Class Reaction

Out of the various types of schools, whether they be public or private, that parents can choose to send their child to that I did not know about before was the virtual one. Sure, I heard about online learning at the post-secondary level before. But, I was not aware that it was available to high school students who either were behind due to illness or discipline reasons or to those who desired to take a class like AP Chinese.

Other types of schools discussed were: magnet, open enrollment, vouchers (for charter schools), home schooling. Some examples of Magnet schools that came to my mind are: Philip O. Berry Academy of Technology and Olympic High in Charlotte which both offer various types of special programs for adolescents interested in foreign language, fine arts, etc. My only concern about open enrollment would be how quickly certain districts/schools would become unequal as far as SES, race, gender, and possibly more. While it sounds great for a parent in Beaufort to send their child to school at Hilton Head High (for example), there will be the problem about how they would be able to get to school on a daily basis.

Another thing that I was not quite aware of before tonight was who exactly were the educational “policy elites”. Besides thinking about any Board of Education nationwide, the current U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, it would never occur to me that someone who chose to send their child to an expensive private school would have complete say so over how the public schools are run. Unfortunately, the ones that stay silent when it comes to shaping education policy are the teachers.