Читать книгу The Uprising of the Pandemials - Federico Dominguez - Страница 20

But the entire university model just discussed does not work if it is not preceded by a proper primary and secondary education. In recent past decades, the public system has been lagging in terms of academic quality, which only serves to further widen the social gap. Public education –and private education to a lesser degree– has lost its ability to innovate due to teachers’ unions and governments that prevent flexibility in schools.

The alternative to the public school system is charter schools. These are learning establishments financed by the government but operated by independent entities. They receive a fixed payment per student. A good example is the Success Academy, which manages 45 schools in New York City districts. Their students academically outperform schools in the most expensive suburbs where the average income is up to six times higher than the families of students at the Success Academy. Their pupils place among the top 1% performers in math and English in the New York State ranking. (58)

Santiago Morgan, education specialist, commented on the matter: “Charter schools are on an upswing in many US states. They are frequently at the center of debates between unions, families, political parties, and the state. Very few people are indifferent over the advance of this model. Any politician running for office has an informed and public opinion on the matter. Basically, they work as privately run schools with state funding. They are not private schools because they don’t charge a fee and are open to the public. In fact, most of their students belong to low-income sectors. But they are not public either. They follow far fewer regulations, are not held accountable in the same way as their public counterparts, and most importantly, the employment relationships they establish with their teachers are a lot more flexible than in public schools (hence the trouble spot with the unions). Their success and growth are due to the excellent results they have been producing in recent years. They have demonstrated substantial improvements in these three areas: lower dropout rates, higher rates of university admission, and higher scores on standardized testing. They outrank almost all their public counterparts and, in some cases, even private ones.”

It is commendable for the state not to get involved in schools and universities because it eliminates the risk of political use and the intent to influence students’ thoughts. This is a very relevant issue mainly in countries that have experimented populist and authoritarian governments.