Platinum Choices for Minnesota Parents

One thing that's always hard to articulate is the idea that I just don't know. I don't know what's best for other people, therefore I try not to assume I do. This article really nails it home for me. It's tempting to think that every immigrant's greatest dream is to see their kids go to really nice suburban public schools with lots of resources and kids from middle class backgrounds. Turns out, maybe not. Maybe their dream sounds more like, “I want them to keep the good things we used to have back home — respecting their parents, helping each other, respecting their elders.”

While I'm a proponent of schools like KIPP and Uncommon Schools, it would be a mistake to think that I'm in favor of every school turning into them. That kind of school environment works well(so far) for a very specific group of students AND parents that want that kind of education. It's obvious when reading this article that many parents have very different ideas about what constitutes the education they want for their kids.

A key idea behind the school choice movement is the notion that there is just simply no way for school boards that manage 40,000 student school districts to know what every parent wants for their child. The goal to standardize education from on high (the Washington, State, or district levels) seems rather perplexing for this very reason. Of course, you don't meet many people willing to say on the campaign trail, "I don't know what we should do to solve education inequality. I'm putting the responsibility on you to decide what is best for your child." Despite this, somehow a really cool experiment is taking place to test that hypothesis in a bunch of cities.