Public board alternative schools in Ontario, in particular, meet a variety of student needs in imaginative ways. Charters have spread in the U.S. as alternatives to impoverished inner-city ghetto schools. Ontario does not have this problem. Unique in North America, Metro area schools have outperformed their suburban neighbours. Middle class parents pull their students out of some neighbourhood schools, leaving behind a larger number of high needs students and fewer positive role models.
Charter schools provide a two-tier elitist school system.
Public schools, however, provide a good education, one that inculcates democratic values. The Durham public board, and one of its high schools, Sinclair Secondary School, have just been named the best in the world by the renowned Bertelsmann Foundation. Throughout Ontario there are many more just like Durham and Sinclair.