[geeks] geeks Digest, Vol 86, Issue 11

[Brian Dunbar]

Two of my children are enrolled in a virtual school (cyber school):
one is a freshman, the other in 5th grade.

So far, so good.  The freshman hit a bump where he was failing
courses, and realized he had to actually work in high school: his
brains were no longer enough to get him by.  But this happened to two
of his older siblings in 'bricks and mortar' schools as well.  He's
back on track and getting his 4.0 GPA again.

We did talk to him about attending the local high school.  But the
course of study he wants -  engineering - is not available there.  So
it's to virtual school he goes.

The virtual school thing is not for everyone, I agree.  But I think
that if the material is challenging most of the students will rise to
the occasion.  Non-motivated kids will fail in high school as well -
but failings there are masked by the size of the school and the
general acceptance of 'failure as a norm'.

In Wisconsin the school supplies the computer.  Every three years a
'new' machine shows up in the late summer with the rest of that year's
material.  I was a wary about this at first - the money spent per
student seems like a great deal when it's in the form of dozens of
cases of material,  a PC, a printer, etc.  But our virtual school
spends less per student than the local school system.

I'm not an advocate virtual schools over traditional.  There is room for
both.

~brian

On Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 8:10 AM,  <wa2egp at att.net> wrote:
>> PA has a cyber-school anyone in the state can enroll in. Were iin PA
>> I'd seriously consider it
>>
>> Lionel
>
> I know there are colleges where you can get "degrees" online but
> I really question if this would work on a high school level. The
> maturity level and motivations are different for one thing.  Not
> to mention that everyone does not have a computer.  Yeah, I know
> that libraries have them but with dwindling budgets it'll be hard
> to keep up with the demand and the maintainance issues.  PA may
> have a cyber-school but they still have regular schools too.  The
> talk I hear is one without the other.  I'm skeptical.
>
> Bob
> _______________________________________________
> GEEKS:  http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/geeks
>



--
Brian Dunbar
Geidus

"Display some adaptability"