Author: Riley Talamantes, University of Wyoming debater The NSDA PF topic is: Resolved: On balance, charter schools are beneficial to the quality of education in the United States. Charter schools and their educational value are truly a controversial debate subject. Because charter schools operate independently from school districts, they have the opportunity to build their own curriculum and cater to students learning styles. However, charter schools in the past have posed issues with adequately teaching students and can be known for posing structural barriers to entry. Here I have written up some thoughts on pro ground, con ground and other strategies that PF debaters can use to make their debating efficient and strategic on this topic. Below the fold is my analysis. Section 1: Pro Ground Pro Scenario – U.S. Competitiveness Charter schools can be a useful investment for the United States in the long term because they give students the opportunity to become experts in their field at a young age. Let me walk you all through a potential pro scenario about education being key for U.S. competitiveness. However, keep in mind that this is one scenario and this link could really be used for other impacts. Link: Better learning environment for students Because charter schools are not tied to a school district, they can operate semi-autonomously which grant it a few benefits. First, they can control how their curriculum is designed. Charter schools can offer special classes that are focused on an area of study that could be helpful for a student in their future. For instance, there are charter schools that offer classes that focus heavily on college prep, learning another language, coding, advanced STEM related classes, fine arts, you name it. Second, class sizes are often smaller than public schools in the area since most charter schools function on a lottery system. Students can enter their names into a pot and if they get pulled, they are eligible to attend the upcoming school year. Smaller classes sizes have been known to be more beneficial for students because their teachers can work more closely with them and are able to offer more collaborative and intricate projects. Last, students have the opportunity to learn in a different manner. Rather than hearing a lecture or doing busy work like in some public schools, students can do hands-on activities and labs that make them critically think about ways to solve a problem. Charter schools have more independence to tailor to their students learning styles and often churn out students who are excited to attend college. Impact/Voter: U.S. Competitiveness Competitiveness in the market is an important driver for a healthy, U.S. economy. If the United States has areas of industry that are being invested in and they are profiting off of their work, this gives the U.S. an economic edge against other countries in the world. Education can play a large role in creating future leaders and entrepreneurs to continue making the United States economically competitive. Charter schools can offer a unique, in-depth style of education that can jumpstart opportunities for students to attend colleges that are advanced in their program. For instance, charter schools that specialize in STEM prepare students for college level courses by creating a collaborative and project-based environment. Students can take classes on coding, advanced chemistry, mechanical engineering and even have the opportunity to attend robotics and other scientific competitions. Whereas in public school, classes may not be as frequent or rigorous with its teaching of STEM. In charter schools, students who are as young as 10 can begin gaining the knowledge and skills that are necessary to get into a good college program and/or work in STEM related fields. The pro can argue that charter schools is a way to lay a base for a successful future. A generation that is educated for a growing job market can continue making the United States a technological and scientific hegemon with their ideas and the work they contribute. Continued Reads If you all are interested in this scenario, I would suggest reading the articles below! https://publicpolicy.wharton.upenn.edu/live/news/2188-building-americas-future-stem-education https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/tea.21437 https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/reports/2011/09/06/10376/investing-in-education-powers-u-s-competitiveness/ https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED535994.pdf Other Pro Articles Here are some other pro articles if you all are interested in reading! They have some specific examples that you can help incorporate into your cases, debunking of charter school’s myths and some creative ideas for other scenarios. https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilylanghorne/2018/08/23/five-reasons-why-independent-charters-outperform-in-district-autonomous-schools/#6d619bd4759d https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/02/28/separating-fact-from-fiction-in-21-claims-about-charter-schools/ https://www.americanprep.org/the-benefits-of-charter-schools/ https://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/philanthropy-magazine/article/spring-2014-from-promising-to-proven Section 2: Con Ground Con Scenario – Lack of Oversight & Ineffective Now this scenario is not one that has a link or an impact but is a solvency takeout to the concept of charter schools as a whole. Even though its PF and we are not debating about the policies, evidence regarding the ineffectiveness of charter schools can still be convincing and winning argument. Even if charter schools can be good in theory, on balance they are not any better than public schools. Often times charter schools end up failing and do not have comparable graduation rates to those of certain public schools. Studies have shown that a lack of oversight over charter schools has also ended in financial waste and mismanagement. According to a study done by the National Education Association, in 2014, charter schools, “in 15 states –about one-third of the states with charter schools—had experienced over $100 million in reported fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement”1(p.4). Although charter schools may have the chance to operate independently and forge their own curriculum, that does not mean that they are all successful. These all can be convincing reasons why charter schools are not beneficial to the quality of education. Even though this is not an impact for the con, it is still a way for them to win the debate by disproving the merit of charter schools. Con Scenario – Structural disadvantage and unequal access to education Although charter schools are free and open to the public, that does not necessarily mean that this gives all students an equal access to education. From your preliminary readings, I am sure you found many websites saying that any student can attend charter schools and some states require that charter schools be open enrollment. Additionally, charter schools use a lottery system to let students in so the process is random and not discriminatory. However, even if these regulations may be good in theory, in practice there have been charter schools that have excluded students from attending their schools. In the article, “What the Public Doesn’t know about High Performing Charter Schools in Arizona,” author Valerie Strauss identifies how the nationally famous set of charter schools in Arizona called BASIS have discriminatory actions and policies in place. For example, Strauss states that there is an, “over-enrollment of Asian-American students and under-enrollment of Latino students,” at the academies despite enrollment being proportional between the two groups. BASIS does not work with the government to provide low-income students with free and/or reduced lunches despite the state having about 47% of its students on the program. They provide no transportation to their schools and ask parents to make donations of over $1,500 a year.2 The structural barriers that are put in place at this particular charter school negates the resolutional question about whether or not charter schools are beneficial to the quality of education on balance. On balance, and in practice, their independent nature can allow for structural barriers and prevent this form of education from being accessible. This argument can be quite beneficial for the con because they can use it to turn any pro case argument about education. If education is key to solving U.S. competitiveness, there is still a gap because students are getting left behind in the public education system. Obviously, this concept it debatable but using examples to demonstrate how charter schools have fumbled the bag on educating their students in the last few years can be convincing enough for you to takeout your opponents case. Continued Reads Here are some continued readings on the scenarios that I posed above: https://populardemocracy.org/news/fraud-and-financial-mismanagement-pennsylvanias-charter-schools http://www.nea.org/home/16332.htm Other Con Articles If you all are still doing some general readings on the con, here are some articles that I found quite helpful in understanding charter schools and their relationships with their students. https://networkforpubliceducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Do-charter-schools-get-better-academic-results-than-public-schools%C6%92.pdf https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/opinion/benefits-of-charter-schools.html https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2019/06/07/charter-schools-good-or-bad-for-students-in-district-schools/ https://www.chalkbeat.org/2019/6/11/21108318/critics-of-charter-schools-say-they-re-hurting-school-districts-are-they-right https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/ed/17/05/battle-over-charter-schools Section 3: Additional Thoughts Considering words in the resolution to help frame the debate I find framing arguments an incredibly useful tool in PF, especially in the final focus. Your final focus is all about pointing to the judge the arguments you are going for and why you have won the debate. However, that speech can be quite difficult considering you have to extend your impacts and voters while answering your opponent’s arguments all in the time constraint of two minutes. Framing arguments at the top of the final focus can be an efficient way at taking out your opponent’s arguments while still having time to extend your voters. They key phrase in the resolution that will play a big part in how teams will make framing arguments is the phrase, on balance. The Cambridge dictionary defines on balance as, “after considering the power or influence of both sides of the question”. Someone makes a decision based on the facts and evidence presented in front of them. It seems straight forward and a kind of “duh” moment at the resolution but teams should really utilize this definition throughout all of their speeches. For example, if the pro were to read their definition of on balance (we’ll use the Cambridge definition above), they can then make the argument that the pro’s burden is just to prove that charter schools are better than the alternative public education system. If the con makes arguments about lack of oversight, unequal access to charter schools, the pro could argue that these arguments do not matter because we are debating about the concept of charter schools, not how they are implemented in the status quo. Obviously, this example is debatable and the con can use the same definition of on balance to make their own argument about what burden they need to fulfill. We can also debate about the other words used in this definition to side-step this particular framing argument but hopefully you get the point. Using the words in the resolution to your advantage can be a helpful tactic at making your speeches efficient and strategic. Author and evidence comparison to point out bias articles Although evidence exchange is not something that occurs quite frequently in PF, that does not mean that you should not debate the credentials of evidence that is brought to the table. If there is an argument that you are unsure of answering, ask your opponents where their evidence came from. This could be a good way to take out the credibility of their argument if their evidence clearly comes from a bias source. Your judge is more likely to believe the credibility of a piece of evidence that came from the Brookings Institute or Harvard instead of a charter school website telling its audience how great charter schools are. Cross fire can be a great time to put doubt in your judges head about whether they should believe your opponents evidence is credible so do not be afraid to ask! Information/General Topic Knowledge As mentioned in a previous WDR article by Maggie Pierce titled, “Debate 101: How to Write a PF Case”, she explains how understanding the general vocabulary and concepts of the resolution can, “make both case writing and in-round debating much easier.”3 Down below, I have provided some articles that I came across when doing my own research for this topic analysis. These articles do not necessarily take any hard-lined pro/con stances despite a few having pro/con sections. They can be helpful for any questions you may have about charter schools, their jurisdiction, how they are funded, who runs them, etc. https://www.ecs.org/charter-school-policies/ https://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/charter-schools/index.html https://edreform.com/2012/03/just-the-faqs-charter-schools/ https://www.brookings.edu/policy2020/votervital/what-are-charter-schools-and-do-they-deliver/ Footnotes 1Center for Popular Democracy. (May 2016). “Charter school vulnerabilities to waste, fraud, and abuse.” Retrieved from: https://populardemocracy.org/sites/default/files/Charter-School-Fraud_Report_web.pdf 2Strauss, V. (30 March 2017). “What the public isn’t told about high-performing charter schools in Arizona.” Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/03/30/what-the-public-doesnt-know-about-high-performing-charter-schools-in-arizona/ 3Pierce, M. (17 February 2020). “Debate 101: How to Write a PF Case.” Retrieved from: https://wyodebateroundup.weebly.com/blog/debate-101-how-to-write-a-pf-case
1 Comment
Bob
5/17/2020 03:43:54 pm
The impact is limited to education, so ur impact into US competitiveness idnt really topical, this is a link level debate, not rlly impact weighing bc the scope is limited to education in the US, how u want to define that may be different but u dont make it clear how US competitiveness fits under "education." Also the impact doesnt really matter bc the neg can co-opt it by proving charter schools are not beneficial holistically without addressing the nuance, bc the resolutoon calls for a utilitarian framework as impleid by "on balance"
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