Kevin Williamson examines for National Review Online readers recent left-of-center attacks on an HBO program that portrays charter schools in anything other than a negative light.
On behalf of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to HBO.
Charter schools are public schools, albeit public schools that are given the teensiest bit of regulatory relief. Some do very well, some don’t. When families are given attractive options and — this must be emphasized — given a choice, their demand frequently dwarfs the supply of charter alternatives. This is perceived by progressives as an all-out assault on the traditional government-school monopoly, its unaccountable administrators, and its insulated unions. And in an important sense, it is.
And therefore, as the Left sees things, it must be stopped. People cannot be permitted a choice, because, being captive to the “white privilege and entitlement and, yes, racism and classism . . . defining what constitutes ‘good’ for them,” they will choose the wrong things. So charter schools must be held illegitimate and, if possible, stopped.
There are worse threats, of course. Real school choice would give parents the ability to opt entirely out of the government-school monopoly, which of course gives the Left night terrors. What progressive policy might put an end to that? “Let’s ban private schools,” Gawker cheerily suggests. Writing in that esteemed journal, John Cook argues that “there’s a simple solution to the public-schools crisis.” If people make choices that complicate the Left’s agenda, then ban those choices. …
