One-Size School Does Not Fit All.

I saw this article on different approaches to education this morning on social media. What struck me in particular was the number of hostile, negative, uninformed comments. I’d like to add some perspective as a long-time advocate for all forms of educational alternatives in addition to public education.

The points the commenters make are not without merit —

People, parents or not, do need to be involved in activities that shape the quality of their local schools. (This includes addressing poverty.)

Parents — and society in general — need to take responsibility for the fact that how children are viewed, valued, and raised directly affects the outcome of their education.

There have been scandals in charter schools, private schools, homeschools, and distance learning. This calls for accountability, not wholesale denouncement of these methods of learning.

If I were to respond (which I’m not going to — these commenters don’t strike me as the listening type), I would say this —

The modern style of public education in a brick-and-mortar building will always be with us (the Lord and the judicial system willing). It must be. It is necessary in a free society, and it is also necessary because of the slow death of so many of our other societal institutions.

But the modern paradigm was not carved in stone by the finger of God. It was constructed. In some places and times, it has worked more admirably than in others. For some children, it works better than for others.

The effects -- physical and psychological -- of living in the modern era — are manifesting themselves in children, as are the changing economic realities of our nation and our world. This means that education must be adaptable to each child and each place and each time.

And that means that alternatives must be not only available but accessible.

In my experience — as a parent whose children (including one with special needs) were variously taught via public school, private school, distance learning, homeschooling, and a homeschool - public school hybrid — the people who have the ugliest things to say about alternative forms of education are the least-informed. Maybe it needs to be called what it is: educational bigotry.

This is the 21st century. We need to expand our vision of education to meet the needs of our children and our world.

#alternativeeducation #publicschool #privateschool #parochialschool #homeschool #specialneeds