Is Going To School Really the Best Option For Our Children Nowadays?
Posted: Tuesday, June 15, 2010
by Carolyn Tytler
No one knows the future, but it's a safe bet that whatever is ahead, children will at least need to know basic mathematics and literacy skills. There are several ways of learning these and only parents can decide which option is best for their youngsters.
The first group of children to consider are the bright lights, the prodigies, who will learn wherever they are. Their curiosity will guide them to learn to read and to do basic and perhaps advanced arithmetic. They will avail themselves of available community resources: the library, the Internet and experts in their field of interest. They will be ahead of their peers in most subject areas even if they never darken the doors of a school.
The third group are the children in public schools. Some will be above average students, the majority average, and some below. All of these will proceed to Grade Eight. The below average, whether because of a learning disability, a developmental delay, or merely because their interests and aptitudes do not lie in the academic area, will be promoted on age, perhaps several times during their elementary school career.
So, by one path or another, all the children at approximately thirteen years of age will be anticipating high school. Everyone should attain this level no matter what future course they choose. They will have basic mathematics and literacy skills, or at least will have attained the maximum level of competence of which they are capable at this time.
What next?
The bright lights may already be several years ahead of their peers and working toward an early university entrance
The above average and the average should proceed to high school. Ideally, there will be specialized programs geared to each teenager's interests and abilities: a Mathematics and Science program, an Arts program, and a technical program. For four years, each student will study to improve his or her knowledge and skills in their chosen area.
After high school, most students will enroll in college to hone their particular skills even further. At any time during their college career, if they are offered satisfactory employment with a living wage and chance for advancement, they should be allowed to leave and start to work immediately. It is of questionable value to delay their entrance into the work force only to obtain a piece of paper, the diploma. Perhaps, after they had completed a year successfully in their place of employment, they could be awarded an "Equivalency Diploma", or some such award.
What about those students who, for one reason or another, did not master all the skills in elementary school?
In all probability, they hate school. They do not want to go to high school and if they are forced to, they will experience more failures, and cause disruptions in class. For these youngsters, apprenticeship programs should be available. Whether they want to work on a farm, in forestry, construction, in sanitation or health services, on-the-job training should be available.
Government funding should be granted to both the trainer and the trainee, until the student gains a level of proficiency in which he or she was able to work without supervision. This specialized training would probably be no more costly than keeping the teen in a regular classroom.
To sum up, all children should be in some type of basic educational program until age thirteen. Most children should enroll in high school to acquire a higher level of competency for the career path they have chosen. Most high school graduates will enroll in college until they get a suitable job offer. Prodigies and gifted students belong in university, advancing as far as they are able in accordance with their abilities and interests.
Those students who are not academically inclined should be guided into an apprenticeship program at thirteen years of age. Why punish them by forcing them to remain in an environment where they are unable to achieve success? Why punish the teachers by making them struggle with young people who hate school and want move on?
After Grade Eight, or thirteen years of age, school is not the best option for everyone. An education, after all, is only meant to prepare a child to earn a living in the work force. As soon as he has reached his upper level of competence and is able to achieve this goal, why hold him back? Allow him to get out there, start to work, and get on with his life.
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