From: Dr. R. Andrew Robertson
Columbus
Thanks to The Republic for publishing on July 23 Jonathan Zimmerman’s column “For The Kids: Can real world, education world coexist?” In my view, the most important point of the piece is the observation that about two-thirds of Americans favor charter schools.
“The support is even stronger among minorities,” the author notes, “who often view charter schools as their only alternative to inadequate traditional ones.”
Reading Hillary Clinton’s (modestly) positive comments on charters, I wondered how long she could withstand her party’s otherwise implacable hostility to them. Not long, as it turned out. A week later, at the Democrat National Convention, she collapsed.
Indeed, it is difficult not to notice how unhinged that party is on education matters, not just from public opinion, but from its own base. A recent survey by Education Next magazine shows that the Democrat rank and file favor charter schools, teacher accountability, testing all students annually in math and reading and the elimination of teacher tenure. They oppose race-conscious discipline policies and the opting-out of students from testing.
The Democratic Party’s platform takes the opposite position on every one of these items. Astute Republican and Libertarian candidates might take note.
