Flutterby™! : alternative schooling 2008-01-29 14:21:07.407653+00

alternative schooling

2008-01-29 14:21:07.407653+00 by Dan Lyke 4 comments

British academic accreditation authority grants training courses from McDonald's, Flybe and National Rail "A-level-equivalent qualifications", which I think is what we Murricans would call "high school credit". Another version of the story.

sounds cheaper than going to college for a business admin degree. is a high school diploma required? maybe we could send all the students who don't want to go to college or finish high school to mickeydee's for "training"! although, in our town the high schools change their hours for an hour later to accomodate all those students who can't show up to school on time (7:15am). will mickeydee's be willing to acomodate the lazy bums?

There's always people like Homer Hickam. A former engineer and employee of NASA (now a writer) who had to drop out of high school for some time to help his family after his father was in an accident. He worked at the same coal mine where his father was injured in order to keep his brother from having to drop out of school where he could continue on with his athletic scholarship to make something of himself. Homer competed in and won a science fair for his rocket experiments after being inspired by the Sputnik launch and received a full scholarship to college months after he had already dropped out of high school. He went back to school after that and continued on to college with an engineering degree where he stepped straight into Missile Command for the US Army and later into NASA.

Of course his isn't a common story, most people just can't afford to go to college or can't continue their high school because they need to work or provide for their families, just like little Homer did in Coalville Virginia. Maybe this will give people the second chance they need. They still need to complete their college with satisfactory grades, learning to work the fry machine isn't going to net them a PhD on it's own. Homer's story isn't common because the odds are near impossible. Maybe this edges the ability to advance themselves a little closer to the other parts of the population who wouldn't get the chance otherwise.

I have no illusions that this is the beginning of some huge groundswell, but if public education started as a way to train factory workers, this seems like it's a way to implement a little bit of specialization in that training, and to ensure that the needs of the employers are being met.

It also seems like it's a way to allow for alternative learning mechanisms. I know I loathed college and love working in the real world, I'd bet there are a lot of people like me.