I can't help but view charter schools as a means to further the social and class stratification of America.
I certainly agree that the same shoe can't fit every person, but systems that allow self-selection and the stranding of the downtrodden in hopeless and ineffective environments can't be good for the health of a nation which relies on elections and by proxy the ability of each citizen to think and reason their way through the ballot box.
I tend to think that forcing everyone to use public education would coerce the parents who send their kids to charter and private schools to instead push for improvements in public education that all students would benefit from, rather than being able to ignore large segments of society and having strong incentives to make public education worse at the expense of the country as a whole.
"Warren Buffett framed the problem for me once in a way that clarified how basic our most stubborn obstacles are. He said it would be easy to solve today's problems in urban education. 'Make private schools illegal,' he said, 'and assign every child to a public school by random lottery.' "
When your income is in the millions you can afford to send your kid to any school you want (and if you outlaw private schools, they can be send abroad).
Charter schools allow those who aren't that well of to get a better education for their kids, which is fair as it is their tax money which pays for the education in the first place.
Look at it another way - charters provide involved but financially poor parents with the sort of focused alternatives formerly available only to the parents that could afford private schools.
And more bluntly, I find it really frustrating that diversity is a liberal value EXCEPT when it comes to education. The real value of charters imho is diversity, not superiority. Give kids a chance to be educated in a a manner suited to their own minds and personalities, not trapped in a one-size-fits-most-but-really-sucks-for-others system.
I certainly agree that the same shoe can't fit every person, but systems that allow self-selection and the stranding of the downtrodden in hopeless and ineffective environments can't be good for the health of a nation which relies on elections and by proxy the ability of each citizen to think and reason their way through the ballot box.
I tend to think that forcing everyone to use public education would coerce the parents who send their kids to charter and private schools to instead push for improvements in public education that all students would benefit from, rather than being able to ignore large segments of society and having strong incentives to make public education worse at the expense of the country as a whole.