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Comparing Options for
Whole-Person Education

Teaching and learning occur in many contexts in different types of schools.
This area looks at four types of schools:

Informal Education
• Home Schools 
• Private Schools 
• Public Schools 
• Charter Schools
 
plus Higher Education 

The characteristics of schools will be described and compared
(for similarities & differences, advantages & disadvantages)
regarding their educational quality and religious worldviews,
to help you make wise decisions about whole-person education.
 


 
      Informal Education
      Education is more than what happens in school.  Much of our learning occurs in the context of culture, which includes, but is not limited to, a variety of media such as music and magazines, movies and marketing, books and websites, discussions and lectures, radio and television.   
      The religious implications of informal education are discussed in WORLDVIEW EDUCATION;  and the personal benefits of lifelong learning are in LEARNING SKILLS.


      This area, School Options, will focus on the formal education in schools, especially in the United States, home of the American Scientific Affiliation.  Although this area will look at some educational content, especially regarding religious worldviews, EFFECTIVE TEACHING is the main area for exploring the process of teaching and learning.
      There are four basic types of schools.  Ranked in order of student attendance, they are public, private, home, and charter.  But to avoid an implication that public schools should be the default choice and other schools are alternatives, the order of description below will match the chronological order of appearance in American history:
      Initially, almost all education was in the home.  Outside the home, private schools developed first, followed by public schools, which gradually increased in prominence beginning in the 1840s, with major federal involvement since 1958;  public school systems began a more widespread use of charter schools in the 1990s:  A Timeline of Public Education in America.
      Great Schools has an overview (plus viewer comments) of evaluating school options and comparing private & public schools and

      Later, hopefully by November 2010, there will be a links-page devoted to evaluating and weighing criteria and Making a Wise Choice.

      Home Schools
      In early America, home schools were the foundation for education.  They can work very well, and in many situations they provide the best of all possible educations (when all things are considered) but they are not for everyone.  The homepage for HOME SCHOOLS has many ideas to explore, asking WHETHER you should do it, and HOW it can be done more effectively.

      Private Schools
      Later, hopefully by November 2010, this section will have a brief introduction to PRIVATE SCHOOLS: Christian and Secular.

      Public Schools
      Public concerns about public schools — which are regulated by government (at the local, state, and federal levels) and attended by the majority of American students — include questions about educational quality and religious neutrality.  Strategies for improving educational quality (for helping students learn more effectively in a comfortable, motivating environment) are examined in EFFECTIVE TEACHING.  Strategies for improving religious neutrality are examined in Worldviews & Religion in PUBLIC EDUCATION.

      Charter Schools
      Recently, public school systems began using new types of schools that are hybrids — that have some features of both public and private schools — and calling them CHARTER SCHOOLS.


      Higher Education (after High School)
      I.O.U. — Later, hopefully by November 2010, there will be information about colleges (private and public) and other educational options after high school.  Until then, GoCollege provides basic information for comparing educational options: public, private, online, community, vocational.
 

LINKS for Areas of "Whole-Person Education" Website

 
There is more about this topic in
WORLDVIEW EDUCATION

and ORIGINS EDUCATION.
 

All links were checked and fixed on June 29, 2006. 
 


Above, a LINK is page-adding, opening a new page in a new window
Below, a LINK is page-replacing, opening a new page in this window

 
This home-page for School-Options, written by Craig Rusbult, is
http://www.asa3.org/ASA/education/options/index.html

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