Our school system today is on the verge of collapsedue to insufficient funding and a host of other problems. Many school districts are considering a shorter work week (4 days) in an effort to balance the budget. Also under consideration are closing certain schools, increasing the classroom size and paring down the teaching pool. The problems are aggravated by a declining economy, loss of employment and a massive federal debt. Only bold and decisive actions can save us from further decline.
The solution is staring us in the face if only we had the guts to try. I referto our new technology in electronics, which has computerized the world. It has been so effective that the older methods of communication, such as newspapers and magazines, are being bypassed. Many are losing money and face bankruptcy. The same fate awaits our school system unless we adapt new methods of education in our schools.
Why not put computers in the hands of every school child and adopt a standard curriculum composed by professionals and let the kids stay at home or walk to a portable building placed in every neighborhood where they could be monitored by computer-wise teachers? Most are already proffiient in computers and those who are not coult take a crash course to catch up. Think of the savings in time and money if such a system was adopted. We could eliminate the burdensome cost of buses, transportation and burocratic admiiistration. It would not be necessary to build more schools nor buy the large tracts of land needed . The staggering cost we engender today could be cut in half and the tax rate would go down.
Most of the opposition to this idea may come from the teachers' union, who fear the loss of jobs. but this could be countered by raising the salaries of all teachers via the savings......a move that should encourage the support of just about everyone. Certainly we all realize that our teachers today are underpaid. Some parent may oppose the idea because the school system provides a "baby sitting " service while they work. That should not be a concern because the same oversight by teachers would remain in effect during the school hours. In fact, the program would bring the teachers and parents much closer because of the neighborhood allignment.
We can wait for the federal government to bail out the school system but I doubt that is going to happen unless we continue to borrow money and pile up a debt for the school kids to pay in later years. So, fiven our choices, why not try something new? Why not now?
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while i think the basic idea hs merit, the problem with that model is that it doesn't account for different learning styles. not all children/people acquire and process information in the same way. the most effective teaching methods are "blended learning" approaches that marry the visual, tactile, and auditory methods. computer-based, self-guided learning, which is great for some things and for some people, isn't enough.
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