Odile,

Thought I would let you know that I'm taking a graduate program in Education
via on-line learning from Walden University.  It's perfect for me because
I'm a single mom with four young children.  However, I have no idea why high
schools would use this method.  I am a bit familiar with the Abeka Home
School materials, and can see the benefits of  this type of education if a
parent is available and knowledgeable enough to supervise the instruction.
My own kids prefer going to school.  I just can't imagine them sitting at
the computer each day taking classes.  What about music, art, gym, and shop
classes?

Teresa Francis
----- Original Message -----
From: "Odile Sullivan-Tarazi" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 12:52 PM
Subject: The value of the classroom environment


> This is actually not a grammar question, not even a language
> question, but one having to do with education itself.
>
> I'm wondering whether any of you can point me to any information --
> discussion, studies -- on the value of the classroom experience over
> "distance learning," particularly for the high school student.
>
> It's my feeling that learning within a classroom, with other students
> participating in discussion, with a teacher who responds as needed to
> each individual and to the class as a whole, is a completely
> different enterprise from that of the individual attempting to learn
> a subject on his/her own, in front of a computer at home, through
> guided lessons and video lectures.
>
> I believe that this is the case for any of us -- that classroom
> interaction contributes to the richness of the experience, that
> education engages the whole person, not simply the intellect, and
> that even the intellect is driven by the excitement of discovery
> shared with others, discovery in part shaped by others -- but I think
> it is even more crucial for the younger student, for whom so much of
> this learning will be at the core of who he (or she) will turn out to
> be.
>
> I have perhaps an idealistic view, and I know that not every
> classroom functions at this level all the time.  But I do fear that
> the teenager who misses out on the classroom experience altogether
> misses out on a great deal.
>
> This is not what is often called a "purely academic" question (though
> I happen to like academic questions myself).  Anything you can point
> me to, any websites, any books, anything, would be helpful and might
> make a difference.
>
>
> Odile
>
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