Few are the people who don’t like ice-cream. Perhaps I don’t remember meeting any anti-ice-cream-eaters because “weirdies” get filed in the black-hole of my memory.
This blog is for us “non-weirdies” who have appreciation for cold, sweet, drippy ice-cream.
Good schools are just like ice-cream. Traditional, magnets, and charters-they are all ice-cream-just different in flavor. Our quality school districts are the parlors where the decadent treats are being offered.
During a cone purchase, do you give much thought to what the other guy just bought? Or do you, like me, give little attention to what’s sliding down other people’s pie-holes, read each item on the menu and savor the imaginary moment of indulgence before placing your order? My friends include ice-cream eaters of all flavors. Though we may be different in preference we respect each other’s choices.
Imagine walking up to the counter and having the ice-cream man declare that the country is only serving vanilla, because vanilla is a fine flavor that should cater to all customers? We would have a national riot on our hands by strawberry, chocolate and sherbet lovers alike. Vanilla lovers would protest as well since demand for their special treat just went way up, which could cause a shortage and way more spoons in the container.
Many would suck it up and eat vanilla for awhile until that need for a flavor fix really sets in. If the ice-cream diversity ban was local, non-conformists may find themselves willing to travel or make their own. There are other brands of ice-cream out there too. In education we call them private schools. We pay more for a cone at the designer shop, but it is customized with toppings and warm waffle cone choices. Design shops have devoted patrons no matter what the other vendors offer, but imagine how their business would grow if they were the sole providers of flavor options.
A great ice-cream parlor caters to the varied needs of its ranging customers with equal appreciation, just like a sound school district is inclusive of the needs of all its students.
Have you ever been paying for your treat and had some guy hiss at you that your chocolate ice-cream purchase is hurting the sales of strawberry custard? Has someone told you they think less of you for not preferring their favorite ice-cream? I am going to guess no.
So why do some criticize other families for attending different kind of school than theirs? Should we expect parents to sacrifice the schooling choice best suited for their kid, because one type of education should be fine for all? If we flooded all the kids into one type of public school, what are we really accommodating- the kids’ varied needs or some desire to make others conform?
Debating which is better, chartered or traditional, is a waste if time. There is ample demand for all flavors of public education.
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I just had to tell you that I have sent this blog post on to our superintendent, principal of our online school, and the head of our charter schools. I think it is a perfect blog post about school choice. Thank you for writing it.
Ben, Thank you for your supportive comment. Not everyone can relate to school choice, but most of us understand ice-cream. I am hopeful that we will soon not need to defend our flavors, but focus our efforts on offering the best collaboratively to the consumer–the students.
Karin, what a wonderful, light-hearted approach to what I believe may be one of the most challenging educational issues of the 21st century. Clearly, we too are dedicated to offering quality educational choices and embrace the collaboration required for success.
Karin–
What are the consequences for choosing the wrong flavor of ice cream?
Why should I have to subsidize someone’s preference for tutti-fruiti, when the vast majority of folks are happy with vanilla, chocolate, Bennet-berry? The fact is, the public can not afford 31 flavors, and the health department works hard to prohibit the sale of rancid ice cream.
A poor metaphor that unintentionally demonstrates the hidden flaws in unbridled choice…
G. Green–Your money does not sponsor a specific flavor, but the parlor. Rancidness, just like excellence, is not exclusive to one flavor.
Wow, that totally misunderstands the policy economics of choice. A choice, or a charter, once created, has a nearly permanent stream of resources available to it. Regardless of whether it makes any sense or not– and whether it connect systemically with other choices in the system, at the early childhood level or the post-secondary issue. Choice, which is here to stay, still doesn’t address the information needs of parents, much less policy-makers.
The choice of ice cream I make today has little bearing on the choices I made previously, or in the future. Educational choices, however, must relate both back in time, and necessarily, forward in time.
those who systematically value choice over other attributes, like say, rigor, consistently mistake cause for effect.
“Choice, which is here to stay..”
So it’s agreed then, choice is here to stay. That, my friend, was the whole point of this blog.
[...] I’ve already written once today, but I just had to let you know about this Education News Colorado blog post. Why? Because not only does the author Karin Piper give a great argument for school choice, she [...]
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