4 ms·

Khan's Academy, Coursera, etc. I even donate to one of them as I think it's the future of learning, free from government intervention that seems to cause so muc

by zo1 12y ago

Khan's Academy, Coursera, etc. I even donate to one of them as I think it's the future of learning, free from government intervention that seems to cause so much malaise these days. But that's a long, other discussion, before anyone jumps on it. And to tell you the truth, I've often flirted with a similar idea to the one you mentioned at the end. That, along with plain home-schooling. So it doesn't necessarily have to be a "startup" that disrupts the current teaching ecosystem. It can simply be a bunch of parents buckling-down and doing what they think is best for their children. Hopefully they don't make home-schooling illegal, as I've noticed it occurring in a few places. That would make it impossibly to change the status-quo without breaking the law.

zaroth 12y ago
From Wikipedia anyway, "Since the late 1980s, the focus on the legality of homeschooling in general is no longer in serious debate but legal questions have shifted to whether homeschooling communities can access state school funds, facilities, and resources." I think it's a very exciting model. A small private co-op of like-minded parents with 10-15 like-aged children, hiring a single truly excellent teacher, and paying them about $100k per year, while supplementing with access to public school resources in the local town to which they are entitled for extra-curricular and filler classes. The "classroom" would float between public areas like libraries, parks, museums, and local areas of interest, and rooms made available in the parents' residences. I think the model is particularly attractive K-8. I guess the only problem is the kids would be so far ahead by 9th grade they would have to go straight to college rather than high school. :-/
- ars 12y ago
  > the legality of homeschooling in general is no longer in serious debate In the US. In some (many? most?) European countries homeschooling is illegal. They believe that anyone who wants to homeschool is an abusive parent who wants to keep/hide their child from the public, or wants to teach them strange things. I have argued with some people from countries like this was absolutely astonished at how they defended this outrage. They absolutely refused to believe that parents might choose this because (if the parents are able to do it) academically it's clearly better.
  - mapt 12y ago
    In the US, few do. The standard homeschooling situation is exactly what they fear: Religious fundamentalists who want to shelter their children from opposing views. People with an excess of intelligence/time/resources who choose to homeschool their children because they're dissatisfied with the rigor of their academic program are very much the exception to the rule. Read up on the experiences of such people when they try to locate a homeschooling group without religious instruction.
    - ars 12y ago
      No, that's the [typical] European view of homeschooling. It is not however the reality, despite how much Europe wants to believe it.
      - mapt 12y ago
        It is the statistical reality for most American homeschooled kids, according to the secular homeschooling parents who find themselves a minority in the homeschooling community.
  - rjaco31 12y ago
    Uh? Do you have any example of European countries which ban homeschooling? AFAIK it's legal everywhere.
    - ars 12y ago
      Look for yourself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeschooling_international_status_and_statistics#Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeschooling_international_st... > AFAIK it's legal everywhere. Actually it's illegal (in Europe) more often than it's legal.
      - ptaipale 12y ago
        Umm, looking at that Wikipedia link, it's legal in about 17 and illegal in about 7 European countries, so I'd say it's more often legal than illegal (though the definition of legal/illegal is often not so clear-cut).

by zo1 12y ago

zaroth 12y ago

From Wikipedia anyway, "Since the late 1980s, the focus on the legality of homeschooling in general is no longer in serious debate but legal questions have shifted to whether homeschooling communities can access state school funds, facilities, and resources." I think it's a very exciting model. A small private co-op of like-minded parents with 10-15 like-aged children, hiring a single truly excellent teacher, and paying them about $100k per year, while supplementing with access to public school resources in the local town to which they are entitled for extra-curricular and filler classes. The "classroom" would float between public areas like libraries, parks, museums, and local areas of interest, and rooms made available in the parents' residences. I think the model is particularly attractive K-8. I guess the only problem is the kids would be so far ahead by 9th grade they would have to go straight to college rather than high school. :-/

ars 12y ago
> the legality of homeschooling in general is no longer in serious debate In the US. In some (many? most?) European countries homeschooling is illegal. They believe that anyone who wants to homeschool is an abusive parent who wants to keep/hide their child from the public, or wants to teach them strange things. I have argued with some people from countries like this was absolutely astonished at how they defended this outrage. They absolutely refused to believe that parents might choose this because (if the parents are able to do it) academically it's clearly better.
- mapt 12y ago
  In the US, few do. The standard homeschooling situation is exactly what they fear: Religious fundamentalists who want to shelter their children from opposing views. People with an excess of intelligence/time/resources who choose to homeschool their children because they're dissatisfied with the rigor of their academic program are very much the exception to the rule. Read up on the experiences of such people when they try to locate a homeschooling group without religious instruction.
  - ars 12y ago
    No, that's the [typical] European view of homeschooling. It is not however the reality, despite how much Europe wants to believe it.
    - mapt 12y ago
      It is the statistical reality for most American homeschooled kids, according to the secular homeschooling parents who find themselves a minority in the homeschooling community.
- rjaco31 12y ago
  Uh? Do you have any example of European countries which ban homeschooling? AFAIK it's legal everywhere.
  - ars 12y ago
    Look for yourself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeschooling_international_status_and_statistics#Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeschooling_international_st... > AFAIK it's legal everywhere. Actually it's illegal (in Europe) more often than it's legal.
    - ptaipale 12y ago
      Umm, looking at that Wikipedia link, it's legal in about 17 and illegal in about 7 European countries, so I'd say it's more often legal than illegal (though the definition of legal/illegal is often not so clear-cut).