Rebuilding Public Education

Today on Oprah, discussed the crisis in our educational system. She partnered with Time magazine to explore the drop out nation. She quoted a statistic that a student in the United States drops out every 9 seconds. Of course that was followed up by the fact that some schools can have up to a 75% drop out rate while others have a mere 1% rate. The difference was graphically depicted as two schools at opposite ends of the spectrum were toured. As a country, we should be appalled. Most of us would be enraged if these conditions existed in prisons, let alone schools. As a homeschool community, perhaps we should work with parents in these school districts to empower them. I’m sure not all would be interested, but I’m sure that some would.

One of the kids who had dropped out at 16 felt that school had not seemed relevant to him and did not realize how important the education was until after he had quit. The guests on the show seemed to imply that we should change the age at which students can quit.. They felt that certainly a 16 year old could not make decisions for themselves. More government oversight by an institution that already is causing these children to run away in droves Of course, as a homeschool parent I thought that perhaps if the education was presented in a more “real” life way that students would see the relevance. If they felt their knowledge had application, they would not be so board. While painting the walls and improving the gymnasium will improve the environment, I don’t think it will reduce the dropout rate with any significance.

It amazes me that the cost of education continues to rise and yet the overall quality reduces. Have we just created a behemoth, intent on growing itself? Perhaps as we think of a solution, we need to think radically different. As one of the growing and successful segments of education, perhaps some of the homeschooling ideas could assist in the newly devised system. Perhaps most importantly the role of the family as an integral part of plan.