According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the United States in 2014 ranked number four in elementary and secondary spending per student among the 35 countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Americans spent $12,300 per student while the average spent by all OECD nations was $9,600.
Despite this difference, American students in general continue to turn in mediocre academic performances. In 2015, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tested 15 year olds in 71 countries, including those of the OECD, in reading, math, and science. American students ranked 24 in reading, 38 in math, and 25 in science. In the fall of 2018, many New York City students failed the school system’s writing test (https://nypost.com/2018/10/06/many-nyc-students-are-bombing-the-writing-portion-of-state-exam/). In this same season, ACT scores, used by colleges to test students for admission and for their ability to work at the university level, took another downward slide.
Despite this difference, American students in general continue to turn in mediocre academic performances. In 2015, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tested 15 year olds in 71 countries, including those of the OECD, in reading, math, and science. American students ranked 24 in reading, 38 in math, and 25 in science. In the fall of 2018, many New York City students failed the school system’s writing test (https://nypost.com/2018/10/06/many-nyc-students-are-bombing-the-writing-portion-of-state-exam/). In this same season, ACT scores, used by colleges to test students for admission and for their ability to work at the university level, took another downward slide.
Colleges and universities admit many of these unprepared students to their programs, then place them in remedial courses to ready them for the academic rigors of real college courses. Even then, many students fail to make the cut. The Chicago Tribune found that large numbers of first-year students, including those in community colleges, fail to maintain a 3.0 average. In West Virginia, approximately 20% of new college students drop out by the end of the first year. (https://www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/are-high-school-graduates-ready-for-college-studies-are-dismal). These statistics are particularly gloomy in our age of grade inflation.
Various individuals and groups have long sought to improve our schools. Some have called for the removal of the federal government from education, others for a reduction of the bureaucracy at state and local levels, still others for school choice and the option for vocational training in high school. These and a dozen other proposals are aimed at changing the system at large.
But we should keep in mind that we as individuals also have the power to institute change.
For twenty years, I offered seminars in Latin, history, literature, and composition to home-educated students in Asheville, North Carolina. My students attended these seminars once a week for two hours, then returned home with another four to six hours worth of reading and writing. Many of these young people continued their education after high school, and as far as I know, none of them failed academically. To the contrary, many excelled in their studies.
So how is it that these seminars, which included Advanced Placement courses for juniors and seniors, could prepare students for college when more formal schooling failed? Why did students who attended class only two hours per week succeed when so many of those enrolled in more formal classrooms struggle or fail?
First and foremost, the parents of my students regarded themselves as the primary educators of their children. That is, they took responsibility for their children’s schooling. They might enroll them in my seminars, or in those of the gentleman who taught mathematics, or in any of half-a-dozen local homeschooling co-ops, but the point is this: they had the freedom to choose the means by which their children were educated. They had a choice of curricula from a hundred homeschooling companies, they monitored their students’ progress, and they sought out help when necessary.
All parents are the primary educators of their children, meaning that they, and not a school, are responsible for seeing that their children become educated.
Meanwhile, the students in my seminars learned to take responsibility for their learning, an invaluable tool for success at the university level. Smart, motivated students who enter an institution of higher learning understand that they have to perform, that they must do the work. Along with learning American history or Latin III, my students came to understand that they had the power to achieve their goals through hard work and discipline.
Though these students used a variety of curricula ranging from fully packaged programs of books, tests, and lesson plans to a cafeteria style program created by their parents, the emphasis in all these approaches was always on the basics: reading, writing, and mathematics. These homeschooling parents and most of the companies selling them books and lesson plans recognized that students who can read well and write well, and who can do advanced math, are equipped to tackle any academic subject from history to chemistry. The basics are the foundation on which all other subjects rest, a reality often ignored in many of our schools.
Finally, we need to avoid coddling students. In my seminars I set the bar high, and most students cleared that bar. An example: At the end of the year, I required my middle school composition students to write a 1500 word essay on the topic “Where Will I be in fifteen years and what did it cost me to get there.” We spent several weeks on this project, during which I would rigorously mark their papers for content, grammar, and organization. In the end, after much writing and editing, they produced papers that did them proud.
We create good, strong adults by challenging our young people, both in and out of the classroom. We all know this. And as they rise to meet these challenges, these same young people are equipping themselves not only for college, but also for life.
Various individuals and groups have long sought to improve our schools. Some have called for the removal of the federal government from education, others for a reduction of the bureaucracy at state and local levels, still others for school choice and the option for vocational training in high school. These and a dozen other proposals are aimed at changing the system at large.
But we should keep in mind that we as individuals also have the power to institute change.
For twenty years, I offered seminars in Latin, history, literature, and composition to home-educated students in Asheville, North Carolina. My students attended these seminars once a week for two hours, then returned home with another four to six hours worth of reading and writing. Many of these young people continued their education after high school, and as far as I know, none of them failed academically. To the contrary, many excelled in their studies.
So how is it that these seminars, which included Advanced Placement courses for juniors and seniors, could prepare students for college when more formal schooling failed? Why did students who attended class only two hours per week succeed when so many of those enrolled in more formal classrooms struggle or fail?
First and foremost, the parents of my students regarded themselves as the primary educators of their children. That is, they took responsibility for their children’s schooling. They might enroll them in my seminars, or in those of the gentleman who taught mathematics, or in any of half-a-dozen local homeschooling co-ops, but the point is this: they had the freedom to choose the means by which their children were educated. They had a choice of curricula from a hundred homeschooling companies, they monitored their students’ progress, and they sought out help when necessary.
All parents are the primary educators of their children, meaning that they, and not a school, are responsible for seeing that their children become educated.
Meanwhile, the students in my seminars learned to take responsibility for their learning, an invaluable tool for success at the university level. Smart, motivated students who enter an institution of higher learning understand that they have to perform, that they must do the work. Along with learning American history or Latin III, my students came to understand that they had the power to achieve their goals through hard work and discipline.
Though these students used a variety of curricula ranging from fully packaged programs of books, tests, and lesson plans to a cafeteria style program created by their parents, the emphasis in all these approaches was always on the basics: reading, writing, and mathematics. These homeschooling parents and most of the companies selling them books and lesson plans recognized that students who can read well and write well, and who can do advanced math, are equipped to tackle any academic subject from history to chemistry. The basics are the foundation on which all other subjects rest, a reality often ignored in many of our schools.
Finally, we need to avoid coddling students. In my seminars I set the bar high, and most students cleared that bar. An example: At the end of the year, I required my middle school composition students to write a 1500 word essay on the topic “Where Will I be in fifteen years and what did it cost me to get there.” We spent several weeks on this project, during which I would rigorously mark their papers for content, grammar, and organization. In the end, after much writing and editing, they produced papers that did them proud.
We create good, strong adults by challenging our young people, both in and out of the classroom. We all know this. And as they rise to meet these challenges, these same young people are equipping themselves not only for college, but also for life.
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