The Virtual School, grades K-12, is catching on and is offering parents a option in the education of their children. Oregon has an excellent program in place and several states are also involved with the idea.
Children have lesson plans and lectures that are presented on the computer. Their actual school day can usually be completed in less time, excluding homework and the children can still engage in sports and social clubs after school. Thus they achieve the social interaction at school, but their school work is completed on a laptop at any location.
An obvious advantage is that the best teachers can be used to teach an infinite number of students and students don’t necessarily need to be held back by under performing and boring teachers that the seniority system of the Teachers’ Union maintain in position. Union Teachers can have their small classes, because after this system is improved, only parents that want to use the school as a free baby sitting service will want to send their kids to ‘physical’ school. The brick and mortar schools with their outrageous costs will be much smaller in the future and the demands and influence of the Teachers’ Union will become a part of our Socialist past.
In the future, parents who want the best possible education for college preparation will be able to pay for premier classwork to guarantee success in college or trade school. The advantages are limitless, but one of the most important aspects of the virtual school will be to neutralize the influence of the teacher unions on state and national politics.
Virtual Schools will be unstoppable once the sanctimonious cries from the unions are muffled. A quality public education can become available to more students throughout the country, a student can progress at their own rate and challenge themselves to greater achievements: no longer will students be condemned to an inferior education because of poor teachers and administrators. The educational costs and teacher pensions will become a nightmare of the past. In a few years the brick and mortar school will signify the substandard education of unmotivated parents and students.
Only highly motivated teachers will be needed, those who can inspire and actually teach, but why should we have any other type of teacher except to fill the union rolls.
A professional horseman for over 50 years, Skook continues to work with horses. Skook has finished an historical novel, Fifty Thousand Years, that traces a mitochondrial line of DNA from 50,000 years ago to the present. The story follows a line of courageous women, from the Ice Ages to the present, as they meet the challenges of survival with grit and creativity. These are not women who whimper of being victims, they meet the challenges of survival as women who use their abilities without excuses or remorse, these women are winners, they are our ancestors.
Fifty Thousand Years is available in paperback and e-book, it is getting great reviews. You can purchase a copy here; Visit me on Facebook.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dylantheauthor
This is actually a corner stone in my campaign for what I want to do here in Washington state.
In fact, I’ll be putting this post up on my campaign web pages.!
Getting back control of the school system is the most important thing that has to happen to cure this nation of it’s liberal disease.
Another excellent post Skookum.
It is important to note that the Teacher’s Union and the Socialists will have the first shot at these programs for more Marxist indoctrination, they will be fighting for control; however, the ultimate control will be up to us the consumer, we must demand programs that reflect our values. This program will evolve over time and I am sure that in the future we will have access to programs like Hillsdale College for K thru 12.
Being a history type person, I am thinking of the Gettysburg battlefield. Imagine seeing the actual battlefield with simulations instead of learning a few dry boring paragraphs. I have toured the battlefield on three different occasions and it is a moving experience. Capturing that on video for not only Gettysburg, but for all the subjects of school can make education an exciting experience that will leave kids anxious to learn instead of going through the motions.
Of course, if we sit back and refuse to become involved, we will have educators that are ‘carbon’ images of the Czars of Obama creating a continuum of Marxist Ideology, praising Mao and Stalin.
To defeat these enemies of the Constitution we must be committed and involved and ready to demand the correct syllabus for our school children, whether you have kids or not; because, the Marxists know they will win, if they can steal the minds of our children.
My wife and I are both big proponents of digital education. We are however also proponents of 100% competency testing. So much of the success of education rests on a student fully understanding a concept before moving on to more advanced concepts that build on the basics.
In the military we called this go – no go testing. You either knew the material or you didn’t. Not knowing could get someone killed. This methodology is well suited for the digital classroom. A dozen tests measuring the competency of the individual could be made available. The student takes the quiz… either knows the material 100% or doesn’t know it. If a student fails the test, they can review and take another of the multiple tests available for measuring that competency until they have passed with 100% results. Perhaps after a 4th attempt that student can be flagged for intervention by available teaching staff.
Students must feel that their work and ambition is recognized… how many students don’t give their all to their studies because they know… regardless of how fast they grasp and master a subject, they are still sentenced to 12 years of k-12 education. A digital environment allows a student to progress as fast at they can absorb the material. I know of people that could have been doing masters level work in math by the time they were in middle school… but under the conventional system… they were relegated to boring classrooms that catered to the lowest common denominator… killing their curiosity and ambition. Kinda the way Unions work!
In addition, a student could concentrate on areas that they found interest at a particular point in time during and follow that path for a period so long as they managed to cover basic subject matter by a proscribed time.
More to say ,… but alas my batteries are about dead…
Don, with you and your wife supporting this program it will be even better, those were excellent ideas; perhaps you should check Ciz’s web page and help get this ball rolling in Washington. Great to hear from you, I should have known you would be involved.
Let’s stop the corruption of our children’s minds.
Just wait till the fundamentalists realize that these programs teach actual science and not the Earth is 6000 years old version they support or that they teach that vaccines actually save lives. Then they will start railing against them.
I can hear Richard Land, Focus on the Family, and FreeRepublic.com ranting about it right now.
@Jenny
That’s why this is so important. It takes away the Southern-Baptist-Texas School Board’s influence on the books, and the Leftist influence pushing socialism, in one-fell-swoop.
Jenny,
Did you just admit to hearing voices in your head?
Patvann,
Perhaps you are looking at something I missed. From what I am aware of, the Texas School Board’s influence, Souther-Baptist or not, was a marked improvment in accuracy and balance.
What did you see that makes them an unwanted influence?
Ciz,
No, but I have heard Land, FotF and many posters on freerepublic rant against science, against antibiotics, against cancer treatments, and against any science that says the Earth is more than 6,000 years old. They are a scary bunch who would leave us at the mercy of our enemies if they had their way.
As for the texas school board, well they removed the fact that the universe is billions of years old because they didn’t agree with it. They also tried to gut the teaching of evolution neither action is an improvement in accuracy.
You even have groups like conservipedia who insist that the theory of relativity has to do with moral relativism and that GPS systems do not use relativistic effects in their day to day operation. The merger of religion and science they want frankly scares me to death.
Jenny, one of the most notable aspects of the virtual school is that it is highly adaptable. As long as the program coincides with state standards, parents should be free to choose the curriculum for their children or pay for private education of even higher standards.
Today, some parents elect to send their children to Christian Schools, at least, if there is one near their home: with virtual schools, they will be able to find a Christian program that suits their needs much easier on the internet.
The programs will ‘evolve’ and competition will come into play, a virtual free market of education can and will offer the best programs at reasonable prices. I think it is premature to say that a particular idea or ideology will dominate the virtual school; on the contrary, there will be an amazing variety of programs within a few years and being stuck in, say the Socialist type indoctrination of today’s public schools, will become a ticket towards mediocrity in the future.
The internet provides a plethora of ideas and opinions, education should and will provide a free thinking education, devoid of Socialist indoctrination, for the student of the future, by allowing parents a free market to choose the education parameters for their children rather than allowing uninspired teachers and administrators to direct their child’s education toward’s the Marxism of 19th Century Europe.
>>they removed the fact that the universe is billions of years old because they didn’t agree with it. They also tried to gut the teaching of evolution neither action is an improvement in accuracy.>>
Very interesting. Now…so what?
Obviously, if they intend to go into college and major in one of the physical sciences, they’re going to have a problem – either they will learn other concepts, or they’ll flunk out. As for evolution – it’s still called a “theory” for a reason – and personally, I have a problem with it myself. I have no problem with evolution within a species, but for me, speciation _is_ a problem. I just haven’t seen anything to _prove_ evolution is more than a theory. And what’s more, I’ve had some background in genetics. And statistics. Neither of which are particularly supportive of speciation.
However…if a person is _not_ going into one of the hard sciences, what difference does it make in their lives if they believe that the earth is 6000 years old or 6 billion years old? How does that affect _anything_ they do in their everyday lives? What difference does it make if we evolved from some single celled entity or if we were created by a superior being on a single day of the week? How does that affect _anything_ you do on a day to day basis? Either way, you might as well be spinning tales for the kids during school hours.
Frankly, I find the politically correct misinformation they were touting much more offensive and critical in how the country is run today and in the future.
Suek: it is important for the Socialist to promote conformity of thought, there are complications if people have differing ideas. Thus being politically correct is essential to maintaining a society that must maintain a collective thought process. Different or unique ideas will disturb the collective harmony, causing problems or in the worst scenario to doubt the wisdom of your teleprompter reader.
Donald Bly, I agree with you to a point. Yet I have to point out that I’m not all too keen to full out digital education processes as the platform as it is (along with gaming platforms) is easily prone to cheating and any “competency” tests can be corrupted by malicous groups who seek to be given achievements and awards that they didn’t fairly earn. It is important that any such tests be held within the physical domain of a human overseeing a pen and paper test to ensure the minimalization of cheating but I agree fully on the rest of your points.
And I would like to add one bit: A billion years may be mere seconds to the lifespan to a God, be it the Asguardians, Greek, or even the Judeo God. It is funny how Atheists try to use eons of time to try and justify the non-existance of something when time to a mortal is hardly a concern to an enternal being. Even Ba’al and Khorne have resurfaced in worship in today’s society and those are two Gods one do not tread lightly about. Failure to teach or refuseal to teach a certain culture’s mindset of something because it offends you only weakens your position of understanding the mindset of those you interact and, more so, your enemies and what is demanded from them due to their Creeds.
suek; hi, I just want to say, MY GOD, you’r smart. AND I notice that a long while ago,
I DONT know what your future will be, BUT it will shine. bye
Heh. Thank you, bees…
Most of my “future” has burned up in the past…so not a lot of shining to come!
I have to say though…I know a lot. But the most amazing thing is that I am constantly made aware that as much as I know, it’s just a drop in the bucket. It’s even more amazing…considering how much I know…how much I _don’t_ know!
Now…concerning the political correctness Skooks mentions…there have been two issues this week that combine with the muslim issue we’ve been discussing… Here are a couple of links – I have no doubt you’ll see the connection, even though they involve different subject matter:
http://wolfhowling.blogspot.com/2010/09/politicizing-science-at-uc-berkley.html (this is a slow loading site for some reason.)
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/09/queering_education.html
Mr Irons: hi, COULD you explain who are the ASGUARDIENS?. I might look ignorant
BuT I never heard of it. bye
Bees…
I’m just guessing, but I think he means a fictional nation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asgard_%28Stargate%29
By the way…concerning an earlier comment line…I don’t use Google. I object to their politics. I realize my not using them is worth diddeley squat, but I don’t. I use “Dogpile” for a search engine. Of course, Dogpile uses google and a few others as search engines, but you do what you can. http://www.dogpile.com/
@Mr Irons
I agree that proctored examinations are a must for a measure of a group of modules, however, for individual modules, that would comprise a course of study, I think that an honor system would be adequate.
In addition, one of the benefits of 100% competency at the module level, there are no grades. No self esteem issues. At the course level I believe that a pass/fail measure would be adequate but with perhaps higher standards than what are currently in place with conventional teaching methods. Perhaps 80-85% or better for a passing mark. This would greatly reduce the incentive to cheat at the module level.
I also think we do our children a great disservice trying to prepare them all for college. I would challenge most liberal arts graduates of today to pass the 1895 Kansas 8th grade examination. But i digress… Apprenticeship programs should be promoted and be available to any student that has fulfilled a minimum number of courses/modules in core areas of study by the time they are 16.
On the other hand… college level coursework should be available to the student regardless of age so long as they have exhibited the required competency to advance to such level. One hears of many anecdotal cases of home schooled students completing college degree programs before they leave their teens… Why… because they can, and this motivates people to become exceptions. Wouldn’t it be nice if our current exceptions became the norm.
Any student that fails to achieve a minimum level of course work by the time they are 18… they are done.. no diploma, no credentials, we’ll always need farm labor, ditch diggers and and janitors and a diploma isn’t going to do them any good anyway.
And i always thought that Asgard was a brand of iron underwear!
We homeschool and for the last year or so have started taking advantage of virtual schools offered by Florida. Sadly, the counties now want their piece of that pie and are demanding “THEY” run it. Other than that, it has been a great experience.
I found the following to be true.
1. The vast majority of students are homeschoolers and above the average student in real school.
2. The teachers fight to get this gig because it allows them freedom and the opportunity to interact with kids who actually give a hoot about learning.
3. The pace/feedback is excellent since the child is really learning at their own pace without having to be taught a lesson designed for the stupidest kid in the class to understand.
I support it. Which means some leftie dumbass is going to screw it up!
Archer, congratulations on your choice to home school. I did my part twenty years ago and my grown kids still say they remember how enriching he lessons were.
It is a given that the teacher’s and their unions will want to control the cyber school; otherwise they will become baby sitters for the uninspired, essentially baby sitters of the future at the brick and mortar schools.
Keep the faith, this situation will evolve and we must strive to keep our options open and to make a free market out of K-12. Why should you be harnessed with a substandard program from your county, when there is a program in Kentucky that is light years ahead and producing top flight students.
You are on the cutting edge of this situation and I wish you the best.
I for one was into teaching my elementary children Algebra and Geometry, until the Provincial Government of British Columbia told me I had to stop, because I was messing up ‘their’ program.
Evolution – A Theory! What is fact… at some point, the universe was created! Scientists believe it was done by the big bang. Creationists might only be wrong in the time that they proscribe to the process. A wink of the eye is as 10,000 years in the eye of God. hmmm…. how long does a wink take? Noah lived 900 years… how long did Noah’s father live? 1200 years? His father? 1800 years? Supposedly there was no death in the Garden of Eden… how long did Adam and Eve live in that garden before they were expelled? A billion years? These are questions that have no documented answers and never will.
As Suek points out…. what difference does it make in the day to day lives of the common man whether they believe in a 6,000 year history of the world or the theory of evolution… not one bit of difference. What harm is done by belief in either scenario?
Skookum… I also took on the job of teaching my daughter algebra, when her algebra instructor claimed she was not capable of moving on to intermediate algebra. What I found most interesting was the fact that he was an English teacher, teaching outside of his discipline. During the summer, I provided her with my college algebra books. Insisted that she do the work and would not accept any question of “how do I”… my response was always… show me in the book where this concept is explained. Initially she couldn’t because she would simply try to do the problem without reading the text. Over the course of the summer, the question “How do I” was asked less and less because she always knew what my response would be… and she learned, the answer was there… she simply had to look. The ability to read and understand is the greatest gift we can impart to our children.
DONALD BLY: hi, I must tell you something to show HOW right you are,
ON a smaller scale maybe but same truth; YEARS before, I decide to MAKE some laces pieces,
for my table, I bought a book and checking the patterns , I found very difficult pictures of those, but I loved it and I start to try it with the picture as a model, no way could be done,
HOW DO I…I pickt up my book and start to study the HOW TO explainations,noway I cant; I love that pattern, It’s difficult,for a beginner like me. I came back and study more and again, more, and not that long after having that problem even had it in my dreams,
one day I pickt up the tiny steel hook, and began to follow the outstanding pattern, to my delight, and continiue to do many more for years, now I jumped to some other creativity style even more challengings but it’s part of the fun to learn,and desire to learn.
thank’s for reminding me of my beginning with your system of HOW DO I..
@Donald Bly:
The problem with those who either attempt to affix a date certain for Gods creation of the universe, or for those who attempt to deny the possibility that God created the universe, is simply that they both rely on a shirt pocket size God.
I use to fall into the same trap until one day a wise person noted my mistake (as I lamented God couldn’t fix this or that) and they asked me, “Well, just how big is your God?”.
Think of the irony that someone might believe that God could create the universe, but could not create it with a historical record. Really? Why not. If god is not bound by space, then God would not be bound by time. Therefore: God could have decided to create the universe 3 seconds from now and worked backward through time to put everything in motion to arrive at the exact outcome God desired,,, 3 seconds from now. And as such it would be subject to revision at any moment God chooses.
Simply put, A god that could create even just our Sun and our planets, would not be constrained by space/time. Not being constrained by space time means God can do anything God desires simply by going back to yesterday and making the subtlest of changes.
Think on that when you contemplate how God can wash away your sins or lead you from temptation. Contemplate on how perhaps the prayer you think went unanswered may simply have been, unanswered for now, not for eternity.
But above all, contemplate on just how big your God is. Do you keep God in your shirt pocket bringing God out only when you think something is God worthy? Or is God so big that God is the place where you live and in him everything and anything is possible, unto all time, in either direction.
So concludes TSgt Ciz’s Sunday thought for the day.
May your day last forever.
TSgt Ciz: hi, YOU did it again, I love it,I did’nt cry. thank you again. bye
TSgt Ciz: I would like to mention also this: when I was 7year old,orphan in a convent, I remember that lonely evening I was talking to GOD mentaly so no one can hear, I said GOD I lost my father so I want you to become him, and I will ask you all I want and YOU’LL give it to me,
NOW I can tell you that I did ask some things, not all materials, but it came to me aboundantly,
BUT not at the time I ask,but in it’s own time,and I always said that’s funny,here it come again, thank’s GOD you are so good to me,and I love you. bye that’s true too.
@Bees…. I too spent some early years in an orphanage; but I shouldn’t dwell on that or I’ll go into a tirade on why foster care in lieu of orphanages is so totally wrong…
When I was 21 I was crushed by a car and ultimately spent 5 days in a coma and 9 days in intensive care. When the car first came down on me my heart was crushed, my head was crushed and my elbow shattered. I had a near death experience. I remember thinking; I should call for help. With a 69 Judge GTO laying across my chest, that was an impossibility. Yet… two neighbors seeing my plight jumped over the fence and came to my rescue. At first they tried to pull me out from under the car but to no avail, they then found a jack and began jacking up the car. By now a small crowd had appeared, someone went to get my wife. I watched all of this take place, and was able to describe the scene, who was there, what was said, immediately after awakening from my coma. I viewed the entire episode unfold from a vantage point equivalent to sitting on the edge of the roof of the house.
During this time, I was totally pain free and in fact was experiencing the most peaceful time of my life, both before and since. I was torn as to whether or not I even wanted to be saved. During this time I felt a very calming presence, and a brilliant light, hardly an adequate description, to which I was instinctively drawn. No words were spoken, yet I knew that there was something that was still left for me to do. As my body was being put into the ambulance and just before the doors closed, I left my perch and returned to my body at which point pain flooded over me.
To this day, I’m not certain what it is that I had left to accomplish on this earth but with a certainty I know that there is an afterlife and that it is beyond anything we can imagine while trapped in our corporeal selves. I have long ago been able to live my life without having to rely on faith… I know! To me, religious dogma lies within the realm of man’s prejudices and preconceptions – what I do know with certainty… God exists and we are like caterpillars awaiting the day of our metamorphosis.
DONALD BLY, WHAT a fantastic story, it got my tears out, and it remind me of
what I read in the bible time ago, JESUS answer the APOSTOL :some thing like this
YOU put a seed in the ground and what comes out, IT’s not a seed, but a plant which will bear flowers and fruits. THAT stayed with me,when a love one died. yes I beleive what you experience to happen. bye
@ Donald Bly,
Great to read of your NDE. The vocabulary seems inappropriate when attempting to describe such an event. I similarly had the life changing experience of stepping into the other side 13 years ago. The event of my Soul being unfettered by my body was so overwhelming, I couldn’t discuss it with anyone for a month afterwards.
After a year or so, I began to look for individuals who had lived through an NDE to better understand the event. I discovered that there were endless physical, psychological, psychical and spiritual similarities which followed all NDEs.
You also appear to have been given a choice of continuing on your journey or remaining. I was also given a choice, and have found only one other individual to have been provided such alternative. All others were sent back here.
IMHO our Soul’s task here is to experience the ego. It also provides learning for others with we interact, even temporarily. It is all about learning.
Your comment relating your NDE in this thread is very relevant and supportive of the energy which Skook is providing in this article, and its timeliness as millions of young minds head back to school. The vast majority are yearning to learn and appropriate for themselves the powerful ideas of the world around them which will aid them in launching the rest of their lives. It’s up to us to enhance that opportunity as best we can.
@ Skook,
The potential of the computer as a learning tool has a long way to go, and its power is still to be fully discovered.
I might suggest a short, but significant book that is a must read for anyone interested in the process of learning and thinking.
. . . MINDSTORMS: Children, Computers, And Powerful Ideas By Dr. Seymour Papert.
Papert, one of the brightest minds in a couple of generations, rattled the foundations of the traditional pedagogical paradigm and learning by rote which we all know and almost love, and which is practiced in every corner of our educational system. He torpedoed methodology which has not changed in half a millennium, and he has turned 180 degrees in the other direction by embracing discovery learning.
JR: Thanks for the link, it is on my reading list.
Thank you to my cyber friends for providing inspirational and uplifting commentary.
If those of us without children lend a hand and ideas to those with children, we can become a powerful voice for building a new educational system: the old one is nothing more than a Marxist proxy and isn’t worth salvaging in my opinion. This gives us a new beginning, we must work together. The old Marine phrase “Gung Ho” was brought back from China by the Horse Marines, it means working together. We must work together to avoid a collective thought process and a Party Line, we actually want freedom of choice in our educational system and we no longer need the petty dictators of teacher’s unions and the Socialist Indoctrination programs of our public school systems.
An example: Why should a high school student depend on the expertise of a business teacher to learn about Wall Street, when you can have recorded lectures by actual Commodities Brokers and Traders from the floor who are excellent speakers.
Why have a shop teacher teach students about electricity when you can have an electrical engineer take them beyond the normal realm. You’re damn right they wont be in the antiquated teacher’s union and they probably wont be closet Socialists either.
Compare the test results of students who are taught by professionals and those taught by professional teachers and I’ll wager that no one will want to send their kids to public school unless they view school as a baby sitting service provided by the state.
If people are worried about testing, tests can be administered under supervised conditions like SAT testing. To cheat on assignments and tests will be self-defeating to the motivated student.
Yes, I am passionate about cyber schools; I want to have a good educational system for American kids and I want to break the backs of the Socialists who are indoctrinating our children into Marxism.