Most of the people who choose the alternatives are from high socio-economic status. They want their children in schools with similar students and have the time and money to ensure that their children can make it to a school from outside their neighborhood. Charter schools encourage social fragmentation rather than common experiences. An important historic role of the public school has been to provide a meeting place and common experiences for students from a variety of cultures and homes. With the increasing diversity in our society, it is more important than ever to have students from different backgrounds in classrooms and playgrounds together.
Charter schools lead to balkanization as groups create schools to reflect their special interests.
As an example, one charter school in the U.S. is being promoted by promising parents that they will teach creationism through the school's distance education program. Charter schools make a priority of the private benefit determined by the parents, rather than balancing and accommodating both the individual and public good. Charter schools aren't the answer to inequalities in Canada. Some advocates of charter schools point to the situation in the U.S. where charter schools have been started in the core of major cities. Those founding the schools in communities like Harlem and Detroit are looking for improvements over the existing situation where schools are of poor quality and often violent.