A fair point, and not condescending at all :)

That is a major issue. Though I would argue that like many things in America, we have a false image of ourselves. Our school system is setup to be socialist, where everyone gets exactly 1 unit of education and then are released into a supposedly free-market world. That doesn't work, and the flaws in charter schools you are pointing out are actually exposing the faults in believing it's possible to deliver exactly 1 unit of education to all citizens.

I think a lot of folks worried about education reform are running around with some sort of utopian dream for how the world could be, while not realizing that there are philosophical arguments that have to be made almost simultaneously around the notion that not everyone is capable of being educated the same level, nor do they want to be.

What happened to the pride of voc-ed schools where kids learned specific skills that would help them earn an income and hopefully provide a high quality of life for their future families? Put more bluntly: What is the goal of education?

If we can't answer that, we have no business trying to legislate betters schools.