Charter: The New Public School

Cruz, Gilbert. “A Quick Fix for America's Worst Schools.” Time Magazine. Time Inc., 22 Feb.2010. Web. 28 June. 2010.

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Gilbert Cruz believes there is a way to fix the public education system in America, and the answer is charter schooling. Cruz’s best example of why charter schooling could help the public education system in America comes from a school in Philadelphia, called Shoemaker. Shoemaker once considered one of the worst schools in the state of Philadelphia, with students out of control, and teachers with none changed with the help of Mastery, a local operator of charter schools, stepping in exclaims Cruz in his article. Cruz goes on to explain the reason for the drastic change in the public school was not the students, but the change in administration, teachers, and environment in the school. Cruz quotes Ben Ryaer, “There is an opportunity here to fix schools that haven’t worked for a long, long time” and “The money and the desire to do so are there now.” The quote Cruz uses helps him to explain the help is there for each state to try to improve their schools, now it is just up to the schools to take the help. No Child Left Behind was an opening to begin to evaluate how schools were operating and how well students were learning, and now the Obama Administration wants to further No Child Left Behind by fixing the worst of these schools and overhauling them in a quick manner, is a joyous idea expressed by Cruz.

Charter schooling being a quick fix method to public schooling is a positive idea on the part of Cruz. Cruz’s proof of how certain charter schools have already succeeded in the process of changing over from a public school to a charter school only lend credit to his idea. Cruz’s reasoning for wanting charter schooling over private, home, or public schooling is centered on the idea of fixing the school and changing the administration, and teachers within the school. The opportunity to fix schools that haven’t had improvement is there for states to take, the question is, will states take up the offer or will they continue to keep running schools in the same manner is a point well stated in Cruz’s article. President Bush started, No Child Left Behind, which helped to find out which schools were struggling with helping students to learn by knowing how well students test, President Obama is trying to take No Child Left Behind and take it further to help improve schools by complete overhauling is an encouraging idea that Cruz expresses in the article. Cruz’s view on the subject of charter schooling being a quick fix from public schooling is a researched and developed idea, which should be considered due to the success of chartering schooling.