Author Archives: Randell46P

The Nation’s Best Public School System Is Ground Zero in the Fight Over Charters

Mother Jones

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Massachusetts’ public school system is widely considered to be the best in the country. Its high test scores and minuscule dropout rates are the envy of the nation. But thanks to a hotly contested ballot initiative, the state has become the latest battleground in the nationwide push for charter schools.

The initiative, known as Question 2, asks voters to decide if the state should lift its charter school cap and allow up to 12 new charter schools (or charter school expansions) every year. Schools opening in low-performing districts would get first priority; new charters and charter expansions would be exempt from limits on the number of charter schools and enrolled students, as well as the amount districts could spend on them.

Supporters argue that privately run, publicly financed charters would offer more choices to students in underperforming school districts. A Brookings Institution study released in September showed that children who attend charters in Massachusetts’ urban areas, particularly those from disadvantaged groups and with special needs, saw improvements in test scores. Kids who attended Boston’s charters were also more likely to take an AP exam and to attend a four-year college than those in traditional public schools.

Critics, however, argue that charters can draw money away from traditional public schools, lack oversight, and underserve students with special needs. MIT professor Parag Pathak told the New York Times that the decision “will send shock waves throughout the United States,” regardless of the outcome. “If the voters reject more urban charters here, then it’s not clear what more the charter movement can do to convince opponents and skeptics,” he told the Times.

The initiative has drawn significant financial investment from interest groups in Massachusetts—and beyond. Both sides have combined to spend more than $34 million, more than any other ballot initiative in the state’s history. Supporters ranging from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Walton family heirs have invested more than $24 million. Opponents, including state and national teachers unions, have pitched in some $14 million.

Support for the measure generally has fallen along party lines: Republican Gov. Charlie Baker has called the measure a “social justice” issue that would expand choice for children, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has supported school vouchers in the past, told the Boston Globe in September she would vote against Question 2.

“I am very concerned about what this specific proposal means for hundreds of thousands of children across our Commonwealth, especially those living in districts with tight budgets where every dime matters,” Warren said. “Education is about creating opportunity for all our children, not about leaving many behind.”

Originally posted here – 

The Nation’s Best Public School System Is Ground Zero in the Fight Over Charters

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Free Speech Doesn’t Require You to Offend People Just to Prove You Can

Mother Jones

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Andrew Sullivan points to the following postscript in a Washington Post story about the Charlie Hedbo killings:

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article included images offensive to various religious groups that did not meet the Post’s standards, and should not have been published. They have been removed.

Sullivan calls this a “capitulation,” and says, “If any reader knows exactly what images they removed, let us know and we’ll post them here.”

Hmmm. Something is off kilter here. I don’t normally publish things that are gratuitously offensive to Catholics or Muslims or other religious groups. That’s just me, of course, and obviously there’s a ton of judgment involved in how I personally choose to conduct myself as a public writer. But Sullivan goes further: He’s suggesting that even if I wouldn’t normally publish something because it’s offensive, I should actively do so now just to prove that I can. And so should the Post.

I don’t buy that. If there’s news value in reprinting some of the Charlie Hedbo cartoons so that their readers have some idea of what motivated the attacks, the Post should print them. But that’s all they should do. If they normally try to avoid gratuitous offense, there’s no reason to change that policy. That’s free speech.

UPDATE: I suppose this was inevitable, but my point is being widely misunderstood. Let me try again. Anyone who wishes to publish offensive cartoons should be free to do so. Likewise, anyone who wants to reprint the Charlie Hedbo cartoons as a demonstration of solidarity is free to do so. I hardly need to belabor the fact that there are excellent arguments in favor of doing this as a way of showing that we won’t allow terrorists to intimidate us.

But that works in the other direction too. If you normally wouldn’t publish cartoons like these because you consider them needlessly offensive, you shouldn’t be intimidated into doing so just because there’s been a terrorist attack. Maintaining your normal policies even in the face of a terrorist attack is not “capitulation.” It’s just the opposite.

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Free Speech Doesn’t Require You to Offend People Just to Prove You Can

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