> The teachers cannot fix the public schools, I agree with that. But they shouldn't keep repeating the obvious propaganda like the Great Pencil Shortage :-)
If teachers are shamed into buying supplies for their room, it's not propaganda.
> A half-step in that direction are charter schools, which the teachers unions fight tooth and nail.
Charter schools are pretty complicated from a policy perspective. We're not talking about the same thing in different states. Some of the for-profit charter schools are much worse than public schools. Other areas have sane regulatory regimes that result in an OK product.
Even there, though, students in charter schools do not do better than students who applied for the school but didn't win "lotteries" to get in. That is, the performance benefit seems to mostly be tied to selection effects relating to parental involvement.
> I've never talked with a public school teacher who had anything positive to say about charter schools.
Welp, I'm not a public school teacher, but there is a decent charter school in town.
If teachers are shamed into buying supplies for their room, it's not propaganda.
> A half-step in that direction are charter schools, which the teachers unions fight tooth and nail.
Charter schools are pretty complicated from a policy perspective. We're not talking about the same thing in different states. Some of the for-profit charter schools are much worse than public schools. Other areas have sane regulatory regimes that result in an OK product.
Even there, though, students in charter schools do not do better than students who applied for the school but didn't win "lotteries" to get in. That is, the performance benefit seems to mostly be tied to selection effects relating to parental involvement.
> I've never talked with a public school teacher who had anything positive to say about charter schools.
Welp, I'm not a public school teacher, but there is a decent charter school in town.