WINNEMUCCA - Remember when "back to school" meant sparkling shoes, a dashing outfit, a package of bright pencils and crayons, notebooks and paper. It seems like a day ago that I stood proudly by our lilac bush, smiling as Dad snapped a photo and I prepared for the first grade with Mrs. Fisher, a darling if antiquated (probably pushing 50), bespectacled delight.
Arising by 7 a.m. was wonderful as I anticipated learning to read and write, attaining the glories of education like my awe-inspiring sisters. Going to bed before dark held mysterious revelations knowing that rest delivered resilience and brilliance for me. I have maintained this regimen, although 7 a.m. transformed into 5 a.m. and night before sleep has grown longer. I greet every day with a sense of thrill at what might be. It shocked me when I read about the bribery required to drag some children from bed and into school "on time" (15 minutes late being the new definition of early).
No mention was made of knowledge, learning, wonderment, and thinking. Instead laptops, iPads, new cars, and jewelry led students to the sacred bricks walls. How can students be due great riches rather than being due to attend class? Where have we lost drive, ambition, and determination and replaced them with kickbacks? While politicians incite riots over entitlements, what has become of the reward of success based on effort and hard work? I am frightened. It's time to change this devastating tide.
One way is certainly not online school. Yes, for some students this works. These students are driven and motivated. They have designed a road to the future and illuminated it with goals and dreams. Instead of four years in high school, they have chosen three so that they can move on with brain enhancement. Sometimes these formidable, self-directed students have accepted extreme responsibilities such as working full time because Mom cannot (not working to buy cars and trucks). At other times these students realize that by attaining additional credits from Great Basin College at a reduced rate, they can complete higher education sooner and move on to excellent, exhilarating professions or graduate school.
Few successful online students are late risers, unmotivated learners, video game addicts, or disenfranchised individuals. While online answers credit remediation, it does not respond to lazy students whose knowledge base is wracked with holes due to absence, missed assignments, and disregard for projects and examinations. No high school senior on the state writing exam bemoaned having to go to school; rather they regretted their lack of attention to teachers and assignments while there.
Online is handy: I can stay in my pajamas. Online is cheap: I do not even have to get dressed. Online is individual: I do not have to meet and greet or get along with other students and adults. Online delivers scores: I only have to tip-tap and complete multiple choice tests. Forget projects and group assignments; never mind written assessments of critical thinking and problem solving. Never again will I face classmates and educators as we engaged in intellectual dialog and debate. I can have a degree with Mom's help, Dad's supervision, and exiled hours (or minutes) on the computer.
I can sleep in, procrastinate, and learn to learn in isolation. Sure I can chat with the "prof" and consult with online peers, but how do these prepare me for interaction and responsibility on the job or organize my brain and time management needs for the conscientious exertion of self. Oh, well. Advanced degrees can be earned online too. I'd love a surgeon who practiced with a computer mouse or a reading teacher who read an online lesson about reading and then experimented on me. Or an 18-wheeler driver who used a simulator in an online class then took to the road.
Some have questioned me about charter schools. These operate under laws of Nevada as far as education and learning are concerned, but the ones I have visited also utilize high expectations such as dress code, excellent behavior, appropriate language, and assignment deadlines. Yes, these exist in public schools, but sometimes parents intervene saying, "But, not for my Baby" whereas a charter school can insert, "Yes, for your Baby or find another school." Hmmm, shouldn't that happen in all schools?
School offers far more than just an education. To develop citizenry who care about one another, who cooperate, who operate as individuals but who collaborate as a team, stepping out of the home and into the classroom is essential.
[[In-content Ad]]
