What do you think? How has school choice worked (or not) as a reform to improve education?

What do you think? How has school choice worked (or not) as a reform to improve education?

Below is a sample response from a classmate. You can either respond to this classmate with your own response or use this as an example to write your own response:

School choice has become an issue that most Democrats and Republicans would agree one. Despite varying reasons for agreeing with school choice, both parties have made a concerted effort to give students more “choice.” This, in my opinion, has been a move away from the values that we hold as Americans. Attending public schools in the United States was one of the values that unified people of all races, genders, and religions. The school choice movement moved the goalpost. It no longer mattered if can unify people, instead everyone attended schools that fit their subgroup. Although choice sounds great it can have serious repercussions going forward.

The school choice discussion has baffled me for some time now. The conversation is never about the values we hold (or should hold), but instead, it has been consumed by test scores and identity. Although I agree that test scores are somewhat important, they are not the end all be all in this debate. Katz and Harris both shed light on this exact point. Most parents wish to move their children to schools with better test scores and fewer poor students “They had fewer poor students than the zoned schools the families were leaving, and they had higher test scores.” I also believe that some factors that might contribute to the decision to leave are not mentioned. There might be more kids that disrupt the class and more violence. I would be curious to see if those are factors.

Lastly, I recently went to a public school in Harlem with a group of student-athletes from NYU, Columbia, CCNY, Fordham, John Jay, and Hunter, where the majority of students were either African-American or Hispanic. They asked us questions about college and what it takes to succeed. The one recurring question that we got was “Do you have to take state tests in college?” This was asked by a group of 3rd and 4th graders with fear in their voices. We must stop teaching kids a test, but instead, focus on how to improve reading proficiency and math skills. We must nurture talent and encourage teachers to teach the way they see fit. The whole school choice debate has been framed in the wrong way, and we have to have conversations on how to salvage public education instead of letting it collapse.