by Mary Shesgreen
Below is a slightly edited version of my guest editorial that appeared in the Elgin Daily Herald on July 4th . I thank the Herald for publishing it.
I oppose charter schools because they address the wrong problem. The real cause of academic failure is not, as charter proponents contend, bad teachers, teachers’ unions and bureaucratic school systems. The real cause is poverty. Charter schools not only do not solve poverty; they create a major distraction from that simple fact.