Comments on: Life lottery

By: Ed is Watching » Having a West Denver Prep Lottery is Sign of Progress, Still Plenty of Work to Do

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:30:43 +0000

[...] News Colorado’s Alan Gottlieb has excellent coverage of last night’s lottery event in which 170 mostly poor and Hispanic 5th grade students were [...]

By: jj

jj — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:02:17 +0000

I admit I am one of the more cynical members here. But I have to admit, when I see this kind of anticipatory anxiety about getting into a PUBLIC school or not, I have to think something is going right here.

By: Kathy Hansen

Kathy Hansen — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 06:26:58 +0000

“…as a parent, you feel your child’s future is on the line…”
I’m totally depressed at imagining the scene you’ve described.
To me the whole idea and public benefit of “public schools” is that there will never be a “lottery” whereby some children’s parents cry because their kids got left out, while others celebrate. It’s like something out of Dr Seuss — before the Good Guys come in to straighten it out.
Everyone deserves quality schools. If I had one wish for avowed charter advocates, it would be: please observe the focus on this distinction, as opposed to a perceived support for existing failed traditional schools. It’s one thing to not get to be a cheerleader, it’s quite another to “not get selected” for a basic education.