The best thing about studying schools is the people you meet. Twenty years back in Tucson, I met two remarkable leaders, Michael and Olga Block, who created schools combining the high academic standards of Olga's native Prague with the informality and energy of Michael's native New York City.

The Blocks have retired, but their work goes on in dozens of BASIS charter schools serving students in four U.S. states, the newest being a seminar-based spinoff, the School for Advanced Studies (SAS) charter school in northwest Arkansas, located in the lovely Lane Hotel building in Rogers.

Charters like SAS are public schools, publicly funded, authorized by public bodies, free, and open to all who desire. Yet like private schools, charters are chosen by parents and have the autonomy to choose disti

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