Katrina's Silver Lining: The School Choice Revolution in New Orleans

[lovelplants]

oh nice.

[vangoghmatisse1]

I BELIEVE THE CHARTER SCHOOL IS THE BEST WAY TO MOVE AHEAD. THIS FORUM GIVES THE STUDENT THE ATTENTION THAT IS NEEDED.

[stignatiusmusic]

yeah, great move now the corporations take over educating your child. Great idea since the corporations have done so much good for us! haha let's see polluted our waters. corrupted government. you guys r too funny. what a sad day in new orleans.

[mixmastermeeks]

@stignatiusmusic I have come up with a new mental disorder. It is called corporataphobia. The irrational fear of corporations. And why is it that people with this disorder (I am asking you because I have diagnosed you) always think that corporations are polluting our water. Like that is the ultimate goal of anyone who runs a corporation.

[Africanus1]

@stignatiusmusic It is a great move and if said corporation fails to educate, they will be fired and replaced by the parent of the child. It is in the corporations interest that the student learn, because other corporations will take their business. The competition forces them to perform or they will go out of business. I presume you prefer the old failing system, the little girl mentioned there weren't any killings. I would say that makes the sad day you mentioned a whole lot better!

[radovichhillary]

great video .. so true !

[cps41523360]

Now if only they could do this on the CPS

[ABTechie]

Interesting, but they leave out that these schools are using uniforms. Do all public schools in NO require uniforms? It is important to know that if you are going to compare the charter schools to other public schools.

[chibiakutenshi]

@ABTechie That is a broken statement. Plenty of public school here in Florida have uniforms and it has not helped a bit. Charter schools are better for education, because they do not have to do more than meet certain basic requirements. They are able to do what needs to get done.

[dugdaspit]

@ABTechie with a few exceptions, virtually all public schools in NOLA require uniforms. That was the case before Katrina and Charter schools. Ironically, the only public schools that I can think of that don't require uniforms are the highest performing ones in the city (and they are Charter schools).

[VerbotenDingleberry]

Freedom *works*.

November.

[dickiepipes]

Sounds like its working....I'm sure Obama will shut it down within the week.

[jjmacjjmac]

Watch out St. Tammany!

[jjmacjjmac]

The superstitious say 'divine intervention'. The rest of us say 'Hallelujah'. ;P

[carpavel]

That made me a tough guy want to cry. Abolish the Dept of Egumacation. Bully for you teachers.

[ladybluu]

NOW THEY GOIN THRU A OIL THANG.......NEW ORLEANS IS GETTING HIT BY EVERYTHING THIS CRUEL WORLD CAN OFFER

[txballoonman]

How are the schools in Baton Rouge and Houston since Katrina? The hard working people went back and rebuilt their lives in New Orleans. What about those who milk the system for everything they can get? Are they still in Houston and Baton Rouge? It will be their kids that drag down the schools... a generalization, I know. Some individuals do over-come, but it is because they work hard and smartly.

[hiphoprepublican]

The Department of Education is not going anywhere, we need to think realistically and reform the system.

[Darkwizzrobe]

@hiphoprepublican Not with that attitude

[abe2517]

How can minority children succeed if they're to busy being educated to develop adequately high levels of self-esteem?

[XCritonX]

A system built on choice and competition works better than a system built on forcibly extorting money from the client? Wow, applying the obvious can bring great results.

It will take them a few years for free market principles to fix the destruction caused by incompetent government central planing. At least in New Orleans things are looking up!

[imre1000]

Great video. I just wish people would get it without the 'help' of a hurricane.

[libertarianjury]

@44 financially bankrupt, morally bankrupt, ... WTF? Was there 50 minutes of history, 50 minutes of math, and 50 minutes of cocksucking per day? (To borrow a punchline from Lenny Bruce.) LOL.

But sure, I get it. It's immoral to steal money from one person to educate another person's kids.

[Doenietmeermee]

so, depopulation has benefits?

[sugarkang]

Good job Nick Gillespie; I really enjoyed this episode. Please put on a suit.

[averagejoe040]

Great story. Almost wish we could have Katrina here in Ohio. The schools keep getting worse and always want more and more money, higher and higher property tax. I don't think our schools are really run to serve the kids and the community. Our schools here are run to provide good jobs to teachers.

[Wormtail81]

I really like that principal. Also, the graphics guy did a really good job with that video.

[Wormtail81]

If they do just as well (which I do not buy), or even slightly worse (whihc I really don't buy) with half the money, isn't that still a big win?!

[cooperbry]

This is a fantastic example of what should spread like wild fire across the country! Proof.

[icemilitia]

I learned more from studying outside my public school.

[bearinfo]

Hey, REASON, You hit another home run with this report. Thanks SO Much!!!

[furyofbongos]

It's not a free market if the funding is coming from violence (taxation is coercion).

[monkeyfire087]

@furyofbongos its a step in the right direction, all the damage Government has done can't be undone all at once. just be glad that the state is less involved in education than it was.

[whoo689]

Marketize and decentralize ;) It really is that simple. Why did we ever let gov't complicate things?

[Decentralism]

@whoo689 the one thing I would add as a criticism of this video is that Reason didn't cut out the woman/teacher who said "Free market". Although, I will acknowledge it as being more free I think it is obvious that is is not a free market.

[TimothyBragan]

A shift towards a free market producing better results...

hmmmm... maybe they are onto something...

[st4ticblu3]

@TimothyBragan They were. That's why the posh elite will do everything they can to squash it.

[jkmatt1]

The million dollar question is where do you send the children who can't behave perform in class? The answer is public schools. School choice works both ways the charter schools can get rid of the students who score low or have behavior issues. If public schools could do the same than they would rank best and there would be no need for charter schools. When will people realize that education starts and finishes at home. Fix the parents, then the children and that will fix education.

[TheAtheistAllegiance]

Overall, Charter schools are nearly the same as public schools in academic performance. Some Charter schools do very well, some are struggling, and most are around the same as a typical public school. This was even admitted in the video. However, Charter schools provide choice, so it should be an idea that is embraced and utilized.

[Decentralism]

@TheAtheistAllegiance I agree. Additionally, and I'm just adding to your point about choice here, "academic performance" isn't all that parents measure. Parents should be able to choose which school their child goes to with a reason matrix. One characteristic is an oversimplification of how humans make decisions, generally speaking. With freer choice, and schools that respond to parents choosing in whatever way they end up choosing will more allow for schools to meet parent demand.

[Guest655321]

I'm sorry, but I have to...

"No matter who you is, you can go to college"

[drewstarr71]

@Guest655321 LOL.....future of America? If so America is SCREWED!!

[AshillaBeige]

@drewstarr71 Hey, if the kid goes to college, I don't care how they speak.

[drewstarr71]

@AshillaBeige Well if you care anything about the future of America you should. Even though that child is in a charter school she still can't speak proper English. Also when she graduates and still speaks that way it's a big FAIL for the charter school.

[AshillaBeige]

@drewstarr71 It's not so much that. The "black" accent is often just that: an accent.

And if a kid has horrible grammar but a PhD, who cares.

There are plenty of kids who have perfect grammar who are total sociopaths.

[drewstarr71]

@AshillaBeige I am from the deep south and I speak well with no "accent". I sound like I'm from the Midwest. So I have to disagree with you to a point.

[joshpnw]

The Dept of Education (oxymoron) should be abolished.

Our whole public school system needs a good baptizing just like New Orleans went through.

[migkillertwo]

buh buh buh naomi klein said this was shock therapy! Now someone remind me how to wipe my ass.

[marklross2]

I have a new REASON to browse YouTube....

[Infantry9]

Excellent video! Big bureaucracy, excessive redtape, lack of choice, and crooked union leadership are the biggest reasons why there is so much trouble in US public education. School choice is the best way to address the issue.

[aallppiinnee]

crush the leftists pigs

[buddharocket]

Down with the leftist pigs.

[modernfreestyle]

This is awesome!

[LouImholt]

Thank you for making this an inspiring report. It points out both the value of charter schools, and their lack of overhead, admin, etc. Very well done!!

[MsWanderer1]

That's what happens when we remove the political BS and allow freedom to work!

[TCoop6231]

If the Republican Party wants to show that it cares about the issues facing poor people and minorities, they need to talk about school choice. If they can be seen as the party representing charter schools while the Democrats are cast as the party of failing public schools and corrupt unions...they might be able to make inroads into urban communities.

But regardless of who proposes it, America NEEDS this to happen. We can't have an entire generation of people growing up without skills.

[DuaneEH]

@TCoop6231 ... As far as I know, the Republican Party and conservatives are the ONLY groups promoting school choice, and the Democrats and liberals (and their union supporters) are the ONLY groups opposed. I agree Republicans aren't --forcing-- the issue though, and I agree they should.

[LeGioNoFZioN]

the kids are doing better, that's my primary concern

[TotalAnomy]

jesus christ, it's like the one fighting chance they have is in the event of an apocalyptic catastrophe in which parasites such as those from the school unions spend one goddamn minute without sucking the life out of their fellow human beings.

[anarchylogic]

It's a good start. Still I would advocate that individual teachers need to open their own schools (small businesses) and open it up to an even more free market. But then, the small business school MUST NOT accept any public money, this is key. For as soon as you accept tax money the system will fail, again.

Smaller, more local, direct parental controll and accountability.

This meens parrents don't get a pass on their responsibility, they MUST be invloved in their kids lives and education.

[Justwosweet]

@anarchylogic The only way a charter system can work is if the government gives out credits for people to give to schools unless you think education should be a privilege of the rich and not a right to all citizens.

[anarchylogic]

@Justwosweet A credit as it were, does not address the real competitive factors. If for example a credit of $10K were given to every studend the cost no matter were you go would be $10K, thus prices get fixed. Soon private schools will lobby for more money from the states like any private buisness looking for more money, we trade one lobby for another.

Learning is a right, being educated by some one else is not. Therefore education is not a right, to demand a person to teach is to enslave.

[Justwosweet]

@anarchylogic Then you should move off somewhere that doesn't educate their children. Look at some slaves. It is a right. The part that helps is getting to shop around for a working school with good teachers. It doesn't matter if the price is the same. Non working schools would lose funding because you get the choice whatever school you want instead of being stuck in districts. Flooding the poorest districts and losing those students and schools all over the country probably is the biggest facto

[anarchylogic]

@Justwosweet I think we have a semantic problem, lets focus on the two issues, first: Are you saying that one person has a right to another persons labor, money, or property? Second: The reality of pricing is a factor, if pricing were not a factor then why should we not spend $1M per student, per month? Or, why should teachers demand and form of compensation beyond a thank you. I real terms pricing is something we should all be interested in.

Rights and moral obligation are not the same thing

[yakyakyak69]

“If some men are entitled by rights to products of the work of others, it means that those others being forced to provide are deprived of their rights and are condemned to slave labor. There can be no such thing as the right to enslave even for the welfare of others.” - Ayn Rand

Statist Progressives (Liberals, Socialists, Fascists & Communists) HATE liberty & promote Big Govt SLAVERY.

Watch: “Money as Debt” on YouTube! Debt & Fraud makes this all possible.

[ipwnallnubscuzirock]

I went to a charter school when serving volunteer work for my college, and the kids we lectured to in 5th grade were learning structural engineering and Newton's physic formulas. I didn't learn a lot of what they were learning themselves until my second year of middle school, and considering all their backgrounds, it is really incredible to not only say but to see what choice can do!

[karkelkhan]

'whoop that ass'

[elricmlbone]

Yeah, wait until the teacher mafia (union) starts throwing their weight around and the politicians cave and back to mediocracy.

[DrTodd13]

"no matter who you is" FAIL.

[gina7177]

@DrTodd13 I noticed the same. That comes from the home, the children hear the parents, relatives and siblings speaking and it's difficult to correct the ignorance no matter how many times they are corrected in the classroom

I'm happy to see a positive turn around for the area.

[ghost9pm]

Great video but that piano music is too loud. You can barely hear them talk over it.