Sunday, November 13, 2011

WSJ: Online schools spread

The Wall Street Journal reported this weekend on the spread of online schools in public education:

"In a radical rethinking of what it means to go to school, states and districts nationwide are launching online public schools that let students from kindergarten to 12th grade take some—or all—of their classes from their bedrooms, living rooms and kitchens. Other states and districts are bringing students into brick-and-mortar schools for instruction that is largely computer-based and self-directed.
Journal Community

In just the past few months, Virginia has authorized 13 new online schools. Florida began requiring all public-high-school students to take at least one class online, partly to prepare them for college cybercourses. Idaho soon will require two. In Georgia, a new app lets high-school students take full course loads on their iPhones and BlackBerrys. Thirty states now let students take all of their courses online...

It's all part of a burst of experimentation in public education, fueled in part by mounting budgetary pressures, by parental dissatisfaction with their kids' schools and by the failure of even top-performing students to keep up with their peers in other industrialized countries. In the nation's largest cities, half of all high-school students will never graduate.

Advocates say that online schooling can save states money, offer curricula customized to each student and give parents more choice in education.

A few states, however, have found that students enrolled full-time in virtual schools score significantly lower on standardized tests, and make less academic progress from year to year, than their peers. Critics worry that kids in online classes don't learn how to get along with others or participate in group discussions. Some advocates of full-time cyberschools say that the disappointing results are partly because some of the students had a rough time in traditional schools, and arrive testing below grade level in one or more subjects
...."
Article

22 comments:

KaptKangaroo said...

I'm waiting for law school online that allows me to practice in one state or another I might consider living. Yes, I know it is available in CA, but I don't, can't afford, California. Tried it, got out with more than I came with. Can't afford to buy back in. I just want a degree and pass the bar. I don't want to practice, just have a license. I would use it as a tool in thinking, nothing more. A license would be required b/c I think it would be cool. Kapt Kangaroo, Barrister. I await the onslaught of "Cold day in hell."

bill said...

I'm having a hard time accepting all the online stuff. I think we already have a whole generation of Americans who don't have much experience in face to face communication because of text messaging, Facebook and e-mail. The only time that some of these kids see anyone other than their juvenile delinquent friends is when they're at school. I'll probably be dead and gone before enough time passes to figure out if this is going to be a future problem, but sometimes the old fashioned ways are best. Bill Billingsley

Shadowfax said...

If I'm not mistaken, according to his own resume, the iconic and venerable Tom Head has never set foot in a real classroom in his lifetime educational experience. This tells me enough about the danger of 'virtual education' to know it's a real and present danger. Just imagine ten thousand more of him walking among us and taking over cyberspace.

Shadowfax said...

But, on the other hand, we have Hampie's editorial adviser and protege' who has rarely if ever been *outside* a classroom. So there we have it. The education process and our children are doomed whichever way we turn.

Anonymous said...

KK you and shadow and your buddy Merc should tag team one, between the three someone ought to pass.

Anonymous said...

5:09. Shadowfart is the dullest poster in history.

KaptKangaroo said...

Bill, good point. Face to face is lost today. The reality though is industry in the US is quickly going online. The unfortunate thing is that the "classical" approach to hand to hand business is completely lost on the newer generation that does not have the ability to understand or interact within established businesses.

I remember a lecture I attended about the "Knowledge Priests" and the future prediction of information being the commodity that businesses would trade. I never ever thought it would be to the point it is today. The predictions circa 1996 were way off. The reality is that information regardless of the medium is the true power/currency/et al. The kicker is, Knowledge via the internet is supremely more succinct at providing value when talking about the currency.

Online universities, under my original comment, are a valuable resource for someone like me who has limited resources to pay, physically attend a classroom, or engage in the rich university experience of dialogue. On the flip side, I don't need that at this point in my career, I've been there done that. My objective is to round out the knowledge I want to know.

Rebekah said...

Doing their whole curriculum online is basically home schooling. You get more out of school than just an education- especially at such an early age. I know people who are dead set on home schooling and that is their preference, their children, their lives. But do the children really learn everything from being home all the time? Do they receive the social interaction from home? Do they learn how to share, settle arguments themselves, make new friends, and so forth?
Kids won't even have to get up and get dressed. They won't learn responsibilties like they do at school. They won't learn about being tardy and the importance of time...and how to follow directions and to be in a structured environment.
Do online classes perhaps their senior year- and for maybe a class or two. Not anytime before. I understand the importance of the computer, but come on. I think this is taking it entirely too far.

Rebekah said...

Now, online college courses are another story. I suffered through classes after high school and HATED it...and would either never go, or sleep during. I finally gave up until I discovered online courses. Being extremely ADD, online was the only way to get me motivated. I also worked fulltime (while everyone was partying at college) so I couldn't go to class anyway. It was way expensive and I ended up with over $35,000 in student loans, but it was well worth it. I finished alot sooner and I actually learned alot more. Being able to move ahead and go at a faster speed really helped me. But, I did miss out on the whole college experience and that is a bummer. I did my share of partying, but it still doesn't compare to college stories people still love to talk about...
So I think there are pros and cons to online studying, but I still don't think it needs to be offered to children.

Rebekah said...

Now, online college courses are another story. I suffered through classes after high school and HATED it...and would either never go, or sleep during. I finally gave up until I discovered online courses. Being extremely ADD, online was the only way to get me motivated. I also worked fulltime (while everyone was partying at college) so I couldn't go to class anyway. It was way expensive and I ended up with over $35,000 in student loans, but it was well worth it. I finished alot sooner and I actually learned alot more. Being able to move ahead and go at a faster speed really helped me. But, I did miss out on the whole college experience and that is a bummer. I did my share of partying, but it still doesn't compare to college stories people still love to talk about...
So I think there are pros and cons to online studying, but I still don't think it needs to be offered to children.

Anonymous said...

When are all you old farts going to stop complaining about all the problems there are with the children you raised and society you created?

Anonymous said...

When are all you old farts going to stop complaining about all the problems there are with the children you raised and society you created?

Why are you here?

Shadowfax said...

At the risk of being redundant or dull or both, Hampie's editorial advisor who has never stepped foot OUT OF a classroom is McIlwain which I probably misspell.

Point being, there are kooks at both ends of the education spectrum ~ Those who are over-educated who've never been in a classroom and those who have zero real world experience who have never left one.

For 10:05; I agree. Some of us old farts raised goofy little helpless pissants like YOU.

Anonymous said...

10:05 I could fill pages bragging about the two kids my wife and I raised; the problem is with kids raised by losers........

Anonymous said...

Shadowfax, it's currently impossible be over educated and never have been in a classroom

Rebekah, I didn't like to get up in the morning and hated some of my classes as well, but keeping a schedule not of my making and doing something I didn't enjoy to further a long range goal helps one develop self-discipline. I also wanted my family to be proud of me and not disappoint or worry them. I learned that if I were bored, it was for ME to fix that. My level of boredom, happiness, sense of self isn't dependent on someone else. No one can determine my state of mind unless I let them.

Or as my Daddy would ask, " who told you life is fair and that everyone you'd come across would be admirable and cater to you?"

Online, isolated learning will , in my opinion, exacerbate the problem we already have...ME/ME/ME. Who's going to tell these kids when they're full of it and being obnoxious?

Unfortunately, this is once again all about money. We know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

Anonymous said...

Ah, I see, Shadow, you're problem is with professors. Your assumption that professors " never step outside the classroom" is wrong. More than a few professors ( and teachers) supplement their income in " the real world". Research is conducted " in the real world". Professors advise those " in the real world" .
There is a reason that one of the first acts of a dictator is to imprison or kill the intelligentsia and to burn books.

Shadowfax said...

Wow......what a rabbit trail there 7:40. Is Head a professor? I DID use McIlwain as an example of someone who seems to have never left the classroom, admittedly a minor exaggeration.

Point being, you can have someone over-educated (he thinks) like Head who is clueless as to classroom interraction and presentation and you can have a liberal brainwasher such as McIlwain who is hopelessly bogged down in his world of liberal academia, and both are poisoning the minds of all who interract with them, most notably the youth of our culture.

In this context, you can have cyber education or a physical campus. Both produce failure as evidenced in the two examples I've cited. Choose your poison.

Anonymous said...

I love to watch those anonymous hacks from the JFP post here. It must be so "liberating" to post anonymously and actually say what you think.

Shadowfax said...

No, it's NOT impossible to be 'over educated' and to never have been in a classroom. If you view Tom Head's resume, you'd know this. It's almost as if someone created him in a science lab and sprung him on society at age 20. He's an Obama clone in one regard, that being the fact that nobody from his childhood or early age even remembers him. He lived the sheltered life of a stay at home nerd. Now he terrorizes cyberspace from a bunker in Jacktown.

Anonymous said...

I think online high schools are a great idea, and I hope they are accepted in Mississippi. I do NOT think they should replace brick and mortar schools, but they are viable options for many kids. Not only kids who have a debilitating illness that precludes them attending regular school, but also those who just don't do well in school settings.

I will probably get bashed for this,but we are in the Madison County school district, and I'm sorry but it is not the most fabulous place to get an education despite what you might have been told. It is too freakin' big. My son has made it to the 10th grade and he is just lost in a sea of humanity at his school. There are some good teachers, no doubt, but for the most part they are just herding them all through like cattle. If one or two slip through the cracks, then so be it. I have a bright son who scores well on his achievement tests but is so bored and has high aspirations for his future, and I am considering letting him do online or home schooling.

Anonymous said...

Which was better...Bill Buckley or Rush Limbaugh discussing the conservative point of view on issues?


Yeah, anti-intellectualism ( thanks to Spiro who was such a great ethical role model) is really working for the GOP.

Everyone knows that it's frightening for children to be better educated than their parents. We also wouldn't want them to learn to think for themselves. They might form their own ideas and opinions.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, anti-intellectualism ( thanks to Spiro who was such a great ethical role model) is really working for the GOP.

Do these comments you are leaving here bring you pleasure?



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If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

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