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Idea for: Education
Revisit the one-room schoolhouse Where I live, consolidation of high schools hasn't solved declining student population. Soon, all children in a large area will be bused to one large facility. I favor an alternative, a charter school, modeled after the one-room school house of old where students of many grades share space and work on topics like math or science together at different levels. I know teachers burned out by the current system--it's limited resources and stifling mandates--who would love to work with kids in this intimate environment. Older kids help younger ones and all can work at their own speed. This model of teaching produced some pretty sharp cookies in its time. Why not now? Lots of details to hammer out to modernize it. Some of the sharpest, best behaved kids I know are home schooled and that's a similar model. Nobody wants to bus their kid 35 miles to a huge school when they could be learning in a small, well-run charter school walking distance from home. Is this such an impossible dream? From Carol Ford of Milan, MN on 05/10/05
Rating:  Small towns should be given the chance to have the smaller, 1-3 room building option. Internet resources could be employed to help in certain areas. And a return to "walking to school" would be great! The biggest obstacle would be the urban naysayers whom depend on big schools, bigger budgets, and the all important "headcount". Since these individuals have all the power in this state, the idea is presently doomed. From Jeffrey Preuss of Rochester, MN on 05/10/06 Rating:  From Lena Ranieri of St. Paul, MN on 05/21/05 Rating:  From Glenn Kuehne of Alexandria, MN on 05/15/05 Rating: Romantic nostalgia is a powerful and addictive sentiment. Emphasizing the isolation and homogeneity of students in small towns and rural areas in institutional ways is no way to prepare them for careers and life in what Thomas Friedman calls the "flat world" of the 21st century. From Ken Wedding of Northfield, MN on 05/14/05 Rating:  I can understand the sentiments behind this idea, but in reality, it would not serve all students equally well. The most gifted would not have the variety and stimulation of several good/great teachers in specialized subject areas. The most handicapped could not be given the one-on-one attention and individualized curriculum now available to all special needs students. The rural school districts have been doing a good job of meeting the needs of most students and doing well on grad-standards. From Mary Sullivan of Franklin, MN on 05/13/05 Rating: I went to a school where 1st-6th were mixed in classes and 7th-12th were too and all of us were in the same building that even housed the kindergarteners. This school was a St. Paul Public School. We could use the same principle in rural schools. One building, mixed grades. Our school had a total of 400 students. There were 16 in my graduating class. We had 2 national merit scholars and the school has produced many in it's 38 year history. It would work. From Mike Mickelson of Grygla, MN on 05/13/05 Rating: While the idea of a one-room schoolhouse sounds idyllic, it isn't really practical nor would it improve the educational process. Multi-age/grade pairings do work and already are in use but they are not optimal for most secondary programs. Large schools haven't proven more cost effective either. There needs to be some balance between size and the distance to communte when considering consolidations. The real problem facing rural schools is the lack of State funding which is disgraceful. From Bruce Costigan of Rochester, MN on 05/13/05 Rating:  I like this idea of keeping things local and not busing long distances. I went to a one room elementary school until the 8th grade however and I think they have been a bit romanticized. Having a oneroom school could be worakable if technology was also utilized. After all if you can get college level courses on-line, why not have high school credits avaiailbe on-line? From Jan Jones of Fergus Falls, MO on 05/12/05 Rating: Great idea! Schools have been getting larger, and while that might make sense from a "financial bottom line" perspective, it certainly doesn't do anything to help maintain the viability of our small communities. Some consolidations probably still make sense, but the idea of sending kids to "regional" schools that draw from 30 or more miles away isn't something that will help small communities survive. From Wayne Hurley of Fergus Falls, MN on 05/11/05
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