School choice — from a charter school student’s point of view
Every student in America is guaranteed a safe and free education, but sometimes it’s not that simple.
As a Rhode Island student myself, I had a hard time choosing where I should go to high school once I got into eighth grade. As a student, I had succeeded in almost every subject, so there weren’t many areas for myself to improve. I wanted to try something different though, something that would challenge me, and I wanted to learn things that I felt related to my future career path. That’s when I found the MET. The MET – or the Metropolitan Career and Technical Center – has campuses in three different Rhode Island locations. There are two campuses in Providence (Public Street and Peace Street) and another campus located in Newport called the East Bay. The MET allows you to personalize your learning and helps you pursue your future career path. The MET’s motto is ‘One Student at a Time.’
I applied to this school and in my eighth-grade year I was accepted, even after many teachers preached against it.
Attending the school has been the best thing to ever happen to me, I’ve received personalized learning plans and taken part in internships that have connected me to what I want to be – an internship at The Woonsocket Call
being one of them. I took my first college class in sophomore year, became Servsafe certified and I’m planning on going to CCRI to take more classes in my junior year.
The MET isn’t a great fit for each and every student, which is why school choice is so important.
Every student has the right to choose where to go to school. In Rhode Island there are about 305 schools and 54 districts. There are 285 regular public schools, 18 charter schools, 12 vocational schools, five alternative schools, and two for special education. You have many schools to choose from depending on where you live and you can find out more RIDE.com about these schools on
For a student who lives in Woonsocket like me, for high school there are 10 schools besides Woonsocket High School, and for lower grades, there are six schools besides public schools to choose for middle and elementary schools. The closest choice for high school is Beacon Charter school for the Arts. The school out-ranks Rhode Island’s passing rate and excels in testing and graduation rates. Beacon offers three different arts to choose from: Culinary, Visual Arts and Theatre. The school even had a teacher win the 2017 teacher of the year award (Nikos Giannopoulos). Beacon is an excellent choice if you’re interested in going into the arts.
Woonsocket High is also a great choice. Their motto is “Striving for Excellence.” They also offer many different opportunities, like the ROTC, scholastic sports, and has a career and technical program which offers over 10 different areas to study. The career and technical students go on shadow days and even do internships in their field of interest.
If you’re interested in a religious school for your child then Mount Saint Charles could be a good fit for you. Mt. Saint Charles offers a Christian education – for a price, of course. The school offers many different opportunities and sports to choose from. Also, Mt. Saint Charles accepts students from all around the world to attend meaning you’re child is also experiencing different cultures at the same time.
School choice is important and every student should be in the school that’s best for them, but sometimes public schools are the way to go. Some public schools are even more rigorous than some private or charter schools and can offer benefits for children with special needs. Considering these options is important because, in some ways, it can affect your future. Our new Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, is a huge advocate of school choice. She’s led many states into school choice and has done her part to try and change America’s education system for the better.
Education is not one-size-fits-all. Every student has different needs that need to be met.
For potential middle-school students, there are four choices besides Woonsocket Middle School. One of the closest schools is Founders, a school for middle-school students looking to enter right into Beacon. It's a fairly new school, but offers a similar education to the one students will receive once they graduate and go into Beacon. I had a great experience in seventh and eighth grade at WMS and you should really consider going. My eighth-grade social studies teacher, Mrs. Gentile, taught me so much and inspired me to continue writing even when other people told me to quit.
Her words will always stay with me for a very long time. Eighth grade was one of the highlights of my school career and even in 10th grade I still talk about how much fun I had in middle school.
The public versus private school debate is a controversial topic, but in all honesty you should pick what’s best for you.
Every student as their own needs and wants to succeed, don’t base your school on your friends.
Personally, even though I go to a high school in Providence, my best friend is a culinary student at Beacon and we both support one another. Your education is more important than staying with friends. In today’s society it’s imperative to have a high school education at least to survive. Although, you don’t have to go into a choice school.
Sometimes a public school experience is for the best and you want to go the traditional route. The student and the parents should make the decision, to break away from that route or not.
Follow your heart and what you believe in and make the choice that’s best for you, even if it’s the Met, Beacon or WHS.