Just wanting people's thoughts.

Schools are important. Not properly educating a generation of children proves to be a detriment to the entire population. But it seems to me that schools, or teachers, usually offer only one way of teaching entire groups of people/children- despite the spectrum of lerning types. Even though it has been a known fact for a long time that different people learn differently- but especially those with LDs and, keeping this to the point of the forum, AD/HD.

I have had four different learning experiences. All of them have their advantages and disadvantages. But I'm interested in anyone's ideas on how to meld these, and other methods of teaching, together as a brainstorm for a school that would appeal to all kinds of children, but ESPECIALLY those with LDs.

1) typical public school ed: huge class to teacher ratio. Broad range of classes- basic math, basic science, basic art, basic music, sport programs, basic reading/literature/grammar, basic computer skills. But often children with LDs are overlooked in this system. I'm sure at least most people here have experienced this.

2) private school for children with LDs: small class to teacher ratio. Very basic studies, taught at a slow pace, including basic anunciation/auditory distinguising classes, social behavior classes. No bright colors, no posters, drab dress code- to eliminate visual distractions. Hands-on math teaching (using blocks instead of numbers at first). Extremely strict rules, such as walking down the right side of the halls and stairs ALWAYS. Complete silence often enforced, except during lunch and recess. Non-competitive sports (except dodge-ball, still a nightmare). NO ART, HARDLY ANY SCIENCE, NO MUSIC, NO EXTRACURRICULAR PROGRAMS OF ANY KIND. Creativity purged supposedly for the sake helping the children focus on 'reality' and hold still. Very strict system of rules- hard for kids with LDs to follow, but punishment for breaking even the smallest rule was still swift and unforgiving.

3) special ed in public school: one teacher to handle all of the students, but he/she gives each of them individualized attention and tutoring despite the broad range of 'disabilities and problems' the children in their program have... At least in theory, anyway! But the time between the teacher and student is short, so to take up the rest fo the day reading material and 'ditto' sheets are assigned, if appropriate.

4) casual public education/ magnet schools: moderate teacher to class ratio. Diverse student body in every respect. Loose and fun environment, students (for the most part) respected and given some amount of individual consideration. All students challenged to push their own boundaries. But sometimes they are pushed to far and expected too much of. And the casual environment sometimes lost the students with 'behavior problems', and they were sent away to be 'some other school's problem'. Some programs were weak, others strong, leaving gaps in the level of teaching between different diciplines.

In all of these environments, there were still terrible teachers, bullies, clicks, bully-teachers, kids that were allowed to fall through the cracks; but each has it's advantages along with the disadvantages in varying proportions.

.. I'm in a fifth school experience now in a public university, but I can't define what the methods are yet! Syllabus, lectures, labs, tests, papers, choose your own classes, credits, hoops, some great teachers, some bad teachers, very diverse student body, some huge classes, some smaller ones- wide range of ages and student body diversity. Experience varies by class, and teacher, and subject matter. But we can either make the most of it ourselves, or flounder and have to help ourselves, or just not care and no one else will- we pay for it.

It's not that I'm about to open a school or anything! I'm still in school myself; and most likely won't enter into the field of education. But I'm just interested in other people's educational experiences, and what others would envision as 'their ideal school', if there is such a thing!


This may be pointless, but how 'bout it? If you had the power to open a school next week, what would it be like? What's worked for you? What has not?

The frustrating thing about this for me is...

I went to Toronto School of Business for computer education.

In some ways, it WAS the ideal school for me. Small classes, very fast paced, concentrated learning schedule. I was twice lucky in that all of my teachers were very very good, and also in that my fellow students were focused and committed. We had a twice weekly study group that we all attended that was entirely optional; about 4-7 of our 12 member class usually showed up.

I flourished in this environment. I became top member of my class, had to fight tooth and nail for the spot too, because there were two or three students also gunning for the position who were dedicated and intelligent. I am highly competitive, especially in matters of the mind, so this also helped to motivate me. I achieved a typing speed of 82 wpm (previous to going there it had been 22 wpm). I got my A+ Certification.

Then I discovered after leaving that the $10000 and a year spent getting the diploma and the loss of the job prior to going back to school had all been wasted.

Nobody respects a diploma from TSB in the workplace, and in the first three months at my computer job that I got by shameless nepotism, I discovered why.

I hadn't learned ANY practical information about computers at all.

I am a computer wizard now... I can solve anything, or find out how to solve it... but I learned all of this in the school of hard knocks, desperately trying to convince my boss not to fire me before my probationary period was over...

Sounds rough! It's really cool that you were able to keep your head above the water and teach yourself what you needed to learn.

That's too bad that the learning environment you feel worked best for you also left you unprepared for what came afterwards. I can kind of relate; but I've had to just go back to school because I don't have that kind of disipline or knowledge to support myself by what I do best. The really casual high school that I went to was also my ideal learning environment; but it had the weakest art programs you could imagine, except photography, (how about an art teacher who hates teenagers and art!) and I wasn't able to do much with myself after high school and dropping out of college once. So, back in school.. I haven't had any great revelations about my future yet but I am learning- a lot. Ow, my head!

I don't remember who-from, but I vaguely remember hearing from someone else who works with programming and such that they went to an excellant technical school yet also lacked the practical skills neccesary for their future work. I think he ended up taking night classes somewhere to get the basics while trying to salvage his job. Don't remember if they made it or not! Maybe this is a common problem!

Okay, so, lesson one: Always cover the basics from the ground up and go from there.

lesson two: Anticipate the future needs of the students.

... from what I've been reading here it sounds like homeschool is the way to go!