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Throughout the country, education budget cuts are affecting everyone—teachers working overtime with an enormous student load, staff being laid off, parents forced to make a decision about their child’s education—but no one is quite as affected as the students. A recent survey of 1,850 high school students in Los Angeles County serves as a shocking reminder of the poverty that has hit school districts everywhere. The stats are sobering: class sizes counting over 50 students, over a third of students left without desks, a shortage of computers, and in many cases, largely disproportionate student-to-teacher ratios—including one high school with a single science teacher. While this study does represent only a single, concentrated area, it is clear that the traditional education system is going through quite a bit of trouble.
What is also clear is an alternative to this dilemma. If classrooms and overcrowding are the problem, then perhaps distance education—or at least semi-distance education—might be a solution, even if it is for only a few course offerings. If AP programs are being affected, for example, have students take those online and save the resources those classes might take up in a physical high school. The study also showed that 97 percent of students in that area plan on attending college, and if resources continue to dry up, many of those students simply will not be able to get the high school experience necessary for college—through no fault of their own.
Do you think distance education is worth trying to help solve this education crisis? How would you go about solving the problem? We want to hear from you, so drop us a comment and let us know!
We are giving to many excusses. When do the students start taking responsability for themselves? Everytime I turn around I see another article giving a reason other then "they just don't care" for students not succeeding in school. Its always the teachers fault, the parents fault, the school boards fault, the politicians fault. I like the idea of distance learning to assist in a highschool education for AP classes; however, I think that as an overall educational experience it would be lacking in social skills. There are to many highschool age students that with computers and cell phones have the social skills of a 5 year old. If it becomes a solution to the budget crisis I fear that schools will be closed giving greedy politicians a reason to cut even more money from schools. If it becomes a choice that students have they may choose distance thinking that they can slack and this isn't going to assist them in accomplishing a goal of graduating college. If it is implimented I think it needs to be done under a watchful eye and with great care to push other social, sport, or artistic activities as well. As it is there are to many college students that think the school or instructors need to hold their hand through their educational experience. Kids need to know that they are responsible for their own success and then maybe they would take better care of their own education.