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The Kentucky Education Digest is a collection of ideas focused on five general themes:
We invite your input and feedback because we know that healthy debate is the mechanism that produces the ideas that ultimately work.
An old adage advises: “If you want something done right, then do it yourself.” An unconventional form of home schooling known as “unschooling” gives children the freedom to do just that.
“Unschooling” allows children to explore – with parental guidance – their own learning interests. The fact that the approach involves no formal curriculum, tests or strict guidelines attracts a great deal of criticism, especially from opponents of home schooling.
Allowing students to explore their interests creates a lifelong desire to learn, whereas most children view learning as a chore to be avoided. The growing success of “unschooling” makes the approach an increasingly more attractive option to parents. Use of the method increased by 29 percent between 1999 and 2003.
Of course, there’s a great deal of speculation about whether these children grasp enough of the right material. A recent Courier-Journal article interviewed a former “unschooled” student who registered a high enough score on the SAT for acceptance into several different universities, including Notre Dame.
Apparently, just because a student doesn’t have a teacher or administrator breathing down their neck doesn’t mean that learning will not occur.
Critics of home schooling, including the “unschooling” method, should consider that many of our founding fathers like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin read and studied many books without following a set curriculum or guidelines. Yet these luminaries were highly educated men who could write better than most of the current generation.
Just like today’s home-schooled students, they, too, were not considered “normal.” Instead, they were abnormal for the great success that they accomplished. Many of today’s home-schooled children, including those taking the “unschooling” path, also appear headed for greatness.
Sources:
“Interests guide learning in home-schooling system” by Chris Kenning, Courier-Journal, Jan. 30, 2006.
To find out more about “unschooling” visit: http://www.unschooling.com.
Each month, the Kentucky Alliance Digest features a look at school choice from a parent’s perspective. This month’s testimony is from Bowling Green residents Angelo and Nicole Scavo.
As parents and taxpayers, we believe in school choice.
Our son Angelo formerly attended a large public school but needed special attention because of a disability related to autism. However, the school assigned him to a teacher unable to deal with Angelo’s condition. In general, the school failed to meet our son’s educational and emotional needs.
We decided to make a much-needed change. Angelo now goes to a wonderful Christian school where he receives a top-notch education in an atmosphere of acceptance.
We want Angelo to receive a good education so badly that Nicole took a restaurant job with all of her wages going toward our son’s monthly tuition. But even her entire paycheck often fails to cover the entire cost of Angelo’s schooling.
Next year, his tuition will more than double. At this point, we don’t know where we will get the money for him to continue receiving a quality education that meets his unique needs. Angelo, his father, works long hours in a factory every day to support the family, but does not earn enough to put the food on the table and cover a steep tuition increase.
If it’s a struggle for my husband and I together to pay our son’s tuition, what chance do Kentucky’s single mothers working two jobs to put food on the table have to provide a better education for their children?
They want a better school for their children, too. But without legislation empowering them to pick the best school for their children – along with the financial means to support such decisions – many have no choice but to keep their kids in failing public schools.
Kentucky parents who choose not to enroll their children in the public-education system need the option of having either vouchers or tax credits toward a private education so they won’t have to struggle each month to pay tuition bills.
Please, I ask you as a fellow parent, take the time to sign the school-choice petition at www.kentuckyalliance.org, write to your representatives and voice your desire for a better education – and future – for our children. By doing so, you will gain for yourself the right to determine how YOUR money is spent on your children’s educational needs.
Parents interested in contributing their story can e-mail it to jwaters@bipps.org.
People on healthy diets usually pick out the heartiest foods when shopping at the grocery store. Similarly, parents want to select schools that best fit their children’s educational needs.
Some systems, including Colorado’s Poudre School District, offer inter-district choice, which allows parents to choose between schools in the same district.
Art Dillon, principal of Traut Core Knowledge School in the district, told a reporter that he “believes school choice creates a district that is focused on individual children.” He says “parents need to take the time to do homework and find out the best fit for their family and children.”
To take part in the increasingly popular program – more than 30 percent of Poudre’s students now participate – parents must simply submit applications indicating which school they want their children to attend.
Kentucky’s lawmakers should consider following Poudre’s lead and implementing statewide inter-district choice as a first step toward sufficient educational liberty in Kentucky.
Currently, parents from Pike County to Ballard County have no choice – without the approval of the local education bureaucracy – concerning where their children attend school. Is it asking too much to allow parents to choose which school their child attends in their own school district? Apparently, most education bureaucrats think so.
Parents, not zip codes, determine where Poudre’s children attend school. Kentucky’s kids deserve the same opportunity.
Sources:
“Friedman Report: School Choice Roundup” by George Clowes, Heartland Institute, Nov. 2003.
“Handpicking education” by Christiana Nelson, The Coloradoan, Jan. 30, 2006.
I recently watched ABC’s “Stupid in America” anchored by “20/20” co-host John Stossel.
As a home-schooling parent, I am astonished that network television would even air such a hard-hitting program about the nation’s public schools. However, I am not surprised that the test scores and statistics cited by Stossel show the academic performance of American public-school students trails that of many other countries in the international community.
Stossel’s eye-opening report indicates that between the ages of 10 and 15, a significant drop occurs in the performance of U.S. youngsters in comparison to the international community. Above-average students from New Jersey comprised the American contingency taking these international tests mentioned by Stossel. Yet, the group finished 25th out of 40 countries.
These dismal results leave little doubt that many parents in our country need alternatives. Parents in many European schools can choose – with the money to follow – where their children attend school. This results in competition for each student.
However, the American public-school system remains largely a government monopoly. Stossel repeatedly points out that when government monopolizes a system, it routinely fails its customers – American parents and their children.
He also exposes the inaccuracy of claims that America’s schools fall short because of insufficient funding. Many countries spend far less and get much better results than our nation’s public schools.
For example, schools in European countries like Belgium do more with less because of the competition for students. Principals of Belgium’s schools know that poor results mean their school will likely go out of business.
The more I watched Stossel’s program, the more convinced I became that we have made a sound decision in home schooling our children – one of the few school-choice options that Kentucky parents have. Until state lawmakers approve a school-choice policy, I predict more Kentucky families will make the decision to offer their children a brighter future through home schooling.
Florence resident Stephanie Graham, a home-schooling parent, wrote this article.
Sources:
“Stupid in America: How Lack of Choice Cheats Our Kids Out of a Good Education”
To remain current on the latest crackpot conspiracy theories – everything from Bigfoot to the Moth Man – tune in to Art Bell's late-night syndicated radio program. But if you want to find a conspiratorial veneer over the issue of school choice, look no further than the Web site of leading teachers unions.
Last month, John Stossel, co-host of ABC’s “20/20,” hosted a special program on the need for school choice in America. Teachers unions responded by stirring the conspiracy pot and accusing Stossel of trying to destroy public schools.
It turns out that truth remains the most effective weapon for combating the conspiracy theories promoted by teachers unions.
For example, Harvard researcher Caroline Hoxby found that school choice vastly improved Milwaukee’s city schools. The 32 schools in Milwaukee that received the most competition from school choice made an annual gain of six National Percentile Rank (NPR) points in fourth-grade math scores. Schools in the city that faced no competition averaged an annual gain of 3.5 points.
The primary purpose of conspiracy theories advanced by teachers’ union is to protect jobs – even those of incompetent teachers.
Evidence abounds that competition improves the performance of schools by rewarding teachers that perform well while forcing out inept instructors. Unfortunately, teachers unions will likely continue to dream up outlandish school-choice conspiracy theories in order to protect bad teachers – all at the cost of our children's quality of education.
Despite a lack of evidence, conspiracies abound all sorts of happenings in America, such as that rock-and-roll legend Elvis Presley is still alive.
Similarly, teachers unions have no evidence that competition will harm what really matters – our children’s education. It’s time for all such conspiracy theorists to leave the building.
Sources:
“Nine Lies About School Choice: Proving the Critics Wrong,” Center for Education Reform, Sept. 1, 2005.
For more info about teachers’ union tactics, read “The Worm in the Apple” by Peter Brimelow. HarperCollins, 2003.
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