Dana Kuehn

EDL 204

Section H A

11/15/2014

Text Critique 2

Stan Karp’s article, “Charter Schools and the Future of Public Education,” emphasizes

that charter schools have changed drastically in recent years, and that change is putting the

future of American public schools in severe jeopardy. Karp’s argument can be generalized in

his statement, “But left to its own bottom line logic, the market will do for education what it

has done for housing, health care, and employment: create fabulous profits and opportunities

for a few, and unequal access and outcomes for the many.” (Karp, 2014 p. 6).

Delving into the motives for an argument can be done by looking into the author’s

philosophy and stance on the issue at hand. A philosophy is made up of both epistemology and

ontology. From Karp’s evident desire to create a school that promoted, “Colleagues with a

shared vision of teaching,” and a, “Professional autonomy that nourished innovation and

individual and collective growth,” (Karp, 2014, p. 1) I would infer that Karp’s epistemology is

pragmatism. I believe that the school environment that Karp longed for existed on pragmatism,

because Karp did not merely want to teach students; he wanted to create a culture of

interactions through which the students would gain knowledge, as well as make decisions for

the school. While difficult to pin an author to just one ontology, I believe that Karp’s ontology

is Homo Societies. Karp spoke of colleagues working together towards a vision of how the

1

school should perform, and a, “Welcoming school culture that reflected the lives of our students

and families.” (Karp, 2014, p. 1). These brief statements can be perceived as social beings and

values the importance of social interaction. Drawing from the inferences that I made regarding

Karp’s epistemology and ontology, I would argue that his ethical and philosophical beliefs

would constitute him as a pragmatic progressive. According to Quantz, a pragmatic progressive

is that, “The most fundamental aim of education for progressives must be to develop in

students the habits of mind to participate in democratic communities of all kinds.” (Quantz,

2015, p. 83). I believe Karp would greatly agree with Quantz’s statement.

In terms of political ideologies, I strongly believe that Karp is a social democrat. Karl

makes a comment that the audience would perceive as derogatory to a business-model

approach to education, making me believe that Karp leans more toward the more progressive of

the political ideologies, rather than conservative. I believe this progressive ideology can be

even more specified, in Karp’s case down to social democracy, by looking at Quantz’s

definition of a social democrat. Quantz states that social democrats put an emphasis on

participation in democracy and more decision making for the citizens, and strive to shrink

private space and expand public space as far as possible. Applying this concept to education, I

think Karp would share similar sentiments.

This article was published recently, in April of 2014 to be exact. As an audience

member in November of the same year, I believe this article is very relevant, and the currency

of it gives this article lots of strength. The shift of charter school operation that drove Karp to

write this article is still evident, and this article is appropriate to use as a “current point-of-

view” resource when assessing the effect that private schools have on public schools. Karp

2

devotes a lengthy paragraph in his article to how socioeconomic standing affects charter

schooling versus public schooling. He discusses how when money comes into play and limits

opportunity for some students, the schools suffer. If high income students are taking themselves

as well as their money to a charter school, it limits the resources that the public school once had

access to and can even negatively affect the experience of other students in that school. When

the shift from public to private schooling is massive, this cut-off to resources is very destructive

to the public school system. Karp addresses the economic viewpoint of socioculture in his

article, but doesn't acknowledge any other student traits such as sexuality, race, or gender in his

argument.

When reading this article and using Quantz’s text to support it, additional articles can

also give Karp more credibility. One article that I chose to aid me in understanding Karp’s

argument was, “Labor, Leisure, and Liberal Education by Mortimer J. Adler.” While not

actually addressing the issue of charter schools, Adler makes an assertion that I strongly feel

was present in Karp’s argument. “All the quarrels that exist in educational philosophy exist

because men have different conceptions of what the good life is, of what is good for man, of the

conditions under which man is improved or bettered.” (Adler, 1951 p. 1). While Karp gives

valid statistics and facts regarding charter schools, Adler is ultimately correct that there is so

much controversy in education because so much can be written off as opinion. Reading Adler’s

article can give more insight on assessing Karp’s argument, as well as viewing it as just one

side of an ongoing debate over which school system method is more effective. While Adler pits

traditional schools against vocational schools in his argument similarly to the way Karp holds

public schooling against charter schooling, both articles provide viewpoints on different

3

methods of education that are all important in determining what schooling should stand for, and

what is should leave students with.

By understanding the rhetoric that Karp employs in his article, the audience can better

comprehend the information presented. Karp outlines his argument using short, blunt

sentences, strong facts, and credible statistics. Karp opens with a narrative regarding the

grounds that charter schools were formed on, and hones in on the history of the charter school.

To give his argument more credibility, he does not limit is information on one singular instance

or location, he covers several different locations and the effect that charter schools had on

them. Karp uses the rhetoric and narratives to make his point clear to his audience and let his

opinion on charter schools be known.

4