Having just spent six months researching and developing courses for a virtual high school, I find the distance learning paradigm a fascinating one. But I am not alone in my impressions: according to the Department of Education, in 1999 the number of homeschoolers in the United States alone was 850,000. By 2005, that number had reached to 1.1 million if you can believe that.
And the virtual high school is not an anomaly any longer in countries other than the U.S. According to Karl M. Bunday, of Learn in Freedom! 20,000 families in Australia homeschool their children; New Zealand home educates approximately 7,000 (as of 1996 reports); about 1% of Canadian school-aged children are educated in the home; and alternative education is becoming legalized and/or growing in popularity in such places as Japan, Taiwan, and Norway.
What accounts for such increasing numbers? The benefits, clearly, outweigh the liabilities. Depending upon location, religion, political/educational philosophies, and personal preferences, the reasons, then, for opting for a virtual high school, are many:
LOWER COSTS
According to the Department of Education, the median cost for educating one student at home is $450.
REINFORCED INDEPENDENCE
Independence from standardized, state-regulated public schooling is a major factor for many families, as is the independence of religious practice (emphasized in the distance learning courses and programs—whereas not “allowed in public schools), and the freedom of the learners—who can be independent thinkers studying at their own pace and level.
VERSATILITY and VARIETY
Online schooling opens the student’s schedule to taking classes offered [virtually] 24/7. That is, once enrolled, the learner can access the lessons, do the studying and research, and take the exams at whatever hour is convenient for him, her, and the family.
SPECIAL CLASSES
Whereas the brick-and-mortar school may not have the funds, humanpower, or skill sets necessary to implement special disadvantaged learner programs or programs for excelled students, the virtual high school typically caters to a wider range of learners and abilities: AP courses are increasing in numbers, as are online classes for differential learners.
The major concern of educators and parents is that the virtual high school be as qualified as the state and provincial. In fact, many parents who decide to opt for home-schooling do so under the premise that the public schools are not providing optimum education. The other side of the debate about homeschooling includes the argument that home-educated students will not get the mandatory, requisite education they deserve.
But the stats of 1996, provided by the US Dept. of Education show that the differences in success rates, surveyed nationally, are nearly non-existent—with average battery scores as follows:
States with High government regulation of home schools - homeschool battery score - 86
States with Moderate government regulation of home schools - homeschool battery score - 85
States with Low government regulation of home schools - homeschool battery score – 86
The debate will surely continue; the jockeying for power will go on; the opinions of what constitutes a quality education will prevail. The decision, then, is up to the individual and to the individual family.
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