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One note: charter schools are almost never open to all. They're not open to those with learning disabilities. Or those with physical disabilities. Or emotional

One note: charter schools are almost never open to all. They're not open to those with learning disabilities. Or those with physical disabilities. Or emotional problems at home. Which means they take a school's worth of finding out of the pool but leave the most expensive students behind.

whatshisface 8y ago
Setting the rest of the discussion aside, I think there is an argument for specializing care. People with learning disabilities would benefit from attention from experts, people with at-home problems would benefit from school-based childcare (for them, school lunches and afterschool programs would be disproportionately helpful), and while people with physical disabilities need the same good teachers they benefit from specialized access mechanisms as well (for example there are schools for the blind, where knowledge about blindness is concentrated in the staff to an extent not present elsewhere.) Children with physical disabilities have no need for dyslexia experts, children with lots of support at home have no need for elaborate all-day childcare, and so on. So, there are clear efficiency and quality gains to be had if the system is specialized. Physical disabilities are one of the most stand-out cases, where you can invest in special access mechanisms and make special testing conditions normal if you concentrate enough people with the same needs in one place. See: Schools for the deaf, schools for the blind.
- del82 8y ago
  > So, there are clear efficiency and quality gains to be had if the system is specialized. I'd agree that "specialization" is a good thing when it means that educators have the training needed to most effectively deal with other-than-typical circumstances. But it may be less of a good thing when it means segregating those students into their own classes or their own schools, which I think is what GP is saying effectively happens with charter schools. Setting aside the cost argument, giving students a chance to interact with and befriend those with different backgrounds, circumstances, and abilities benefits the students and society, though it may not be reflected in standardized test scores.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]

whatshisface 8y ago

Setting the rest of the discussion aside, I think there is an argument for specializing care. People with learning disabilities would benefit from attention from experts, people with at-home problems would benefit from school-based childcare (for them, school lunches and afterschool programs would be disproportionately helpful), and while people with physical disabilities need the same good teachers they benefit from specialized access mechanisms as well (for example there are schools for the blind, where knowledge about blindness is concentrated in the staff to an extent not present elsewhere.) Children with physical disabilities have no need for dyslexia experts, children with lots of support at home have no need for elaborate all-day childcare, and so on. So, there are clear efficiency and quality gains to be had if the system is specialized. Physical disabilities are one of the most stand-out cases, where you can invest in special access mechanisms and make special testing conditions normal if you concentrate enough people with the same needs in one place. See: Schools for the deaf, schools for the blind.

del82 8y ago
> So, there are clear efficiency and quality gains to be had if the system is specialized. I'd agree that "specialization" is a good thing when it means that educators have the training needed to most effectively deal with other-than-typical circumstances. But it may be less of a good thing when it means segregating those students into their own classes or their own schools, which I think is what GP is saying effectively happens with charter schools. Setting aside the cost argument, giving students a chance to interact with and befriend those with different backgrounds, circumstances, and abilities benefits the students and society, though it may not be reflected in standardized test scores.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]