Reply #108: I had a friend who taught at a charter school briefly [View All]

[LisaM]

He should never have been teaching in the first place, because he didn't have a teaching certificate. However, that aside, when he had problem students, he was not allowed to send them to the principal. He was supposed (with no training) to deal with them himself. He sent the kid to the principal anyway - he lost his job, and the kid eventually was kicked out of the school.

These schools inflate their graduation rates because they can kick out anyone they feel like, unlike public schools, where graduation rates are getting lower for a variety of reasons, including that they have the kids no one else will take.

Public school teachers are dealt a very different hand. You sound as if you'd prefer to get rid of the public school system entirely. I, on the other hand, would like to see it restored and funded. I want the teachers my tax dollars go for to be unionized, and not to have to be held to account for bad students, lack of facilities, disengaged parents, you name it.

And, on the other side of things, I have a number of friends whose kids have graduated from the Seattle Public Schools and gotten into Pomona, Ivy League Schools, Michigan, and Julliard.