Six on Schools: US charter schools put growing numbers in racial isolation; Voucher Schools Are Teaching Kids Right-Wing Prop
philip panaritis
"You focused on three popular curriculum providers: Abeka, Bob Jones and Accelerated Christian Education. Tell us more about them and what they represent.
Klein: I decided to look specifically at those three because I found that they were the most popular curriculum sources being used in evangelical Christian schools. Abeka is affiliated with Pensacola Christian College is a really far right evangelical school in Florida. Bob Jones University Press was developed from professors at Bob Jones University, which famously lost its tax exempt status a few decades ago because it had banned interracial dating on campus. Accelerated Christian Education or ACE is probably the most extreme provider of curriculum of the three.
Its classrooms are really radical. There's no teacher providing lesson plans or having any type of back and forth with students. Instead, ACE students sit in cubicles where they're separated from the nearest peer. All day they're expected to sift silently through workbooks. There's no active teaching going on. And if a child has a question they have either an American flag or a Christian flag that they'll raise to get the attention of the class supervisor. And the supervisors don't need to have college degrees. In fact it’s considered a detriment for supervisors to have a background in education. Instead ACE prefers that they have a background in religion."
|
“Let me be clear. Privatization is defined as the transfer of a service from public to private ownership and control.
“In education circles, that means home-schools, charter schools and voucher schools – all educational providers that operate without adequate accountability.
“We are taking our most precious population – our children – and allowing them to be educated behind closed doors, out of sight from those tasked with ensuring they are getting the best opportunities to learn and are free from abuse.
“And since home-schooling operates with almost zero oversight, it is the most susceptible to child neglect and mistreatment.
“Children who in traditional public schools would have a whole plethora of people from teachers to counselors to principals to cafeteria workers who can observe the danger signs of abuse are completely removed from the home-school environment.
“Home-schooled children receive their educations almost exclusively from parents.
“While most moms and dads would never dream of abusing their kids, home-schooling provides the perfect cover for abusers like the Turpins to isolate children and mistreat them with impunity."
|
