Reading for fun plunges to ‘crisis’ level for US students

How times change over the millennia! Stone tablets and parchment were replaced with paper. Paper served us so well for at least the last 600 years.

Now we are in the digital age! Books or other paper based reading materials have become like stone tablets for younger generations!

How do we teach the next generation about all the great things that happened and all the important lessons learnt in the past and distant past? A tremendous challenge!

On e.g. YouTube you can learn so much if you know what to select among the hundreds of millions of videos.

"Only 14 percent of students say they read for fun every day, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) report released recently, down 3 percentage points from 2020 and 13 since 2012. The report indicates 31 percent of students never or hardly ever read for fun. ..."

Reading for fun plunges to ‘crisis’ level for US students | The Hill

Private Hochschulen in Deutschland: Praxisnah, flexibel, gute Betreuung

Freie Wahl für freie Bürger! Wettbewerb ist gut!

"Rund 343.000 Menschen studierten hier zuletzt, das entspricht rund 11,6 Prozent aller Studentinnen und Studenten in Deutschland – trotz Studiengebühren. Dabei punkten sie mit viel Praxisnähe, mit engmaschigerer und intensiverer Betreuung als die staatlichen Anbieter und mit Flexibilität: Wer neben der Arbeit noch studieren will, kann das an den privaten Hochschulen von zu Hause, an Abend- und Wochenendterminen oder gleich im Rahmen eines dualen Studiums tun. Entsprechend sind 27 Prozent der Studentinnen und Studenten hier über 30 Jahre alt, deutlich mehr als an staatlichen Hochschulen. ..."

Private Hochschulen: Praxisnah, flexibel, gute Betreuung Private Hochschulen sind gefragt wie nie zuvor, zeigt eine neue Studie des Instituts der deutschen Wirtschaft (IW): Die Studentinnen und Studenten erhoffen sich gute Chancen im Beruf, mehr Gehalt und wollen sich auf die Unsicherheiten der Arbeitswelt vorbereiten.

«Verbietet man das Smartphone an den Schulen, so steigt die Lernleistung». Wirklich!

Vielleicht sollte man öffentliche Schulen verbieten, damit Kinder individuell auf ihrem Smartphone besser lernen können! (Vorsicht: Satire)

Das traditionelle Konzept der Schule ist ziemlich hinfällig! Home schooling ist nur eine von vielen Alternativen!

«Verbietet man das Smartphone an den Schulen, so steigt die Lernleistung» Viele Eltern sehen die Aktivitäten der Jugendlichen in den sozialen Netzwerken mit Sorge. Auch der Medienpsychologe Christian Montag drängt darauf, Jugendliche besser zu schützen.

Microschools Are Proving to Be a Winning Option in Las Vegas

Is this kind of a renaissance of the once traditional rural school with one teacher teaching a small class of all ages in all topics? Maybe not quite! 😊

Reform of public education of children is an eternal topic of great importance! Public versus private schools. Freedom of choice for parents and children and so much more. More options and choices means better learning! The industrial age old public school system in Western countries is often a one size fits all Procrustean bed style learning factory! Myself, I have e.g. visited and enjoyed a Montessori Kindergarten.

"... [article author] spent this week visiting some of the approximately 25 microschools within a 10-mile radius of the Las Vegas Strip, serving roughly 300 students. These microschools, or intentionally small, often mixed-age, personalized learning communities, operate either as recognized private schools or as education centers offering full-time and part-time options for homeschoolers. ...
Estimates by EdChoice suggest that up to two million students across the U.S. may now be learning full-time in a microschool. Additionally, a new survey conducted by the National School Choice Week organization of nearly 4,000 parents of school-age children found that many parents are continuing to seek different learning options for their kids."

Microschools Are Proving to Be a Winning Option in Las Vegas - Foundation for Economic Education “When I saw the change in my kids I said I want to be a part of that,” said Maria Castaneda.

Survey: 55 Percent of Private Schools See Enrollment Rise in the U.S.

Good news! Privatize education! Eliminate compulsory school attendance!

Parents ought to be able to choose between e.g. homeschooling, microschooling, private school or public school!

"Fifty‐​five percent of private schools that responded to our survey reported enrollment increases between the 2021–22 school year and 2022–23, while 20 percent saw decreases and 25 percent reported no change. The average change was 10 students, around a 5 percent increase from the 2019–20 average. Nearly half reported having more applicants than seats."

Survey: 55 Percent of Private Schools See Enrollment Rise | Cato Institute While private schooling took a hit in the early part of the pandemic, as COVID-19 progressed we started seeing evidence that private schooling was rebounding.

‘100 Schools in 10 Years’, Award-Winning Microschool Founder Shares Her Vision

Government run schools need more competition! Privatize the education of our children! Home schooling, online schooling, or microschools etc. Variety is the spice of life!

"... At the same time, Alleyne was also feeling dissatisfied in her job as a certified special education teacher and school counselor in a Florida public charter school. She saw kids being bullied by other students, as well as being yelled at by teachers. Dismayed but determined, Alleyne began plotting what would eventually become Kind Academy, an award-winning microschool, or small, mixed-aged, co-learning community, in Coral Springs, Florida.

Centered around kindness to oneself, others and the world, Kind Academy officially began in 2016 as a two-day a week, drop-off program for homeschoolers, including her son, that blended academics and nature-based learning.

In 2019, Alleyne helped another Florida microschool founder, Laurel Suarez, open Compass Outreach, the first brick-and-mortar microschool in Fort Lauderdale. Having a designated building enabled many more students to gain access to a microschool through the state’s school choice tax-credit scholarship programs.

Working with Suarez helped Alleyne to imagine what was possible for her fledgling microschool, and earlier this year she moved Kind Academy from a mostly nomadic program to a dedicated location that would also offer school choice scholarship eligibility. Today, Kind Academy serves 25 students in kindergarten through sixth grade, with four teachers in addition to Alleyne.

She’s only just getting started. “My dream is 100 schools in 10 years,” said Alleyne, who hopes to scale her microschool network nationwide. ..."

‘100 Schools in 10 Years’, Award-Winning Microschool Founder Shares Her Vision - Foundation for Economic Education Iman Alleyne is ready to tackle her big dream of building a sweeping Kind Academy microschool network.

Iman Alleyne of Kind Academy

How Disruptive Innovation Is Accelerating the Growth of Alternative Learning Models

The quasi government monopoly in Western countries on primary education of children is coming to an end! Amen!

"Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants thereof." (Slaves included!) Liberty Bell inscription. I bet, many American school children do not even know or learn about the inscription anymore!

"Blending new technologies with the personalization and flexibility of microschooling and homeschooling will continue to disrupt the education sector and turn alternative learning models into mainstream options for many more families."

"Disruptive innovation usually begins on the margins, with a few, intrepid users embracing a new product or service. Abetted by new technologies, a disruptive innovation penetrates the mainstream when its quality is proven to be as good, if not better, than more established models.  ..."

How Disruptive Innovation Is Accelerating the Growth of Alternative Learning Models - Foundation for Economic Education Disruptive innovation is reshaping how children learn and expanding access to alternative education models.

Universal Expansion of Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Would Be Huge Win for Arizona Families

Good news!

"Significantly expanding Arizona’s existing Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) program, House Bill 2853 is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Doug Ducey any day. ...  the bill would “allow families to use their education savings accounts to pay for transportation services, computer hardware, and 'technological devices primarily used for educational purposes.'” ..."

Publications - Research & Commentary: Universal Expansion of Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Would Be Huge Win for Arizona Families | Heartland Institute

What Would Happen if We Eliminated Compulsory Schooling Laws

Very recommendable! It is one of those great myth that the education of children was extremely inadequate before government stepped in with compulsory schooling laws!

Remember, one of the primary motives behind government mandated uniform and compulsory education of children was national power and empire building!

I think it is worth trying to completely eliminate compulsory schooling of children. It would be a great experiment in individual liberty. Devolution of  more power to parents and children from government! Privatize education!

Given today's technologies, e.g. home schooling via online education has become a very viable option!

E.g. some of today's controversies about public primary and secondary schooling would evaporate like gender identity and critical race theory.

Best of all side effects, it will significantly lower the tax burden on citizens and it will make education a lot cheaper again!

4 Things That Would Happen if We Eliminated Compulsory Schooling Laws - Foundation for Economic Education Eliminating compulsory schooling laws would break the century-and-a-half stranglehold of schooling on education.

The Myth that Americans Were Poorly Educated before Mass Government Schooling by Lawrence Reed

Recommendable! Before the government takeover of the schooling of children with compulsory education!

Privatize public school education!

"... Well into the 19th Century, writes Susan Alder in "Education in America," "parents did not even consider that the civil government in any way had the responsibility or should assume the responsibility of providing for the education of children." Only one state (Massachusetts) even had compulsory schooling laws before the Civil War, yet literacy rates were among the highest in our history. ..."

The Myth that Americans Were Poorly Educated before Mass Government Schooling - Foundation for Economic Education Early America had widespread literacy and a vibrant culture of learning.

How much is school districting in the U.S. to blame for low quality school education of children

Something to ponder about! 

Alternatives to conventional public school education like home schooling or the Internet are available and legitimate in the U.S.!

Time to privatize children education!

"Public education nationwide is not as free or equal as many would like to believe it is.

Most K–12 school children are assigned to their public school through geographic school districts. Educational opportunities are largely determined by where parents can afford to live. Congress acknowledged this in a 2019 Joint Economic Committee report stating, "Families are faced with the reality that attending a high-performing public school often requires paying more for housing, and many students' educational opportunities are limited as a result." ..."

High-Quality ‘Public’ Schools Don’t Want Low-Income Students School enrollment based solely on geography must come to an end.

Microschooling thrives in Arizona

Good news! Why federalism and decentralization of government is so important! It is high time to privatize the education of our children!

"Microschools, small schools that educate five to 15 students, have been among the most interesting recent developments in the K–12 reform world. Neither homeschooling nor traditional schooling, they exist in a hard-to-classify space between formal and informal learning environments. They rose in popularity during the pandemic as families sought alternative educational options that could meet social-distancing recommendations. But what they offer in terms of personalization, community building, schedules, calendars, and the delivery of instruction will have appeal long after Covid recedes.

One of the most prominent microschooling networks, Prenda, was founded in 2018 in Mesa, Arizona’s third largest city. It has experienced dramatic growth largely because of the way it attracts parents like those interviewed for this paper. It is no coincidence that Prenda’s emergence and expansion took place in Arizona, which has been a national leader in education innovation for a generation. Arizona’s cultural and policy environment foster and promote experimentation, diversification, and parental choice. The state’s thriving charter-school sector—no state has a higher percentage of students in charters—has developed an expansive, varied set of choice-based public schools. For decades, Arizona’s traditional public schools have been part of the state’s open-enrollment system, making more than a thousand district-run schools part of a choice system. And Arizona has been a national leader on private-school choice, passing the nation’s first “education savings account” program and today, via an array of state programs, enabling more than 100,000 students to access nonpublic schools. ..."

How Years of Policy Choices Enabled Microschooling to Thrive in Arizona | Manhattan Institute

Cities Lead the Way in (Another) Massive Fall Exodus from US Public Schools

Recommendable! Good news! The Founding Mothers and Fathers probably never intended that government would run K-12 education as it does today in such a uniform and one size fits all manner imposing the ideological fashions of the day on children!

As a parent today, I would also have to choose between home schooling and private schools!

"Fewer Students, Less Funding ... Privatization Is a Good Thing"

Cities Lead the Way in (Another) Massive Fall Exodus from US Public Schools - Foundation for Economic Education Los Angeles, Chicago, and Seattle are among the cities to see public school enrollment plummet for a second consecutive year.

End government compulsory schooling

If there is one subject that shows that government of liberal Western countries have too much power and control over their citizens, then it is compulsory school education for children.

In the 21st year of the 21st century, the usual arguments in favor of government compulsory schooling are much less convincing. Take the egalitarian motive: Well those citizens, and there are many, who can afford it have in the past and will continue in the future to enroll their children in expensive private schools anyway! 

Then there were also more historically sinister motives for why government needs to be in charge of children's education: Soldiers that can read, write, and do basic math are better for empire building.

If we believe in that most citizens are responsible, mature, moral, and autonomous free citizens, then government cannot force the children of these citizens to go to school. These citizens naturally aspire to have their children receive the best education possible.

Government will still have a role to play: E.g. some regulations regarding the e.g. the safety of education or to prevent criminal enterprises; to step in when the welfare of a child is in danger e.g. when parents or guardians for the child are not available or unwilling to educate their child at all.

Government run schools can exist side by side and compete with private schools. Give citizens a choice! More competition please among educational institutions!

Once the government compulsion is removed more citizens will step up to provide better education to e.g. disadvantaged children. Thus, positively reinforcing better and more engaged citizens! A virtuous cycle!

For classical liberals this state of affairs is not acceptable! Government compulsory schooling as we know it needs to be abolished or seriously reformed!

The Case for the Private School by George Schuyler

Recommendable! Keep in mind this article was published 1956.

"A century ago education (about 1850) was almost entirely privately supported and controlled throughout the United States. ... Under this diverse system based on various educational philosophies and with widely varying curricula ... regimentation of instruction was impossible, and there was wide experimentation. This diversity by its very nature enriched our culture. ...

It is difficult to see the justice of compelling those who are paying already for private instruction to be taxed additionally for government schools to which their offspring do not go or to which they would prefer not to send them. ...

There is a real and present danger in regimented government education which an expanded private school system would allay by its wide variety of curricula and de-centralization of control. Courses of study laid down by, or increasingly influenced by, a central administration can be disastrous if not in step with changing requirements in an evolving society."

The Case for the Private School - Foundation for Economic Education

FastFacts: Privatschulen in Deutschland

Ab und zu, aber viel zu selten, gibt es auch mal was Positives zu berichten aus der Bananenrepublik Deutschland!

Mehr Privatschulen braucht das Land!

FastFacts: Privatschulen in Deutschland - IREF Europe Jahr für Jahr werden in Deutschland über 700.000 Kinder neu eingeschult. Zum Start der Schullaufbahn und beim Wechsel auf höhere Schulen stehen jedes Jahr viele Eltern vor der Wahl, auf welche Schulen ihre Sprösslinge gehen sollen. Im Vergleich zu den frühen 1990er Jahren besuchen heute deutlich mehr Schüler Privatschulen. Während 1992 nur 4,8 Prozent aller Schüler an allgemeinbildenden Schulen in privaten Schulen lernten, lag der Anteil im Jahr 2019 bei 9,2 Prozent.

The Child Soldiers of Portland

Recommendable! A very long and drastic description of what is going on in Portland, Oregon and surrounding areas! Privatize public education!

What a freak show in Portland, OR! No wonder some counties in Oregon want to secede!

The Child Soldiers of Portland | City Journal Public schools are training children to become race-conscious revolutionaries.

Frequently politics is mere and persistent exploitation of fears and superstition

Although, we live now in the 21st century, with all its accumulation and command of knowledge gained over several millennia, politics is still often driven by exploiting the fears and the superstition of the people.

Latest examples: Global Warming hoax, Climate Change religion, Covid-19 pandemic response etc.

Why are politicians still successful with such obviously fabricated manipulations? 

One of the main culprits why people are still so gullible: Government run education of our children (previously I blogged e.g. here, here about it)! The rather uniform and homogeneous indoctrination of our children happens right there! It is long overdue to largely remove government from operating our schools and the determination of curricula! Eliminate compulsory education! Privatize public education of our children! How about that for real diversity! Let parents decide what their children learn! Give poor parents vouchers etc.
Let free markets and individual liberty handle the education of our children! Let public education compete with free market private education! In the age of online learning this can even be achieved much easier!

Our elected politicians are themselves very often products of that same government run public education!

If you want a better future for yourself and your children choose small and little government and more individual liberty! Back to the basics of the Founding Fathers and Mothers!

The Myth that Americans Were Poorly Educated before Mass Government Schooling

Very recommendable! Privatize public education!

"... Well into the 19th Century ... "parents did not even consider that the civil government in any way had the responsibility or should assume the responsibility of providing for the education of children." Only one state (Massachusetts) even had compulsory schooling laws before the Civil War, yet literacy rates were among the highest in our history. ...
Great Britain experienced similar trends. In 1996, Edwin West wrote in "The Spread of Education Before Compulsion in Britain and America in the Nineteenth Century" that “when national compulsion was enacted ([in 1880], over 95 percent of fifteen-year-olds were literate.” More than a century later, “40 percent of 21-year-olds in the United Kingdom admit[ted] to difficulties with writing and spelling.” ...
Laws against the education of black slaves date back to as early as 1740, but the desire to read proved too strong to prevent its steady growth even under bondage. For purposes of religious instruction, it was not uncommon for slaves to be taught reading but not writing. Many taught themselves to write, or learned to do so with the help of others willing to flout the law. ...
Estimates of the literacy rate among slaves on the eve of the Civil War range from 10 to 20 percent. By 1880, nearly 40 percent of southern blacks were literate. In 1910, half a century before the federal government involved itself in K-12 funding, black literacy exceeded 70 percent and was comparable to that of whites. ...
[early colonialists] brought books, printing presses, and teachers with them and made the founding of schools a priority. Puritans founded Boston in 1630 and established Harvard College within six years. After ten years they had already printed the first book in the colonies, the Bay Psalm Book. Many more would follow. The American colonists were so devoted to education—inspired as they were by their Protestant insistence upon biblical literacy and by their hope of converting and educating the natives—that they created a near-miraculous culture of learning. ..."

The Myth that Americans Were Poorly Educated before Mass Government Schooling - Foundation for Economic Education Early America had widespread literacy and a vibrant culture of learning.

Boston public schools cancel new advanced classes for high performing students because of racial inequalities

When propaganda and demagoguery get in the way and foster stupid decisions! Privatize public schools!

"Boston Public Schools officials said that a program with advanced learning classes would be cancelled over concerns that the classes served disproportionate racial groups. ..."

Boston public schools cancel new advanced classes for high performing students because of racial inequalities - TheBlaze