Rethinking Education: Chapter 5

     I liked this quote at the beginning of the chapter, "Once developed, the institutional structures of schooling have remained fairly constant over the last 90 years. But the society surrounding the schools has experienced constant change"(pg. 66). I think that this quote summarizes what we have been reading over the last few weeks, society is changing and the schooling system is not meeting these changes. The schooling system seems to be very rigid and not very open to new technology or change in general. With a schooling system that is so rigid, it is easy to see how many people will and have already shifted to educating their children elsewhere. People can now be educated through home schooling, charter schools, workplace learning, distance education, adult education, learning centers, and educational television. With so many personalized and current ways of learning, it is easy to see why people would want to use these newer educational systems.

     In the last few years, I have seen quite an increase in the number of people choosing to home school right in my hometown. You know that home schooling is a growing method of educational instruction when the number of people choosing to home school increases by 29% in just 4 years. There has also been proof to show that home schooling is successfully improving student learning; home schooling students score significantly higher on standardized tests in every subject. I believe that these high scores can be correlated to the number of hours of individualized, one-to-one schooling that take place in the home. Home schooling is designed to be more of a student-centered approach, where the students are not shown exactly how to solve problems, but rather, asked to use their own reasoning skills to come up with their own conclusions; I think that this has a major impact on a student's learning. If a student attends a public school and is never allowed or encouraged to try things out for themselves, they will not succeed or even be internalizing much of their learning. When students, such as those students who are home schooled, are allowed to try things out and learn from their own experiences, they will internalize and recall information later. I think that the key to home schooling and why it is producing positive outcomes in test scores is that it is student-centered, rather than teacher-centered. As hard as it is for me to say, being a future teacher, I think that there are many benefits to home schooling children, such as individualization and avoiding some peer, alcohol, and drug pressures; I think that the public school system could, if anything, learn from what the home schooling system is doing. I think that if public education could become more student-centered and more "current" the public schools would see higher standardized test scores as well. Although there has been an increase in the number of people choosing to home school their children, I don't think that home schooling would ever completely take over the realm of education; there are far too many people who cannot home school because they must work to provide for their family.

       The other educational systems discussed in this chapter also seemed to be good ways to individualize education. I thought that education in the workplace was a good idea; companies can train their employees to have the knowledge necessary to be contributing fully to the company; I think that simulations provide an excellent, although not completely realistic, opportunity to prepare workers for what they will be facing in their field of work. The distance learning topic was also very interesting to me. I think that this is a great way for students to broaden their knowledge base, especially to things that interest them. I think that distance learning can also benefit smaller schools (like helping smaller schools compete with larger schools), by providing classes that otherwise would be unavailable to the students. The idea of a learning center was new to me. It sounds like a neat way to instruct, using technology, in a small one-room environment. I think that like home schooling, learning centers also stress individualized learning.

     As a future educator, I hope to encourage my students to reach for the stars. Like the home schooling environment, I hope to provide my students with a learning environment that is student-centered and that will foster as much learning as possible. I hope to encourage my students to reason, communicate, and prove their understandings. Most of all, I hope to meet the needs of all of my students so that each student will benefit.