I am a parent of five children who has put his children through the K-12
process. My children were home educated in places like Indiana, Phoenixville and
Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. When they started college I looked with them at their
choices, and one of the first things we looked at was teacher to student ratio.
In all cases the schools with the lower teacher to student ratio were worth more
money, and had better reputations.
The Philadelphia School District is currently cutting teachers because this ratio is too low. While I understand the tax payers prospective on this, it seems like we are moving in the wrong direction. In the School District of Philadelphia a 6th through 12th grader should not experience more than a 33 to 1 student to teacher ratio in a class. In some cases this ratio is lower so they are laying off teachers.This same ratio is higher in cyber school. SB 1085 is currently cutting the revenue of cyber schools by 5%. This cut is ironic because the student to teacher ratio in cyber school is growing. The question is; should it be shrinking? It is not unusual at some cyber schools for teachers to have over 200 students. SB 1085 will provide a motivation to raise that ratio further instead of shrink it to more effective levels. On a cyber level of education or in traditional education, the lower the student to teacher ratio is, the more effective the education. Every parent knows this, but perhaps some people think that cyber schooling is different.
Cyber School is not different. In our learning platform we have an instant messenger that allows us to respond to our students quickly when they have questions. Just now I answered five students who needed my help with an assignment or project they were working on. Massive Open Online Courses (M.O.O.C.S) are different. In some cases they have tens of thousands of students in a single class. They serve the opposite objective of public education. They are attempting to leave all students behind, and recommend the cream of the crop to perspective employers who are willing to pay handsomely for this information. Students at a younger age than those participating in MOOCS are not as independent in their learning styles. If we make MOOCS the online learning template for public education it would be a drastic mistake. In my opinion, public education is about raising the bottom and mentoring the top. When my students fail at something I am always there to encourage them to try another door to an opportunity or learning. Students can get very depressed when they are compared to the best and the brightest in the world. The global economy has opened up greater opportunities, but it also has also created stress points along the way. When there is a coach or mentor standing in the doorway we can help our students when they feel they have made a mistake. I always tell my students there is always another door that they can go through. In a MOOC this does not happen. It is all about promoting the top and then grabbing them for a specific need. Public education should consider employment needs from the students' instead of the employers' perspective.
Philadelphia school teachers are being cut because they do not have the students to fill the schools. Should cyber schools be cut because they have too many students for their teachers to manage? I would suggest that our legislators consider teacher to student ratio when considering funding cuts. If they will consider this, then the current SB 1085 does not make sense. Minimizing our attention to students by raising student ratios will give us a short term cash bump for a long term unemployment outlook. It is like what Joachim Posada calls "Eating the marshmallow," instead of waiting for the good and healthy food. In a world economy where our students are competing for jobs that do not exist yet, it is important to maximize attention to our students, and their ultimate economic outcomes which will pay for our future retirement.
The Philadelphia School District is currently cutting teachers because this ratio is too low. While I understand the tax payers prospective on this, it seems like we are moving in the wrong direction. In the School District of Philadelphia a 6th through 12th grader should not experience more than a 33 to 1 student to teacher ratio in a class. In some cases this ratio is lower so they are laying off teachers.This same ratio is higher in cyber school. SB 1085 is currently cutting the revenue of cyber schools by 5%. This cut is ironic because the student to teacher ratio in cyber school is growing. The question is; should it be shrinking? It is not unusual at some cyber schools for teachers to have over 200 students. SB 1085 will provide a motivation to raise that ratio further instead of shrink it to more effective levels. On a cyber level of education or in traditional education, the lower the student to teacher ratio is, the more effective the education. Every parent knows this, but perhaps some people think that cyber schooling is different.
Cyber School is not different. In our learning platform we have an instant messenger that allows us to respond to our students quickly when they have questions. Just now I answered five students who needed my help with an assignment or project they were working on. Massive Open Online Courses (M.O.O.C.S) are different. In some cases they have tens of thousands of students in a single class. They serve the opposite objective of public education. They are attempting to leave all students behind, and recommend the cream of the crop to perspective employers who are willing to pay handsomely for this information. Students at a younger age than those participating in MOOCS are not as independent in their learning styles. If we make MOOCS the online learning template for public education it would be a drastic mistake. In my opinion, public education is about raising the bottom and mentoring the top. When my students fail at something I am always there to encourage them to try another door to an opportunity or learning. Students can get very depressed when they are compared to the best and the brightest in the world. The global economy has opened up greater opportunities, but it also has also created stress points along the way. When there is a coach or mentor standing in the doorway we can help our students when they feel they have made a mistake. I always tell my students there is always another door that they can go through. In a MOOC this does not happen. It is all about promoting the top and then grabbing them for a specific need. Public education should consider employment needs from the students' instead of the employers' perspective.
Philadelphia school teachers are being cut because they do not have the students to fill the schools. Should cyber schools be cut because they have too many students for their teachers to manage? I would suggest that our legislators consider teacher to student ratio when considering funding cuts. If they will consider this, then the current SB 1085 does not make sense. Minimizing our attention to students by raising student ratios will give us a short term cash bump for a long term unemployment outlook. It is like what Joachim Posada calls "Eating the marshmallow," instead of waiting for the good and healthy food. In a world economy where our students are competing for jobs that do not exist yet, it is important to maximize attention to our students, and their ultimate economic outcomes which will pay for our future retirement.
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