Living in Philadelphia, I have been able to see first-hand how the Mayoral Democratic Primaries have been running. For those who are not from the area, the two most-likely to win next week are the heavily pro-union Jim Kenney, or the pro-charter schools Anthony Hardy Williams.
Watching this battle unfold, it really grates on me that so many so-called Democrats around the country can still be considered viable representatives of the Democratic Party while also shilling for Charter Schools.
It should have been thoroughly demonstrated by now that supporting Charter schools has done nothing but drag our education system down, and likely set our students back for decades.
Especially here in Philadelphia. The public school system here has been languishing for years, mostly due to a lack of support from the oftentimes Republican-led state legislature and ex-Gov Tom Corbett. Yet so-called school reformers have been steadily pushing charter schools down the city's throat, siphoning resources away from the already crippled school system.
Of course, charter school supporters love to lean on their idealistic rhetoric about how charter schools are only meant to improve the choices that students have, yadda yadda yadda. What this rhetoric never seems to reconcile with, though, is the reality.