Vouchers and Small Organic Schools
I was thinking about the idea of vouchers as a way of improving public education (and as most of my LJ friends know, vouchers are an idea that I have long supported) and was thinking about some of the effects that a voucher system would have.
One interesting idea that occurred to me was that numerous tiny schools could rise up everywhere, created virtually from nothing and being operated on a very small scale. Imagine the following scenario :
A group of people with somewhat fringe beliefs or customs are in contact with each other and bemoaning mainstream society. Lets say these people are pagans, something that plenty of the LJ friends can sympathize with being pagans themselves. Well, lets say that one of these pagans is a teacher, or is at least educated as a teacher or has some form of teaching certification. Well this pagan teacher proposing to the pagan community in the area that they start a pagan school themselves supported with government vouchers. There may not be a lot of children, lets say as few as ten at any one time, but it might be big enough to get the school off the ground.
So the teacher fills out the proper paperwork to apply for a government school voucher, lets say that its $5000 per student, significantly less than what is payed per student today. Well, if the requirements are met (and I'm assuming that the requirements will be minimal) then the school will open. There will be 10 children and the teacher will have a $50,000 gross income for teaching those children, some of which will of course go to getting materials for the school and what not. Of course, since this is government money we're talking about there should be some form over oversight - like standardized tests for the children to make sure that the school isn't a sham - maybe reading comprehension, math skill, and basic knowledge tests for the students.
If this works as I'm describing, you could have thousands of such tiny schools spring up all over the country. Allowing people to educate their children in a way befitting their beliefs or desires. Very decentralized, very diverse, very organic. And if the students pass the tests, then these schools are fulfilling their societal role. It strikes me as a really cool idea.
One interesting idea that occurred to me was that numerous tiny schools could rise up everywhere, created virtually from nothing and being operated on a very small scale. Imagine the following scenario :
A group of people with somewhat fringe beliefs or customs are in contact with each other and bemoaning mainstream society. Lets say these people are pagans, something that plenty of the LJ friends can sympathize with being pagans themselves. Well, lets say that one of these pagans is a teacher, or is at least educated as a teacher or has some form of teaching certification. Well this pagan teacher proposing to the pagan community in the area that they start a pagan school themselves supported with government vouchers. There may not be a lot of children, lets say as few as ten at any one time, but it might be big enough to get the school off the ground.
So the teacher fills out the proper paperwork to apply for a government school voucher, lets say that its $5000 per student, significantly less than what is payed per student today. Well, if the requirements are met (and I'm assuming that the requirements will be minimal) then the school will open. There will be 10 children and the teacher will have a $50,000 gross income for teaching those children, some of which will of course go to getting materials for the school and what not. Of course, since this is government money we're talking about there should be some form over oversight - like standardized tests for the children to make sure that the school isn't a sham - maybe reading comprehension, math skill, and basic knowledge tests for the students.
If this works as I'm describing, you could have thousands of such tiny schools spring up all over the country. Allowing people to educate their children in a way befitting their beliefs or desires. Very decentralized, very diverse, very organic. And if the students pass the tests, then these schools are fulfilling their societal role. It strikes me as a really cool idea.