School Performances

In response to “To stop exodus, upgrade school,” the author tells us how many students have been transferring from their low performing school to a higher one. Thanks to a generous transfer policy, parents are allowed to transfer their kid into any school for any reason, as long as the school is not already full. He says “Don’t like your neighborhood? No problem. Get a transfer to another one..” meaning, if parents are not satisfy with their current school’s performance, then they can just transfer to a school of their comfort. Though this may seem good for you, the schools on the other hand with suffer. By transferring your kid to a better school, this creates an imbalance between schools. The author says that students should not be stuck in a failing school because of their “geographic boundaries.” This is where the transfer policy comes in, it allows student to transfer to a higher ranking campus. The main problem are the many school’s lack of quality to students in those areas. It is said that students living in the West have a higher performance than to those living in the East. A school’s low performance is causing parents to transfer their kids, even if that means they have to drive across town, at their own expenses. Some East Austin school that are losing their students are threatened to closure, due to their inexperience and performance. Superintendent Meria Carstarphen has a solution into fixing the schools. She has a plan that covers about 35 East Austin Schools, hoping to strengthen early childhood education for college preparation. This plan will not force parents to transfer their kids to another school. The author focuses on how school should be fixed to be on the same level as other schools. I agree with the author that he argues by fixing the problem, we would have to fix the schools, but he is missing one thing. The teachers. They should focus on improving the teachers for those schools. The characteristics and experience of teachers will make a big difference. If East Austin schools were to recruit to teachers with higher experience and education, then the schools would not lag behind the other schools. In the end, author’s argument was somewhat valid, he covered many true things but forgot a few.