In the united states there are approximately 98000 public K-12 schools and a mere 6400 K-12 charters schools. This statistic lends itself to the fact that most people do not even realize that charter schools are a type of school. To the dismay of many a charter school is not a public school and is essentially a public school with a few differences. A charter school is a public school that does not follow the academic regulations of the state and is privately ran. Much unlike a public school which is regulated and run by the state. I went to a charter school for 1st through 8th grade and had the opportunity to go to a public school for grades 9-12. This unique opportunity has given me a real insight of the differences between a charter and a …show more content…
Academics are at the heart of any school but the level of academics in charter schools is much more elevated than that of a public school. Public schools offer a form of academic freedom where students have somewhat of a choice of the classes they take. At a charter school student are placed in the course that is required for the year and rarely have the choice of taking electives and if they do they get about one a semester. While at a public-school student are given the option of different courses that fulfill the desired credits needed and not just a common class for the grade. As far as electives public schools offer an array of elective from computer sciences to agriculture and they also allow students less core classes to expand their horizons in different subject areas. Another daunting aspect at charter schools is the homework load. Most charters schools say that at kindergarten students start with fourth-five minutes of homework a night and with every grade level the homework load goes up by forty-five minutes. So, by the time students hit the 8th grade they are looking at just under seven hours of homework a night and as someone who has experienced this first hand it is very