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Letter from America

In praise of

charter schools

DR. LARRY ARNN

N MY LAST LETTER FROM AMERICA (MARCH), America is beset with bureaucracy.
I wrote that Hillsdale College is sponsoring over 100
“charter schools” with more in the pipeline. Let me Several million people work in public
Iexplain charter schools. education and most of them aren’t
“Charter” in this usage is a synonym for contract.
Most state governments in America have passed laws teachers. The effect of charter laws is to
permitting private citizens to manage schools under a decentralise the management of schools,
special charter or contract. This permits these schools to
receive public funds but run their own affairs with greater a major advantage
latitude. The terms vary by the state and even by city or
town. In many states, they are liberal enough to permit is unique to us. Every horse is different, but we all know
the school to operate differently from regular “public a horse when we see one. We can do this when we first
schools”, our name for what in India are known as “gov- learn to talk, usually before age two.
ernment schools”. Usually, this money is paid per student This has profound implications for what we are and
enrolled in the charter school, and is usually lesser than how we live. I will elaborate this point further in a future
the amount regular public schools receive. In most states, essay. Suffice it to say for now that our richer under-
it is enough to educate children often with some help standing means we can learn more and faster than other
from parents and others. Meanwhile the government creatures. Further, we have a natural desire to learn. The
schools are left with more funding per pupil, for the pu- Greek philosopher Aristole’s great work Metaphysics,
pils that remain. In theory and sometimes in practice, this begins with the sentence: “the human being stretches
eases their displeasure. himself out to know”. Horses love to run, and they are
The effect of charter laws is to decentralise the man- good at it. We naturally love to learn, and we are good at
agement of schools, a major advantage. America is beset it. Of course, having children and grandchildren, I know
with bureaucracy. Several million people work in public that children love to run as well, but learning is their spe-
education, and most of them aren’t teachers. Look at the cial province. We admire human beings who run fast. We
ratio of teachers to non-teachers in any private school in admire the wise among us even more.
India, and I expect you will find that teachers constitute f children are built to learn, then the achievement of
most of the staff. Not in regular government schools in Ilearning is chiefly within them. We cannot learn for
America. them anymore than we can make a plant to grow. As
One wonders what these other employees do. Of in gardening, so in education, we can and must help
course, many of them maintain financial records, which is children grow. We can do that best when we are near the
necessary. Many of them also write rules for the opera- child, and when we love children. That is why authority
tion of classrooms. These rules are written by people who over schools should be located as near the child as pos-
don’t spend time in classrooms. Therefore, the rules and sible.
regulations become innumerable and complex. Often, Just as the gardener, tending his plants, must be close
they serve goals other than the direct goal of learning. I to the plants, so the teacher and the parent must be close
believe the people of India have some experience with to the child to help it grow.
bureaucracy, and if I am right, they will know what I am I’m informed that private education in India is almost
talking about. half the whole, an excellent development in my opinion.
The growth of bureaucracy in America is a relatively I also understand that in recent years, the government
recent phenomenon. It has grown to advanced size in ev- of India has found ways to deal directly and simply with
ery department of government. It is particularly dysfunc- citizens in the construction of homes and toilets, where
tional in the world of education, in my opinion, because of previously there were more layers of administration to
the nature of education and the nature of people. navigate. This reminds me of the education reforms that
What are those natures? Human beings understand have proliferated in America. These reforms permit citi-
and communicate in a different way than other earthly zens to take control of education, student by student and
creatures. All children learn to talk, just by watching and school by school.
hearing and without elaborate instruction. The animals I suggest the decentralisation efforts that have oc-
who live in our households, seeing and hearing the same curred in India should be extended to education. Whoev-
things, don’t learn, at least nothing like so well. We are er does that will do a great service to India and the world.
built to do this, and Western classic philosophers argue
this is central to our nature. The ability to use a word, a
sound, to signify not only a thing but also a kind of thing (Dr. Larry Arnn is President, Hillsdale College, USA)

APRIL 2024 EDUCATIONWORLD 63