Persuasive Essay On Alternative Schools

Journal One in The Alternative by Galen Leonhardy, tells the story of a teacher who helps open an alternative school in Kozol Creek, Idaho, and the struggles he faces in attempting to implement a collaborative education process. The author writes of teachers who let students run free through the halls or simply ignored kids because they did not know how to handle them. He also writes of teachers who strive for a more personalized education by learning who their students are and understanding the environment from which they come. I have also dealt with both kinds of teachers in my educational experience, as I was a student of an alternative school. Mr. Lamar, to me, represents what a teacher should be. His personal dedication to making a difference in students’ lives and his willingness to go the extra mile by empowering students to take responsibility for their education changed how I perceived my own education. Mrs. Patton, on the other hand, is a teacher I would much rather forget. Her militarized style of teaching made learning an afterthought to the daily complications we encountered in the classroom. Both Mr. Lamar and Mrs. Patton taught me the importance of being included in your own education.

Open to all children, free of tuition, and does not have special entrance requirements, charter schools believe that children should have the opportunity to achieve at a high level. When creating charter schools, they focused on a desire to create greater flexibility for innovation within public education. It was hoped that successful innovations could be adapted to benefit public education more broadly. (NEA, 2017). Charter schools also, foster partnership between parents, teachers, and students in hopes of creating an environment in which parents can be more involved, teachers are allowed to innovate, and students are provided with structure they need to learn.

In the first journal of The Alternative, Galen Leonhardy journals his daily experiences as a teacher for an alternative school is Kozol Creek, Idaho. He describes the students in his classes and discusses his teaching methods to aid these students academically and socially, in order for them to transfer back into public life. The goals that he sets for himself regarding assisting the students are encountered by obstacles such as uncooperative colleagues and a local community that is ripe with preconceived stereotypes, poverty, and systematic neglect. The stark contrast between Leonhardy’s teaching methods and those of his unaccommodating coworkers reminds me of the disparity between some of the teachers that I had in middle school, some utilizing effective methods to encourage students and others employing unproductive methods of disparaging students.

Homeschooling a child can drastically affect their lives in the future, and put them in a clouded state of mind for seeing what the world is. Schooling your child from home will hold them back from learning a wide variety of basic skills that can be easily provided in public or private school systems. Although some see homeschooling as a good way to shelter their children from the world they view as harsh, it is not giving them any chance to gain common social skills. Social skills cannot be taught to a child, they are something the child must learn from interaction with his or her peers. Furthermore, homeschool teachers are not required the level of training and experience that a teacher at a public school are required (Hudak). Diversity is something widely portrayed in school systems; however, homeschooling doesn't allow students to bear witness to the diverse nature found in school systems.

Charter schools are unique public schools that is allowed the freedom to be more innovative while being held accountable for advancing student achievement. These charter schools are not private schools, they do not charge for tuition and they are open to all children within specific boundaries. Research has demonstrated that charter schools make picks up in the urban community with students who have veritably been undeserved by traditional state funded schools. Charter schools outscored their traditional school peers in 25 of the 41 cities in math, and 23 of the 42 cities in reading. On average, charter schools had no significant impacts on student’s achievement. Charter schools help enhance student learning, empower the utilization of new and imaginative educating strategies, and give schools an approach to move from a lead based to an execution based arrangement of responsibility. Public schools are like charter schools except for the freedom that a charter school has. And private school is based on tuition and that is funded by charities and tax holders in that community.

Imagine a school year that gave the students one week off after every quarter and every Friday off. Does this sound exciting and rich with possibilities? Then ask the superintendent of the school district to consider year round school with only four days per week.First, students would not forget what they learned over the long summer. Next, parents would not have to get day care except on Fridays instead of the whole summer. Finally, teachers and students would have better relationships as they spend more time together instead of being rushed. Let’s take a look at some proof.

While public schooling is the traditional way of receiving education, homeschooling is an alternative that must be considered. To clarify, homeschooling is the education of youths at home by their

Consequently, I questioned whether the alternative education system adequately prepares these students for the modern world. Likewise, I have doubts that the DL system is superior to the traditional education system, as Caesar suggests. Onward, she mentions how the alternative system is cheaper and more inclusive, but there was no numerical evidence to support this claim. Personally, I believe the DL system may be too lenient because some youths need structure in their lives because routines can provide stability and thus motivations and incentives to succeed. Plus, the alternative education system does not reflect the real world consisting of flexible and changing market demands and emerging innovations. Thus, I believe students must adapt to a fixed system by finding pathways to make a system work for them, rather than already being handed a purified system. Nevertheless, I believe the existence of both systems is ideal because the DL system is still highly effective for a certain group of students, but a single education system can never be an optimal fit for every student as we all learn

Before the development of the United States education system it was necessary for children to homeschool, but that time has passed. Today students have the option to attend the school that best fits them due to the process of open enrollment. The United States educational system now offers students options such as religious schools, charter schools, private schools, and public schools. Therefore, no reason exists that they can not find a decent school that meets their academic expectations. Families that homeschooled have a distinct disadvantage to families that attend public or private schools.

The three-month summer vacation block may sound great for planning vacations, but in reality, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. By having one large vacation block, parents have to compete in the workplace to get the appropriate time off and travel is more expensive because everyone else is traveling. Year round schooling offers more breaks and more opportunities for everyone to take a well-deserved vacation

Many schools are considering switching to year around school schedules. Some people might not understand what this means. ”Students in most American year-round school districts spend the same amount of days in class as students in traditional calendar schools- the days are just arranged differently, with smaller more frequent breaks throughout the year” (McMullen, 2001). Holton should not consider this schedule because it does not improve students learning, year round school would interfere with family vacations, and it makes trying to get a summer job for teens difficult.

For reasons unknown, some students simply cannot or choose not to behave during class. Caroleo opens her article, “An Examination of the Risks and Benefits of Alternative Education”, with the claim, “One size education does not fit for all children and youth” (35). It is true that blanket instruction does not work for most at-risk students. A specialized educational setting results in an increase in supervision and guidance. Specialized settings lower the possibility of frequent outbursts; therefore, placement into a smaller class would benefit the disruptive student. In most alternative classrooms, the student-teacher ratio is low. In a local alternative school hosted by New Brockton High School, the class roster rarely reaches above ten students. Smaller settings allow teachers the chance to minimize down time and focus on individuals. Increased one on one time allows students to find more productive outlets for their excess energy. In addition to being beneficial for the troublesome student, alternative schooling would allow other members of the class a productive environment in which to learn. Students’ outbursts are detrimental to not only the other students’ education but also the education of the delinquent as well. Placement into an alternative school will allow typical students to attend class uninterrupted and encourage the cause of distraction to focus on continuing their education. If the disruptive student is removed from the classroom, then it is likely that all students’ grades will flourish accordingly in the now positive

After school, from 3 to 6 p.m, is a critical period of time in a child’s life. After school programs help keep kids safe and inspire them to learn during that period of time. After school programs are organized programs that youth can participate in outside of a traditional school day. Enrolling children in afterschool programs would provide them with benefits that unenrolled children would not receive, such as reduce risky behavior and promote physical health. After school programs provide a safe environment for children, while positively impacting their academics, safety, and their future.

Can you imagine a world in which parents were free to send their children to only the best schools, no matter which neighborhood they lived in? What if cost wasn’t a factor? Imagine if even a student in the poorest section of town had access to the best education. What could that child achieve? What would they become? How would their life change? Those questions that I asked lead now to the focus of the essay. The world we live in is ever so changing, with that the need for education also needs to be changing. No longer do classic public schools fit the job in all certain situations. That is why with school choice being a controversial issue in education reform, school choice public funds should be used to support school choice programs that offer parents alternatives to traditional public schools.

The American education system and its public institutions are slowly changing. What used to be a public institution is pushed to be a “publicly funded, but privately managed” system, also known as charter schools. The problem with charter schools development is due to the lack of enforcement is the results of insufficient measure of transparency and accountability. Due to the lack of oversight the public have over charter schools, this leads to many cases of fraud and abuse and no guarantee of academic advancement. Examples could be found in the lack of coherent data on the improvement of students performance, and case of fraud, both financially and academically, in many charter schools all over the nations. This overdue dispute raises concerning questions of what is the right and satisfying solution for the issue and how to guide state legislators and communities toward public accountability and transparency for charter schools.