Over the past four weeks, I have discussed education from
three different points of view. First I discussed how students are taught, them
what students are taught and finally why it’s important. In this week’s blog I think
we should look at who is doing the teaching.
On the surface that may seem like an easily answered question, but does
effective teaching really come from the traditional classroom. As parents become
more and more dissatisfy with the U.S. education system, for a verity of
reasons, the number of home schooled children in America has increased by 75% from 1999
to 2012. (Lawrence,
2012) A family member home-schools her children and has done so for a number of
years, the children all state that they enjoy sharing what they have learned with
their brothers and sisters. Lawrence also reports that “one of the surprising
advantages of homeschooling that home-schooled kids tend to be more socially
engaged than their peers, and according to the National Home Education Research
Institute survey, demonstrate ‘healthy social, psychological, and emotional development
and success into adulthood.’”(2012) If true and if we are to believe that home-schooled students perform
well on
standardized assessment exams, typically scoring between the 65th and 89th
percentile then perhaps large industrial schools are not the way to go, but
smaller community or family based schools that model the home schooling ideal.
This clearly illustrates the fact that parents undoubtedly have control over their child’s education, not government, a public or private school system. Historically homeschooling was a primary method in which parents educated their children (Lips & Feinberg, 2008).
ReplyDeleteToday, with technology and innovation, parents have a wide network of support (locally, nationally, and globally) that will enable them to customize their child’s educational program and needs. A point often overlooked by traditional schooling is the input from the children as to what they would like/prefer to learn. With homeschooling, parents and their children collaborate; thus, education becomes a more proactive learning activity for the family. As educators know, when the family is involved at a high level, it is conducive to high levels of achievement.
Reference
Lips, D. & Feinberg, E. (2008). Homeschooling: A Growing Option in American Education. Retrieved from http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2008/04/homeschooling-a-growing-option-in-american-education