I just finished reading The School Revolution: A New Answer
for Our Broken Education System by Ron Paul. His answer is really quite simple,
just abandon it. That's right, don't use public education, homeschool your
children instead. It wasn't exactly the answer I was expecting, but he makes a
good case here. If you wish to educate your children or grandchildren in an
environment free from bullying and in one that respects your own personal
values, there's no place better than home.
Obviously, there are some problems with the homeschooling
approach and he addresses most of them fairly well. He mentions shop class
specifically and the fine arts as requiring more than the average homeschooling
parent would be able to work with. (I did like the fact that because he's an
older gentleman, it was shop class, not Tech Ed or STEM.) One problem that he
didn't address in depth was the single parent - kind of hard to work a job and
be a stay-at-home educator for your children.
As a retired public school teacher, I'm not so sure I agree
with everything in the book, but since my politics lean toward the Libertarian
direction, much of what he says about public education today I'm in complete
agreement with, particularly the one size fits all approach. One size may fit
all, but none well. With the new technologies and the abundance of curricula
available today, it really does make sense to personalize a student's education.
Mr. Paul has his own homeschooling curriculum available.
Normally when I see something like that I just figure here comes the sales
pitch and walk away. However, he gives away the K thru 5 years - can't get rich
if you're giving it away - and he shows you how a well motivated student just
might be able to earn a Bachelor's degree at the same time he's finishing his
high school work.
It's a short book, but an interesting one. I don't know if
I'm ready to throw in the towel on public education just yet, but there does
need to be some major fixing.
More info on the Ron Paul curriculum can be found here:
http://www.ronpaulcurriculum.com/
2 comments:
Did he have any suggestions on how homeschooling would work with uneducated parents? It seems like no one could be more educated than their parents in this model.
Actually he seemed to be focusing on the top 20% of students. These typically are the ones held back by the goofballs and the students of lesser abilities. The home schooled students would then be free to progress at their own pace and to develop into the leaders of tomorrow. More of a realistic rather than a democratic approach.
He did mention the amount of parental involvement this would require, including the parents working through the curriculum along with the student if need be.
His Libertarian point of view is much different than what we've got going on now. Pretty much the opposite of No Child Left Behind.
Even though you're no longer in the classroom, I'm sure you'd profit from reading the book. It's only 200 pages - small pages at that. I got it from the local library.
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