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Partnerships
with Public Schools
 There are many
reasons why parents want to homeschool their children, but the most
popular one is the protection of children from the "bad social
influences" in the public schools. Educational quality runs
a close second. As more parents become disenchanted with the actual
education children receive in public schools, more are choosing
to homeschool their children.
Previously, homeschooling
parents had to develop curricula, find textbooks, create worksheets,
monitor academic growth, measure it against the edict guidelines
and education laws of a specific state, and often fight hostile
local authorities. It has been a long road, but now a generation
of homeschooled young adults are proving the worth of it all.
Fortunately, laws
are becoming more accommodating to home-schoolers, as are the public
school systems themselves. However, in a culture where money accounts
for just about everything, one has to wonder why the sudden warm
embrace from government educators for those that have been most
critical of the system that failed to deliver quality education
in the first place.
Some public school
systems now receive state funding by offering enrichment classes
to home schoolers. (The loss of state funding for students NOT enrolled
in the public school system is one of the greatest grievances public
school educators have against home-schoolers.) Other public school
districts operate charter schools to help parents supervise their
children's learning in exchange for full, per-pupil payments from
their state. For example, the Bachor-Linwood school district near
Kansas City receives $5,000 in per-pupil state reimbursements for
each child enrolled in their charter school program. That money
goes into the district's general fund and, in exchange, each family
is provided with an iMAC computer, Internet connection, and the
services of their teachers. In addition, many public school districts
offer "dual enrollment," a policy that allows homeschooled
children to participate in classes like art, music, or gym at local
public schools. The homeschooled participants in this kind of partnership
are really just involved in non-classroom-based programs while still
being attached with the public school system.
Certainly there
are dedicated public school teachers that are passionate about what
they teach and see these homeschooled/public schooled partnerships
as an extension of a passion that goes beyond the financial rewards
to the public school districts. They are reaching out to individuals
no matter what the learning environment. In truth, the partnerships
resolve some of the challenges of teaching online by embracing Internet
technology. This new focus certainly has influenced the way classroom
material is organized, and taught. Nevertheless, one wonders if
the motivation to homeschool is still being compromised in some
way.
America is a culture
that is very institutionalized. Things seem to work best when a
"system" and "programs" are implemented to help
us find our way through the maze of our world. Given this, home-schoolers
must ask themselves new fundamental questions, not whether God is
taught in the schools, not whether the socialization that children
experience in public schools is anti-family or in some way "decadent."
They must ask themselves if public schools suppress creative thinking,
if we, as parents, should partner with the public school system
at all. What do we gain by "programming" our children?
If there was no maze, the rat most certainly would still find food.
The responsibility of the home-schoolers is not to teach their children
how to fit in or comply with the authorized visions of what an education
entails. It is to teach our children of our history as a nation,
our history as a species, and our cultural imprint on history.
A
Formula for Self-eductation
Self-education,
or self-directed learning can be difficult to obtain, even though
we may have our best interests in mind. Self-directed learning is
often situational which forces a focus on what it is we have to
learn. Often, one can be a self-directed learner on one subject
but a dependent learner on another. According to the Staged Self-directed
Learning (SSDL) model by Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard, a dependent
learner has an authority figure or coach that provides immediate
feedback. In dependent learning, there are drills, and informational
lectures. With self-directed learning, a consultant is often involved
or someone that delegates lesson plans, such as online training.
Self-directed learning can be in the form of internships, dissertations
or some other form of individual work or self-directed study group.
At some point in our lives, most of us will undertake some kind
of self-directed learning project without really thinking about
how we did it. For those of you that really don't know exactly where
to begin, here are a few tips.
First, identify
your learning needs. Do you need to upgrade your computer skills?
Update your job search skills? Expand your skill set? As an example,
we will say you need to upgrade your computer skills.
Once you have
identified your learning needs, you must then establish your
learning objectives. What do you upgrade your computer skills
to? What do you need to know to get a better job? One way to find
out what the job market requires is to go through newspaper ads
or go to one of the job boards like Monster.com. On Monster, type
in a keyword such as programmer and click on some of the
result links. Read the postings to find out exactly what potential
employees are looking for. This will give you your learning objectives.
Next, determine
what learning resources are available to you. You may want
to enroll in a continuing education course, participate in online
training, or simply purchase a book with tutorials and lessons and
teach yourself. The resource you choose depends on your learning
style, schedule, and finances.
Finally, you need
to evaluate the outcome of your learning experience. If you
have obtained the learning objectives, then you can easily evaluate
the success of your outcome. Whether you implement your new skills
as an independent or work for someone else, you are the judge of
your own confidence with your new skill set. If you aren't satisfied
with the outcome, go through the process again but change a few
things, such as being more specific with your goal or combining
self-directed learning with more formal training.
Whatever your
goal may be in self-directed learning, whether it is to get a better
job or just expand your knowledge, the most important assessment
happens before you begin. You must first ask yourself if you want
to learn something new and if you are able to follow through with
self-directed learning. If the answer is yes, then you are, by all
definitions, a self-directed learner and just as valuable an asset
to any company as those that have spent hundreds of dollars being
taught by someone else.
Famously
Home Educated
No
one person, group, or organization has a monopoly on knowledge,
it is there for all who seek it. Perhaps that is why self-educated
people, or those educated outside of an organization or system of
knowledge, are held in awe when they reach notoriety status. For
those of us that believe your status is dependent upon your credentials,
it seems impossible to attain any status without them. Many famous
historical figures were home schooled but one has to remember that
formal, public education is a fairly recent phenomenon. Leonardo
de Vinci never took an SAT in his life, would probably scoff at
such a notion, and yet he was one of the greatest minds in human
history. Of course, there is such a thing as natural genius but
that shouldn't stop any of us from believing we have the potential
to be whatever we dream we can be and by whatever means we seek.
The key is to seek.
Listed below are
people from recent times that stepped outside of the box and became
students of life and major figures of the arts, industry, and business.
Ray
Bradbury (1920 - ) Bradbury is one of the most widely
read science fiction authors of our times and many of his novels
have migrated into film, such as Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian
Chronicles. He attended public school through high school but in
1938 he began selling newspapers in Los Angeles and spending his
nights in the public library.
Art
Buchwald (1925 - ) This political humorist and newspaper
columnist attended high school until 1942 when he joined the Marines
at age 17. When he left the service, he used his G.I. Bill to attend
college but dropped out. He took a $250 war bonus check he had received
and went to Paris. There he began writing for Variety magazine and
become a column writer in 1949. His column is carried in more than
500 newspapers.
Agatha
Christie (1890 - 1976) As a master of the mystery novel,
Agatha Christie has given us some of the most memorable detective
characters in literature. Shy as a child, she kept to herself and
was tutored at home by a governess and other tutors. She first turned
to music and then writing. Agatha Christie became a nurse while
her husband was at war and wrote her first novel in 1915 at age
25.
Walter
Cronkite (1916 - ) A CBS news anchor for many
years, Walter Cronkite began his journalistic career in high school
writing part time for the Houston Post. He then went to the University
of Texas and continued writing for the Houston Post and the school
newspaper, the Daily Texan. He quit his college career in 1935 and
began working for the Houston Post full time. From there, he continued
his journalism career to become one of America's most trusted and
beloved newsman.
Walt
Disney (1901 - 1966) Mr. Disney's genius for drawing
cartoons and bringing them to live is unmatched. He was drawing
and selling his cartoons as early as age 7. Mr. Disney attended
public schools but tried to join the military when he was 16. He
was rejected and joined the Red Cross instead where he was an ambulance
driver. His ambulance was covered inside with his drawings. After
the war, he began a career in advertising cartoons and then moved
to Hollywood in 1923. The rest of his story is alive in many of
the works he has created since.
Bill
Gates (1955 - ) We all know Bill Gates is a self-made
millionaire with his Microsoft empire. He began programming computers
when he was 13. Bill Gates did attend public schools and even enrolled
at Harvard but gave up a college career to devote his time and energy
to Microsoft.
Steven
Spielberg ( 1946 - ) After being denied entrance into
traditional film schools because his grades weren't good enough,
Spielberg entered California State University in Long Beach to study
English. A self-taught movie-maker, Steven Spielberg's professional
movie career began the day that he decided to jump off a tour bus
at Universal Studios Hollywood and wander around the back lots.
Apparently he found an abandoned janitors closet and turned it into
an office. After some time, the security guards had seen him so
often that they would wave him through the gates, no questions asked.
He would however, dress the part, looking very professional in his
Bar Mitzvah suit and tie and not T-shirt and jeans so he wouldn't
look like the kid he was.
Harry
Truman
(1884 - 1972) The 33rd president of the United States and arguably
one of the best presidents in the twentieth century, Truman was
taught to read at the age of 5 by his mother. He did graduate from
high school but his father's finances prevented him from going to
college. Because of his poor eyesight, Truman could not enter the
US Military Academy at West Point as he had hoped. Instead, he worked
for the railroad and two banks before returning at age 22 to Grandview,
Missouri to help run his father's farm. Working on a farm in the
golden age of American agriculture, he experienced a personality
change, becoming less withdrawn, much more gregarious, and much
more confident in his relations with other people than before. He
began to participate actively in politics and joined several other
organizations, including the Masons, that later helped him as a
politician.
Orville
Wright
(1871 - 1948) and Wilbur Wright
(1867 - 1912) The sons of a church bishop, they were both bachelors
who never finished high school. But, they took a common childhood
fascination for flight - sparked by a toy driven by rubber bands
that their father brought home. This fascination turned into a time-consuming
hobby. Soon, that hobby became an obsessive desire to achieve human
flight. The more Wilbur read about flight, the more convinced he
became that human flight was possible. Together with his brother
Orville, a mechanical wizard, they became self-taught engineers.
Although neither
graduated from high school, Wilbur was an outstanding student. Orville,
on the other hand, was very mischievous in school and quit before
his last year to start a printing shop. Both brothers however, shared
a fascination for technological problem solving, which was encouraged
by their father who filled the house with two extensive libraries.
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Regulatory
Issues
Education
Empowerment Tax Credit Act
In January of
2001, Representative Eric Cantor (R - Virginia) introduced a new
bill that could help revolutionize American education by at least
acknowledging that parents have some control in the education of
their children. The Education Empowerment Tax Credit Act (HR 257)
would give parents a $1,000 education tax credit per child for education
expenses. Expenses can include tuition, books, supplies, tutoring,
or computer equipment. The credit would apply to children in public,
private, or home schools. Needless to say, this bill stands to help
all parents with school age children. It would be especially beneficial
to those parents with children requiring specific needs that raise
educational costs to almost unmanageable proportions.
Critics
argue that tax credits hurt the education system by diverting money
away from public schools. They also argue that it is impossible
to track whether the funds actually go to further the education
of the child. (This is a very debatable premise that only the public
school and private citizen accountants could resolve.)
The
majority of the coalition members behind the initiation of this
bill are Christian and independent educators but it is very curious
that the general public with school age children have not lobbied
for and wholly embraced this bill. After all, when it comes to buying
school supplies each year because the public schools can't afford
to supply them, how can this hurt the public school system?
In
Section 36 of the amendment (EFFECTIVE DATE), it states that "The
amendments made by this section shall apply to amounts paid for
education after December 31, 2002, for education furnished in academic
periods beginning after such date." As concerned parents, we
can only hope that is a realistic date considering the bill is now
being analyzed by the House Committee on Ways and Means, an organization
that is famous for debating bills into extinction.
The
bill has received 46 cosponsors since its introduction with the
latest sponsor being Rep. Nick Smith from Michigan's 7th District
in October 2001, proving there has been interest in the bill within
the last four months. However, in order for the bill to gain momentum,
it may be necessary to vote with our pens and not our chads. Perhaps
letters to our congressmen do end up in the dead letter pile or
perhaps they don't but we should at least try that venue.
Internet
Privacy Concerns
To Be Posted
The
New Federal Standards for Basic Education
Most
people in America believe that public education is failing. Ironically,
most people in America are the products of public education. This
may be why nobody caught the banner on the NFL ProBowl on February
9, 2002 that announced various things at "Haltime (sic)."
Many thousand stairwells in office buildings have signs that say
"Caution! Alarmed Door!" Nothing is more dangerous than
a frightened portal. Those who mediate limitations in communications
skills with the phrase "you know what I mean," still recognize
the absence. People who cannot spell catch others. Nevertheless,
Americans tolerate sloppiness. You know what I mean? Public education
has failed. We all know it.
The
new President seems determined to make things better. President
Bush proposed changes to improve student performance in his No Child
Left Behind Act of 2001. The President signed the law on January
8, 2002 that proposes specific remedies to our failed system. The
law is sweeping but curiously silent on some root causes to the
problem. It affects approximately:
- 46.8 million
public school children
- 3 million
public school teachers
- 89,599 public
schools
- 17,000 local
school districts
The
core of the program is greater local accountability to the federal
government. The key to success or failure will be in how the federal
government measures achievement. It does not address the constraints
placed on these groups by local collective bargaining or funding.
The federal government can define what a good teacher should be,
but it has no influence on individual teacher contracts. It can
mandate changes to a failing school, but the local bond issue will
not be any easier to pass.
Still,
it does do some things very well. The new law reformulates the details
of the Elementary & Secondary Education Act, first enacted in
1965. This has been the handmaiden of public education policy for
the children of the Baby Boomers. The results speak for themselves.
Education was always a local issue. The federal government intervened
in the 1960s when federal judges determined that local authorities
were depriving students of civil rights. The focus of the Act in
1965 was on social change as much as education. Those who do not
believe it has yet accomplished what it was designed to do, will
not like the changes.
The
changes to the act create a greater federal role in K-12 education.
They require all states to set high standards of achievement. A
system of accountability to measure results will follow. It demands
high standards for achievement in reading and math. It asserts that
these are the building blocks of all learning, and will test every
child in grades 3 through 8 to ensure that students are making progress.
These
changes are bound to be controversial. How will "high achievement"
be defined? More importantly to the political forces entrenched
around the details of the 1965 Act, who will define "achievement",
"high", "progress", or "is"?
Ironically,
some of this progress will come from taking the federal government
out of many federal education programs by creating larger, locally
administered programs. It eliminates some red tape for those who
are charged with making improvements: administrators, school districts,
teachers, and parents.
Parents will be
able to move children from failing public schools to better public
schools. This should be very popular with poor and disadvantaged
families who have been forced to choose between sending their children
to dangerous failed schools and letting them wander the streets.
This has never been a good choice for children. In some school districts,
the streets are safer. This change alone will create immense benefit
at the bottom and should be popular.
How will parents
know the difference between a bad school in Oakland and a good one?
In Littleton, Colorado? In White Plains, NY? Well, the local authorities
will tell them. There is a required annual report card of school
performance and state progress. Again, there will certainly be a
fight about definitions, particularly regarding the teacher qualification
components, but what parent would not like to know how the neighborhood
school ranks against any other school?
The new Act will
set guidelines for classroom methodologies and teacher training
programs. Jurisdiction for education remains a local responsibility,
so the primary influence the federal government can have is in providing
resources and less federal bureaucracy. In the summary of benefits,
the changes are dramatic:
"Increases federal education funding under the ESEA to more
than $22.1 billion for America's elementary and secondary schools
- a 27 percent increase over last year, and a 49 percent increase
over 2000 levels."
"Increases
federal funding to an estimated $10.4 billion for the Title I program
to help disadvantaged students succeed - an 18 percent increase
over last year, and a 30 percent increase over 2000 levels."
"Provides
nearly $3 billion in federal funding to recruit and retain highly
qualified teachers and principals."
"Boosts funding
for reading programs to nearly $1 billion so every child in America
learns to read."
"Provides
an estimated $200 million for charter schools to expand parental
choice and free children trapped in persistently failing schools."
Note:
Funding figures are US Department of Education estimates. Other
figures include data from the Department's National Center for Education
Statistics.
Those who believe
Haltime (sic) is over and are eager to get on with the business
of educating the young and training the leaders of the next generation
or two, this seems like a good change for government schools. There
are some disappointing gaps, particularly for those who do not choose
government education for their children. There is no relief for
parents who choose private school. Neither tax relief or reduced
red tape, will come for those others who choose home schooling or
self-schooling are similarly absent from the beneficiaries of the
new act. Both these groups will continue to pay taxes to support
government schools they do not use. There should be some benefit
from national standards, but nothing guarantees that a state will
recognize the achievement of a homeschooled student who only attains
the federal standard. Maybe it is a good first step. Stay tuned.
The game will continue as details roll out.
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