Remote Supplemental Education Services in America
One of the biggest issues in education is how to help students in need. Many students do not live in a school district that can provide them with adequate or ample materials and other educational resources. The United States is extremely diverse in regards to its zip codes. Some students will live in areas where their public schools can provide them with, what many parents consider to be, a free private school education, while other students will barely get the basics.
Some parents will be able to work with their children after school to help out with homework while other parents will work two jobs to put food on the table. This discrepancy between various areas of the country can leave many children and teens slipping through the cracks. In the past 10 years or so, much of the responsibility has fallen upon teachers. Many teachers are expected to work after hours, off the clock, to help out with their students without receiving additional pay. Unfortunately, this prevents teachers from seeing their own families or from holding, a very necessary, second job due to their daytime salary. As a group, we generally tend to look for somebody to blame before we look for a solution. This often makes a solution harder to find and delays change or reform that may be necessary.
Identifying the problem
Most people have already identified the problem. Looking towards the future, where can we go and how can we improve? One group alone: The school districts, teachers, or parents will not likely be solely responsible for a solution. Rather, working together is a great way to start bringing our public schools back to an envious state.
It is recommended that parents think about their children as individuals. Most parents do this anyway, although children are often compared to other children. We certainly can’t blame parents for doing this as the emphasis on standardized testing and competition is ever prevalent in the American secondary school system (READ: “New School: Adjusting to Advances in Technology“). However, parents know their children best and will often be able to see what is missing in their child’s education.
For example, if a child is receiving A’s and B’s in core subjects – math and English – but they seem to be frustrated or bored, then the family may be best served by adding extracurricular activities into their kid’s supplemental education. If the student is struggling with math, English, or science then they may need to receive supplemental education services to help them with these all-important subjects.
Seeking additional services
Every single family in America has a budget of some kind. For some, the budget will be very small and for others it will be very large, but everybody has limits. With the advent of e-learning and other free technology, many parents can find supplemental education services for free or at a very low cost for their children. For many families across the US, this can fill the education gap.
Parents who need the services of an Orange County college prep tutor or a core subjects tutor will not likely have any difficulty finding one. However, what if your child is only truly happy when he or she is playing the violin? What if your child loves STEM activities and is already building his or her own apps at the age of 9 or 10? These services are often not available in the public school system. The advancements of remote education and technology are becoming greater by the day. Parents, teachers, college students, and private education companies are searching for and finding these programs week after week.
What if a student decided that they wanted to take a class in poetry but it isn’t offered at their high school? Try a poetry class on iTunes U.
Finland is repeatedly on the top of the list of countries with excellent educational systems so students might want to learn about the Finnish educational structure (#4 on the list).
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