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No more brick and mortar schools

Schools close in wake of ReDS and fuel shortages
mudmama

Dark Mirror is coming home, they’ve closed Acadia indefinitely.   We thought the small town university would be safe but ReDS outbreaks and fears have hit them too. He’ll still be taking classes and teaching his class, but everything’ll be on the NETwork now.  I think he’ll be happy! I suppose we should have expected it, they closed the public schools three years ago due to ReDS in urban centres and bussing costs in rural areas like this.  Its been a boon for our family, Papa Pan is a teacher and can work from home now.  He’s still working for the school board.  Nova Scotia already had the high school set up as a distance education option.  They’re slowly getting the whole system on the NETwork but hacking is making that problematic.  He’s contracting to be a marker and consulting on how to provide special education to those who need it in this new era.  Age isn’t an issue with this kind of “teaching”, my mom is doing a bit of marking too!    We have a lot of discussions about how the school board and ministry is failing elementary school aged kids and special needs kids.  Distance courses and online education do not meet their needs at all.   I’ve been gone back to running my Waldorf inspired co-op from home.   It’s in the flesh for those close enough and I volunteer to do consulting/mentoring and podcasts for other home-based learners and teachers. Now where am I going to put everyone?  I think our next co-op day will be spent coppicing wood for a yurt!     

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Oct 09
education,school,home schooling,special education


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  • tachyondecay
    Oct 09
    I empathize with the difficulties of distance education. I\\\'m one of the lucky ones--ReDS hasn\\\'t hit Thunder Bay too badly. How do the hackers and data polluters affect your online education methods?
  • PlatonicJensen
    Oct 09
    Hmmm... And what\\\'s being done with those school buildings now?
  • dilletyo
    Oct 09
    Have you thought about adding online resources from museums to your cirriculum? We are trying to enhance our web content to provide more rsources for those who have to teach from home or online due to REDs.
  • Ruud Dirven
    Oct 10
    To be honest, you should be held accountable for child abuse if you have been sending your children to a school in the last few years. Those places are zoos, warrens of vice, extremist ideas, trading in narcotics, weapons, illegal software and things you haven\\\'t heard off. Kids age 15 are prostituting girls younger than them to perverts. Don\\\'t you watch Brittney? I park my kids in a chair in my study, with only a headset and internet access and make them run edugames. Their ratings are way better and I test them weekly to see if they are cheating. A kid educated in VR is ready for the real world.
  • mudmama
    Oct 10
    I totally disagree Ruud! I don\\\'t think you can replace real world learning with VR. My perspective comes from 29 years of parenting and I was a homeschooler before, starting back in the late 1990\\\'s. I am not against technology but it can\\\'t replace the learning through physical play and play in nature that kids NEED for brain development. Dilletyo thanks for the heads up we\\\'ll add it to our favs! Platonic, thats an interesting question! My kid\\\'s old high school was returned to the corporation that built it back in the late 1990\\\'s. (That was always the plan it\\\'s based around information tech hubs not bad for a rural high school! They\\\'re leasing it out to a consortium of micro companies. She elementary school in town is being used as emergency housing for migrant workers with families. Used to be just young people who came for the growing season now they\\\'re bringing their entire families and the farms are not set up to house all of them!
  • mudmama
    Oct 10
    Tachy - There have been issues with standardized curriculum being altered by extremist groups and the province will shut down entire courses rather than address the questions being brought up by these groups. Public education is an arm of the government and they resist becoming a tool of the people. They ban wikipedia from school libraries still!
  • Christopherbearkat
    Oct 13
    I said this in another thread, but it bears repeating here. I don't think that this would occur, particularly at smaller colleges and universities in locations away from urban areas. Universities are communities and some of these towns revolve around the colleges. These are not just schools, they're communities. These institutions would be more inclined to protect their students within their communities. (keeping students inside the gates rather than out) I actually think the universities would be act as havens. You have a large knowledge base, plus thousands of students who could be tapped for volunteer work and a culture that promotes activism. I'm sure some colleges would shut down, but in some places the college IS the town. On a modern college campus you have residences, police officers, tons of information technology, medical facilities, and experts in a wide range of subjects. Plus, you have active students groups who could help implement these solutions on a small scale. If they can work in small college towns, they can be expanded. I'm sure there would be at least some schools that would try to make it work.
  • rahul
    Oct 15
    i dont have any kids at school but this also is a major prob...
  • mudmama
    Oct 16
    Christopher, I dunno, circa 2010 just the threat of class disruptions following a teachers strike reduced the student population at Acadia by a third - this in the same year that they were given top scores in a national comparison of undergrad programs. Its a tiny elistist university (highest tuition in the country) and 11% of the student populatiomn is international students from Asia. ReDS is definitely a concern.
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