Issue 189 Online Public School October 22, 2013

The title is just as it says; public schools are turning to the Internet. Even Ron Paul, the Granddaddy of the Tea Party and Libertarians has got into the act with his own online public education resource. But is online public school any good?

Why do online public school?: Originally, home schooling evolved out of parents wanting to include religion in their child's education. Public schools today of course forbid such actions. So the parents said forget about you, I'm educating my kids my way. Later, this want of parents to educate their kids at home would include how polluted education has become with politics. Text books are decided by political committees on their content and what topics are addressed in each. School had become boring to some students to the point that their grades dropped. Other parents were tired of the discipline problems that either their child was having or the bullying that was occurring. Regardless, of the reasons now, parents wanted a say in how to educate their children.

Social Interaction: The biggest obstacle to home school and online education in general is the social interaction. There is no longer a class room that allows students to interact and thus form social bonds. But home schooling has countered that problem. Parents enroll their children in things like ballet, karate and sports teams, while at the same time establishing play dates. Thus they have solved the human interaction problem.

But an online public school: Well if you can get a college degree online, it only makes sense that you can do the same with public education. Teachers are already using "Khan Academy" to help support their teaching either via homework or through the kids learning primarily through the computer with the teacher helping students only when they are having trouble. In fact, the program at "Khan Academy" has been so successful that some young students skip ahead to the point that they are either learning math or science that is two to even five grades ahead. Then there is "Sneak on the Lot" which is an online school for young people aspiring to be in the movie and television businesses. Rather than rely on teachers they use people actually in the field of film to do their lectures. Also, they even support contests and hands on learning by giving students (they have a k-12 curriculum and a college curriculum) step by step instructions on how to make props, film a movie or short, write a script etc. Ron Paul on the other hand created the "RonPaulCurriculum" to replace traditional public school entirely. His goal is to provide a curriculum that sticks to American values: see website http://www.ronpaulcurriculum.com/ . All of it is about giving students information they need without any of the boring old public school curriculums where you have to wait for everyone to catch up with you, or you racing to catch up with everyone else.

Conclusion: I support any form of education as it enhances school choice. By giving students access to these resources will give students and even some parents the resources needed to succeed where traditional education methods have failed. No, this will not replace traditional schools as some students need structure in order to learn. However, this has become a great option for parents who want their kids out of failing public schools, but can't afford a Charter or Private School. So to all those online educators out there, thank you for enhancing school choice.