by Corey Grua

GUEST COLUMNIST

Are charter schools a good idea, or a dangerous boondoggle? Recently, an editorial appeared in our newspaper supporting a charter school for our valley [see "Charter school will help boost educational diversity," April 22]. May I present an opposing viewpoint with sincerity and respect? I speak as a public school teacher who has had two separate teaching careers. In between, I spent 20 years in corporate business training. I returned to public teaching because I love making a difference in adolescent lives.

An old masters thesis on Grantsville's first 100 years has recently taught me that improving schools in this valley has always been on the public agenda. Since the 1850s, Tooele Valley residents have been concerned with the education of the next generation. When our state began, the vast majority of Utah students were educated in church schools. As communities diversified with additional religions represented, Utahns felt that education would be more equal and objective if all students were educated together.

Public schools were created. Collective needs of the entire community were then addressed and students with different backgrounds and needs sat side by side, learning the 3Rs -- and how to respect one another. I don't believe that charter schools address common needs as well. Emphasizing specialty needs can take us away from the basics that have made America strong and effective. Segregating students along ideological, intellectual or economic lines during their formative years can deeply hurt them. Why build barriers between our young people that will translate into barriers they must then remove as adults?

Public schools can still address many unique needs, if the public has the patience and determination to help them do that. We need to encourage realistic legislation, volunteer our time and expertise, and attend parent-teacher conferences. Public schools are by nature, general. Early Utahns knew they would be but were dedicated to filling in the blanks and freely enlarging the curriculum at home.

Let us not undermine our public schools by creating new options while crossing our fingers. Homogeneous student bodies are not an answer. Utah voters recently stood up against vouchers. We are ignoring the wisdom of the past that created public education in Utah and across the nation. Our public schools have helped the melting pot do its job. They will continue to do so, but not if we continue to weaken them with shortsighted "improvements." We cannot continue to experiment with our precious and vulnerable children.

Public schools aren't perfect. Perfection is not to be found in education. Nonetheless, watching my special education students lifting my other students last week through profound essays and poems gave me a great feeling of hope that we can be stronger by having a mix of students in the same room. I saw true difference in action, as attitudes changed before my eyes. We must be careful not to jump on flavor-of-the-month bandwagons led by well-meaning or devious pied pipers.

Corey Grua is a Grantsville resident who spent 16 years teaching in the Uintah School District and 20 years doing corporate business training. He has been teaching English at Grantsville Junior High School for the past four years.