LETTER FROM AMERICA: In praise of charter schools

Dr Larry Arnn, President, Hillsdale College, USA America is beset with bureaucracy. Several million people work in public education and most of them aren’t teachers. The effect of charter laws is to decentralise the management of schools, a major advantage In my last Letter from America (March), I wrote that Hillsdale College is sponsoring over 100 “charter schools” with more in the pipeline. Let me explain charter schools. “Charter” in this usage is a synonym for contract. Most state governments in America have passed laws permitting private citizens to manage schools under a special charter or contract. This permits these schools to receive public funds but run their own affairs with greater latitude. The terms vary by the state and even by city or town. In many states, they are liberal enough to permit the school to operate differently from regular “public schools”, our name for what in India are known as “government schools”. Usually, this money is paid per student enrolled in the charter school, and is usually lesser than the amount regular public schools receive. In most states, it is enough to educate children often with some help from parents and others. Meanwhile the government schools are left with more funding per pupil, for the pupils that remain. In theory and sometimes in practice, this eases their displeasure. The effect of charter laws is to decentralise the management of schools, a major advantage. America is beset with bureaucracy. Several million people work in public education, and most of them aren’t teachers. Look at the ratio of teachers to non-teachers in any private school in India, and I expect you will find that teachers constitute most of the staff. Not in regular government schools in America. One wonders what these other employees do. Of course, many of them maintain financial records, which is necessary. Many of them also write rules for the operation of classrooms. These rules are written by people who don’t spend time in classrooms. Therefore, the rules and regulations become innumerable and complex. Often, they serve goals other than the direct goal of learning. I believe the people of India have some experience with bureaucracy, and if I am right, they will know what I am talking about. The growth of bureaucracy in America is a relatively recent phenomenon. It has grown to advanced size in every department of government. It is particularly dysfunctional in the world of education, in my opinion, because of the nature of education and the nature of people. What are those natures? Human beings understand and communicate in a different way than other earthly creatures. All children learn to talk, just by watching and hearing and without elaborate instruction. The animals who live in our households, seeing and hearing the same things, don’t learn, at least nothing like so well. We are built to do this, and Western classic philosophers argue this is central to our nature. The ability to use a word, a sound, to signify not only a thing…