DELAWARE WATCH
As a libertarian I don't actually recognize charters as anything market-driven, since they are State subsidized.
That aside, the reality is that there was significant academic research two decades ago to suggest that the charter school model had much to recommend it. Well here's the thing with research: when you try out something recommended, it either works or it doesn't. If it doesn't work, you try something else.
In some situations charters may make sense, but, frankly, even home schooling has a better record of student achievement.
I'm not against charters, but I certainly have grown weary of the beatification of them that comes from many persons w/ some kind of agenda.
To me the question has always been empirical: either they work or they don't...either some work well or they don't. I have never understood how some people think that the results could be decided a priori.
"As a libertarian I don't actually recognize charters as anything market-driven, since they are State subsidized."
The subsidy is just the payment, but surely there is a market for them since they have proliferated across the nation. The proliferation has been a response to consumer demand. Besides, they run w/ less government interference--doesn't that make them closer to the libertarian ideal than public schools?
You misrepresent the opinion of this radio talk-show host if you think I've ever made the claim that charters are superior to traditional public schools.
The point about charter schools is that they offer alternatives to traditional public schools, which are moving inexorably toward a one-size-fits-all curriculum.
Far from the situation you describe -- one in which traditional public schools are barely clinging to life, beset by attackers on all sides -- they actually dominate the education landscape, and their unions have demonstrably worked to destroy charter schools in Delaware.
Vindicated? You'd have to be on the right side of the issue to be vindicated. You're too busy playing the victim to even see the truth clearly.
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