which in turn is not only harming the system but is also playing a chief role in economic downfall (Lee, 2008). Many countries facing economic recession are ignorant of the benefits of public education.

Attack on Public Education

Public education is under threat across the globe. Due to global economic recession, states are cutting down their expenses to maintain a stable economy and the sector most affected in this scenario is public education. It's funding is being slashed on a large scale leading to terminations of several teachers and cessation of numerous schools.Fiscal crises is used as a base to attack public sector. Economic crises caused by multiple reasons is being used as an opportunity to weaken and abolish public education ( Lieberman, 1993). The assault on public education is a two party policy which invoves mayors, governers and legislators. Similarly, trade unions are blameworthy who are supporting the government to snub and weaken the system. They have implemented numerous techniques to weaken the system and demotivate them from struggling for their survival. For instance, mass layoffs and wage cuts are the tactics being used to pressurize the system and avoid any reaction. Public education system needs to be secured and improved as it is the only available opprtunity for deprived poor class individuals to excel. Education is the only measure that can be helpful to excel in this era of tremendous growth and devlopment thus acquiring education is the right of every individual so public system needs severe measures to be saved for present as well as future generations.

Urban Education

It is believed that urban education is suffering heavy loss because of the disadvantages it is facing. Trend of private schooling is prevalent in urban settings and because of this pratice numerous problems have been occuring. This is a general perception that private system of education is better than public system and as a result, demand for private system is increasing at a fast pace. The basic belief that led to the development of this perception is that the quality of education and facilities are way better in private sector. The syllabus, facilities, pay scale of faculty and extra curricular activities are better in private sector as compared to public sector. But the question arises that what are the reasons that have resulted in this discrimination among the two sectors. What are the factors that have led to assault of public education overall and specially in urban setup. One of the core reason that has led to the widening of this gap is class difference in the society that has divided people in to classes. The gap between affluent and the destitutes has broadened (Cibulka, 1992).

Public Education: A Democratic Demand

Free public education funded by the government bodies is a democratic demand rather than a socialist demand. This concept cannot be expanded in a social setup where discrimination is prevalent and equality does not hold any value. This system is incompatible in a society where millions of people are robbed off this blessing of free education by government bodies by making false proclamations that there is no money and required resources to keep these schools open and to bear the expenses. Democray fails without well established set up of public education. It is a fact that quality public education plays a vital role in creating awareness. A nation cannot know and handle the power that governs the individuals. Without public education following loses can be suffered:

There can be no source on whom to rely for equality and freedom

Opportunities for developing and realizing individual capacity are abolished

Lack of chances of being among the individuals guiding their own destiny

Above all, lack of opportunities to self-govern

For the survival of democracy, an individual must be aware of the complex demands of the surrounding world. Thus, quality public education is necessary for the acquisition of knowledge to deal with the complexities of the world. Without quality public education in future, democracy fails to survive. The reasons that relate significance of public education with democracy are as follows:

Lack of public education will further divide and enhance the gap between the poor and the affluent, between the educated and the uneducated and which will in turn lead to plutocracy not democracy.

Without quality public education, the youth will only learn skills needed for low profile jobs and will fail to play an active role in civil life. This is corporate oligarchy, not democracy (Davidson, 2010).

Lack of education can also lead to despotism or fascism which will directly kill democracy.

Purpose of Charter Schools

With the failing public education system, charter school system is thought of as the best alternative solution. This system is thought of as a necessary step in providing variety of approaches to students in learning numerous techniques.

The major components of this system of education are as follows:

Mayor's unique status of direct liability to all city residents

The transparency in the charter school agreement procedure

The system of providing results that include strong performance in academics, encouraging parent and faculty response, and detailed reports by proficient site visitors

This seems a tempting solution to the problems that have arised as a result of weak public education sector but all that gliters is not gold. It has numerous problems that people are unaware of. Firstly, it lacks the resources to accommodate all students of the public setor and hence cause many problems for the deprived class who want to impart knowledge. Secondly, in urban settings where there is already tough competition, this system will not give a chance to every one to gain education. No other solution could be availed by poor people because private is unaffordable and charter system relies on public funding and operates in a way that it leads to closing of neighbouring public schools (Buckley & Buckley, 2007). Thus, the disadvantages need to be considered as well.

Government's Interest in Charter Schools

The reasons of interest of government in charter school are as follows:

Mayor's authority and connection can be used to attract strong leaders and partners to gain support

Facilities can be easily accessed

Lastly, the mayor owns knowledge of the whole community, which is critical in making comprehensive choices concerning charter granting.

All these measures seem of great advantage from government's point-of-view but it is causing a great harm to public sector. If government support is not in favour of public system then the survival of public education is very tough. Public educational system is already facing severe crises and government support and backing is necessary to improve and flourish but as government is supporting charter system so public system seems to be failing anyway.

Why Charter System Needs to be Opposed

There are multiple reasons that can support the idea of opposing charter system of education.

Division of the Community

This system divides the community. With the creation of such system of education in a diverse culture composed of several minority groups, this system further weakens the bond between individuals. The children are being deprived of the opportunities to build a bond with each other. The community is already divided between affluent and poor people and the only means for this deprived class to excel is by imparting knowledge and if charter system replaces public education system, the situation of these destitutes will further weaken ( Hassel, 1999).

Failing Public Schools will Loose Funding to the Charter Schools

With the establishment of more and more charter schools, already failing public schools will loose their funds to the charter system of education. As a result of which dysfunctional school system will further worsen. The worst consequence of this action will be suffered by the students who would fail to qualify charter school system. These students will be impelled to accept a low quality education which will result in poor quality life in the long run (Green, 2013).

Difference between Public and Charter Schools

The five major differences between charter schools and traditional public schools are as follows:

Innovation

Charter schools are believed to have the image of being more innovative as compared to public schools. The bases upon which this system is established is that it will try to change the way children acquire education. This is not completely true and cannot be fully trusted because many of the techniques used in educating people are merely expermental and there is no surety that technique will be fruitful or not.

Funding

Charter schools practice a definite self-sufficiency which is absent in most public school systems. The rules and regulations leading the funding of charter schools fluctuate from state to state, and even in districts in any given state. Start-up cost are commonly the greatest cost-prohibitive measure of the procedure of creating a charter school. The costs of running the school depends on the state law in context to the school and the total students served by the charter school.

Choice

Schools choice is an integral phenomenon associated with charter system of education unlike traditional public schools. The school can be choosy about teachers, the way school will be runand what will be the exact requirement for both parents and students. However, this is not the case in public school system.

Accountability

These schools are held accountable for their performance. They can be held answerable that whether they are accomlishing the goals they have promised according to the charter. Its like a business, for further investment by the sponsors, they need to show progressive results.

Educational Philosophy

As the schools are founded on the bases of a particular mission so the school might have a unique and distinctive educational philosphy. It might be aimed to serve a specific population or maybe it aims to follow the vision of the community. On the contrary, there is no particular or unique educational philosphy associated with public school system.

Problems of Public Schools that Result in Damage to its Reputation

Numerous reasons can be listed that might impel people to turn against pubic system of education and might force them to favour private or charter system of education. Few of the reasons are listed below:

No Standard Policies

As the public school system lacks resources and facilities, thus it might would not be able to up-to-date its system. It usually fails to accomplish its goals and objectives. They lack in accountability, ability, infrastructure and valuation. As these schools are usually overcrowded so individual attention cannot be paid to the students which result in dissatisfied students. The standard of teaching is not as good as private sector. So as a result of all these short comings, the reputation of private schools is badly affected (Walford, 2012).

One-way Teaching Process

Due to lack of resources and facilities, public schools usually fail to meet the expectations of every student. In modern era, many new and interesting techniques are being implied by private sector to encourage and motivate the students to study well but these tacts are still not made the part of public school system thus leading to the failure to come up to the expectations of students as well as their parents. These unsatisfied parents are bound to turn towards private or charter system of education.

Peer Pressure and Violence

As the public school system comprise of students of all classes so there is a high level of diversity among the students. There are many children who might use abusive language, control or harass their classmates physically or mentally. So carefull monitoring of such students is necessary.But as these schools are overly populated so these issues are usually ignored and such students may develop criminal tendencies early in childhood. These in turn damages the reputation of the school. It is significant to preserve a healthy atmosphere in the school conducive.

Lack of Extracurricular Activities

Many students leave public system of education and turn towards charter or private school system because of the lack of extra curricular activities. The basic reason behind this deficiency is the lack of resources and enough capital.Extra curriculum activities comprise of games, painting, music, trips, speech competitions, gatherings, trainings and workshops. They are entertaining activities that aid in building self-esteem, self-confidence and contentment. There are two main reasons due to which these activities cannot be financed in public sector. Firstly, students are usually poor or middle class thus they cannot afford to even pay a portion for such activities and secondly, public sector already lacks the funds so it cannot sponsor these activities instead of investing in improving the teaching system.

Poor Academic Performance

As the public system of education lacks the resources and facilities so they are providing poor quality education. The system of teaching and methodologies being used are obsolete that will result in students with limited vision and knowledge. This will result in poor academic performance overall. This can greatly damage the reputation of public sector and force students to quit this system of education. In todays evolving era of technological advancement, competitition is at its peak and only the fittest and most updated will be able to survive in this competing world. On the whole, poor performance cannot be tolerated in today's era and heavy resources are necessary to improve the overall system.

Learning Disabilities

Learing disabilities is a tough task that needs to be properly handled. Extra care and attention needs to be paid to these individual. But as public schools usually lack basic resources so it is a general perception that they cannot cope up with these issues. The skills and capabilities of the teachers are doubted and thus parents prefer to send their children to chartered or private schools if the child has any kind of disability. Thus the reputation of a public school system is adversely affected.

Authority and their Rigid System

It is a general perception that public school system do not evolve. They have certain obsolete rules and regulation that haven't evoved with time. Higher authorities, principals and teachers always avoidanswerability while planning the considerations of a school system. They usually ignore new and innovative suggestions and avoid confrontration with parents as a result of which parents feel dissatisfied and thus turn against the public system of education.

Social Insecurity

Social characteristics plays a dynamic role in education. Students may be affected poorly by violence, rivalry, caste, color, creed and gender discrimination. In such conditions, they tend to dislike the school settings and feel hesitant to go schools. Sexual harassment is another critical issue faced. Thus public school system needs to work on these measures in order to improve the environment and avoid any criticism.

Ignorance about Children's Bad Habits

As the public school system are comprised of diverse classes thus the environment needs to be carefully monitored. Many vices become common in such settings and this leads to a ruined reputation. As the classes are usually over populated so teachers cannot pay individual attention to students and as a result many bad haibts are ignored by the teachers. This in turn result in dissatisfied parents.

Some more Problems in Public schools

Lack of flexibility of syllabus in public schools is a major issue. Classes are usually over crowded, resources are scarce, teachers are usually inefficient as there is no check and balance upon them so students usually complain that they are not taught up to the required global standard. There is no concept of individual attention. The students may face problems like loneliness, poor health, and at times no ethical or fiscal support from their parents but the schools doesn't pay any heed to such deserving destitute students.

Solutions for Improvement in Public Schools

Following measures can be taken to improve public schools:

Public schools can prevent violence by providing security

Their boringand uninteresting way of teaching can be made better through online education.

Teaching through audio and visual aids makes it more practical.

Homework can be planned in a way that students enjoy studying at home.

Keep a check and balance on teachers to avoid any problem regarding lack of individual attention

Charter Schools vs. Public Schools

Charter schools have the power to hold their students to higher standards and have in the influence to enforce rules and regulations as compared to public schools. There are set of marked rules and students are bound to obey them which is thought of as a positive step towards acquiring high standard education. Another important feature of this system is its capability to tailor itself according to the changing trends. The school amends its policies and rules according to future career path unlike public school system with strict unchangeablerules and regulations (Smarick, 2012).

The most negative perspective of a chartered school is that they take students away from public schools who succeed at advanced levels and have fewerconduct problems, leaving public schools with lower-achieving students and enlargedconductcomplications.

These are the few major difference between public system of education and charter system.

The Basics of Educational Policy: The Pressure for Reform in American Education

Education changes with the change in social setup. Education has deep roots and is subjected to political force.Government is a chief constituent for higher education, both public and private.

The Pressure for Reform in American Education

During the past two decades, the system of education has gone through tremendous changes across the globe and as a consequence, America's educational system has been under severe pressure to reform itself.In making its alterations to the new global world, American education policy is moving on two fronts concurrently. First, every individual must acquire education. Secondly, exposing to education is not enough. It has become important that student actually gain knowledge, they actually learn. As a result of these two expectations, integral changes have been taken to resolve the two issues simultaneously.

The measure adopted by America's system of education inorder to cope up with the above mentioned issues, system of charter education is introduced.

Charter schools are local schools free to function outside the limitation of a school district. This charter is granted either by state authority or, in some cases, by a local school board. They can be private or public. The financial support for the functioning of this system is derived from public sources. They have additional set of responsibilities as compared to public schools like the requirement to have a board of directors and to be fiscally accountable. Students are free to attend charter schools or to select their habitually allotted public school.

Traits of Charter Schools

Traits of charter schools are as follows:

These are public schools with free tuition and are not obliged to follow state or school district rules and regulations

It will result in non-unionized teachers, unique disciplinary rules

It has set standards of peformance

They receive public as well as private funding

They are not religious institutions

Why Charter Schools Exist in Urban Settings

The basic reason that leads to the establishment of charter schools in urban settings is that they falsely advertise that they are superior academically. They are making false advertisement about their success rate and as these minorities in urban settings are usually stucked by poverty and lack resources so they donot try to decipher the reality and believes the system. They are already fed up of the public school system so charter schools is an easy escape.

Secondly, charter schools differentiate and play by their own rules. Lastly, charters take money away from struggling neighborhood schools. Fascinatingly, it's not academics that interests many urban parents to charter schools. The trap of charters seems to be the point that many of these schools are considered a safe option as compared to public schools. They have the position to get heavy funds from public as well as private sector thus parents are bound to believe that this system has come to excel in the long run as it can easily decay its neighbour schools. This is factual in some circumstances, but there's a reason: charters tactfully traps dysfunctional children and their stressed families, and draw off money away from old-style neighborhood schools that could be used for advancement and renovation.