Online Schooling
A few weeks ago, as I anxiously awaited the latest and greatest reality TV show to begin, a commercial break interrupted with an ad featuring toy computers for tots. The 30 second clip showed a child seated in front of this brightly colored piece of plastic, clicking away on a non-functional mouse, and I was boggled. As a kid, I was gifted miniature kitchen sets, complete with plastic recreations of milk cartons and lunch meats; have things changed that much? Then, a few days ago as I was perusing the New York Times’ Education section, I stumbled upon an article on online schooling. Expecting to read a bit about the accessibility of online college courses for the non-traditional student, I was shocked to find that a number of parents throughout the country enroll their children in internet-based charter schools.
These web savvy kids run the gamut from elementary to high school, rural areas to urban, from Wisconsin to Kansas, and more. Across the board, the obvious benefit to internet use (similar to online college courses) is the ability to participate in a plethora of courses not offered in the immediate vicinity, the absence of a conventional classroom. I gathered, basically, that there are two prevalent sects of this new wave schooling. The first consists of programs that don’t offer diplomas, where enrolled students can take a one off course here and there, made up of mostly middle school and high school students. The second is made up of mainly middle school and elementary school children, and encompasses their entire schooling experience (many of these kids being traditional home-school candidates to begin with). For the latter, there are criticisms that include costs incurred by the student’s local school district (since they’re technically public school students) and, though only briefly mentioned, concern expressed by educators regarding the youth of these children.
This is what really caught my attention, and got me thinking. Are elementary age students (ranging from approximately 7 – 11 years old) too young for “internet learning”? Many of us have vague recollections of the subject matter we covered in, say, the third grade. Sure, I remember a bit from the 2 months my class spent discussing the Arctic Tundra (and fond memories of my exuberant teacher, Ms. Westover), but knowledge of Caribou aside, what did I really gain from my experience? Granted, there is no devaluing the importance of long division, the multiplication tables, and reading, reading, reading. Rather than fact retention, however, how much of early schooling is about socialization: social interaction with diverse groups of children, learning to respect authority figures aside from your parents, taking direction, sharing, patience, (the list could go on) and overall appropriate behavior?
It’s no secret that education throughout the United States has evolved since the days of Horace Mann (fun fact: once a proud resident of our lovely state of Massachusetts). While I have read a bit about pedagogy and educational theory, I am by no stretch of the imagination anywhere near an expert. You’ve got your private, magnet, and charter schools, Catholic and religious based schools, home-schooled children, and of course the good old fashioned public school system. With the exception of home-schooling, what all of these institutions have in common is the exposure of children to, well, an assortment of other children. So when you take this out of the equation as with online schooling, do the benefits outweigh the losses? As a product of the good old fashioned New York state public school system, I can’t speak from experience; however, I’m interested to hear what others think about this article specifically, and this innovative use of the internet in general.
Ashley, Thanks for bringing
Ashley,
Thanks for bringing to my attention this interesting NYT's article. The debate fueled by these online schools is akin to the debate charter schools in general have generated. The concerns run the gamut from teacher certification and curriculum standards, to the redirection of public school resources and other funding issues.
I happen to be an advocate for school choice and support the establishment of charters schools (for the sake of full disclosure, I should mention that I worked as a teacher and administrator at the MATCH School in Boston), so long as these are held accountable to meet their benchmarks, and are not developed at the expense of improving traditional public schools. I can see that this is the main concern espoused by the critics of the online charters. They are griping about the loss (and shuffling) of resources that public schools would use to maintain premises, pay teachers and administrators, and support overall operations. Considering that an online school is sure to have a smaller overhead than a traditional school building, I can see their point when they mention "profiteering."
Now, my biggest concern is what they mention only in passing; the need for socialization and interaction as part of healthy child and youth development. Unlike you, I can't remember anything I studied in the third grade (mostly because I have you beat by over 10 years), but I do remember my classmates, teachers, and the nuns taking every opportunity to dispense discipline, good manners, and overall sense every chance they got. The most important lessons I learned growing up were about sharing, conflict resolution, and how to treat others.
I know home schooling has been a great tool for parents disapponted with traditional schools, and families living in remote rural areas, but there's always been an acknowledgement of the need for socialization. If this upsurge of online schooling continues, and traditional activities continue to get absorbed into cyberspace (hide and seek anyone?), I wonder how the men and women of the future will learn and develop the skills necessary to handle the day to day struggles of human interaction?
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