School's Out Forever

Discussion in 'High School Education via Distance Learning' started by Kizmet, Sep 28, 2016.

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  1. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  2. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    Schools have evolved out of places of learning and into free (in the case of public) places to dump your kids while you work. Oh, and they happen to teach a thing or two there.

    Administrative bulk, inordinate amounts of time spent enforcing dress code and "safety" policies, large facilities to maintain, snow days, dealing with teacher sick days, transportation, physical text books all add to the inefficiency and expense of it all.

    It would all be worth it if we could expect our kids were emerging significantly better than their great-grandparents who went to a one room schoolhouse up to the 8th grade only. But they aren't.

    I'm not sure what the ultimate answer is but I think we need to try new things. With students leaving high school more unprepared than ever before we need to accept the system is broken and no amount of teacher unions or standardized testing is going to fix it.
     
  3. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    Yep. All that. I think you articulated it beautifully.

    In my own small sample n=4, I have found that each child is unique, learns differently, is motivated by different things, and has different aspirations for their future. It takes tremendous work to facilitate a homeschool that includes what "I" think is important but also feeds their soul and brain. In most cases, I fall short - and they fall short too, let's not mince words. Kids are not widgets, they are people.

    If a person that is profoundly dedicated to the outcome can't find the "perfect" recipe, assuming the hired help will be better is looking for an excuse to delegate. I get it- it's frustrating. I get frustrated.

    My dime-store philosophy is that the educational approach (whatever that is) will always be imperfect when you try to find a one-size-fit-all/some/most. We have, and will continue to follow "my" educational philosophy which is to "teach next." Whatever is next, that's what they do. In our home, if you don't know 1+1, we're not moving on to 1+2. I don't care about the calendar, I don't care about a title on a book, and I don't care about the age of the student. I care about what's next.
    Which is best for the student, failing Algebra 2 or acing Algebra 1 when taking it for the second time?

    If you gave me a million dollars, I'm no closer to my 12th grader learning calculus. Feeding the school systems more money isn't the answer. OTOH, all my children have started their own businesses at young ages. Two of them were 9, and the other two were early teens. Everything they learn from their "business" classes came from the public library. If I wrote down what we did, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't "produce" the same results in another family. I appreciate the burden of educating the masses, and I'm glad it's not my problem, because it's a big one.

    EDIT to add: homeschooling is legal in all 50 states, so technically speaking, all families in the USA can pull their kids from school and use whatever educational approach they want- distance learning or otherwise.
     
  4. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    You'd think given my politics I'd be the first one on board this particular train of thought, but I have four kids, and that simply hasn't been their experience. Occasionally I supplement what they've learned with additional material, particularly when it comes to history and literature, but honestly they've all gotten what to me seems like a decent baseline from public schools and from learning other things that they want to know on their own.
     

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