Cobb, C. D., & Glass, G. V. (January 14, 1999). Ethnic segregation
in Arizona charter schools. Education Policy Analysis Archives,
7 (1).
This journal article is about charter schools and the ethnic
segregation compared to local public schools in Arizona.
I chose
this article because of my interest in the private charter school
vouchers in the political arena and as an Oregon public educator.
This article only reinforced my beliefs on the vouchers for charter
schools. Many families that couldn't otherwise afford to
educate
their children in the private sector are able to with the charter
school enactment in Arizona as is in many other states.
True, some
families choose these schools for there religious influences
or
prestige, but many such as myself would choose to educate my
kids in
this sort of environment for safety reason and to rid them of
the bad
influences of the gangs.
Cobb and Glass found that the percentage of non-white students
in the
charter schools was considerably less than in the public schools.
They conclude that, "Students in segregated schools lose out
on the
well documented academic and social benefits of integration.
Beyond,
and perhaps underlying, the educational benefits of integrated
schools is a balance of political support. Ethnic and class-based
separation polarizes the political interests which look out for
neighborhood schools, which results in further disparities in
resources, quality of teachers, number of supportive parents,
and the
like. Schools without political support struggle, and the students
suffer commensurately."
Although my kids would suffer from not growing and being educated
within the same percentage of non-whites, I would rather have
them be
safe from gang activity and other negative influences that I
believe
would be very apparent in an inner-city Tucson school.
Jonathan Virtue
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