The problem with modern education is organizational and practical. It made sense in the 1900s, when it was invented. It does not make any sense in 2024.
Consider the image below, which represents the modern school model:
We see that students of varying abilities (represented by colors) are collected into large groups by age. Their education is provided by a large staff of specialists, also of varying abilities and stability (also represented by colors). It’s worth noting that staff turnover in schools is close to 30%, so the teachers in grey will need to be replaced next year. Over this faculty is a number of administrators, again of varying ability. All of this staff needs to be paid full-time salaries and the large student body needs to be contained in a large, expensive, centralized school facility with expensive transportation provided.
This model was necessary because the physical books and teachers who taught them had to communicate to students in person. In the 1900s, this made sense, and though it was financially unsustainable, it was funded artificially by taxation.
In the 1990s, the internet revolutionized education. Today, there is no need for students to gather in a centralized place for access to information. Today, there is no need for students to be taught by local teachers of varying ability. Today, there is no reason for students of varying abilities to be grouped by age. Today, there is no need for large, expensive school facilities. Students have access to more resources and better teachers at home.
Consider the image below, which represents the model of education offered by the Classical Liberal Arts Academy:
In 21st century new school model, all learning resources are contained in online courses, which are accessible to all students, from home. A small staff is required to collect and maintain online resources and provide support for parents and students using them. The best resources from the best teachers from great numbers of subjects can be collected for students rather than leaving them dependent on what happens to be available locally. Parents have direct control over the content of their children’s education, what courses they study, what services they receive and they can work directly with their own children. Rather than being sorted into large classes by age, students study with their own siblings, in their own natural family environment. Rather than being limited by the school calendar of the centralized school, students are free to progress through their studies at their own pace, 365 days each year.
Some may object and say, “Yes, but parents are not experts in the different subject areas to be taught.” Neither are modern school teachers. To take one excellent teacher and suggest that all teachers offer the benefits of the best teacher is false. There are, in fact, very few excellent teachers in schools and most of them will be accessible through online courses available today.
Others may object and say, “Yes, but parents need to work.” Actually, one of the reasons many families saw both parents working was to afford tuition for the education of the children in better (private) schools. With those costs eliminated, parents need to ask why, exactly, are both parents working and whether the benefits are worth the costs. Many parents are working because they have made bad choices, setting material possessions before the good of their children and these priorities need to be re-evaluated today.
Others may object and say, “Children need to mingle with children from other families.” No children need to mingle with children from bad families. Sacred Scripture warns that “Bad company corrupts good morals.” More importantly, this social mingling does not need to take place in schools, where children should be focused on learning rather than socializing. Social life should be cultivated in more appropriate places–in churches, social organizations, extracurricular activities and, yes, their own extended families. School is not the place for socialization, as every student sitting in detention for talking or passing notes to friends knows well enough.
When we consider the unsustainability of 20th century schools, the problems are bad enough. However, when we add to this the consideration of the poor results (academically, morally and socially) of these schools, this school model becomes entirely unjustifiable. It was necessary in certain conditions and the necessary evils had to be endured. Today, it is not necessary and the evils do not need to be endured.
Students in modern schools are urged to study mathematics and science, being told of the great possibilities of technology in the future. The reality, however, is that these schools are resisting the benefits of that technology in the present. For the sake of retaining a massive system of employment for teachers and administrators, modern schools are forcing students to lose access to the benefits available to them through online learning. Those schools that are promoting online learning–in school facilities–cannot justify doing so.
If and when families begin to think about education, and realize how many benefits are available to them at home, they will need to re-examine every area of their lives. When they do, they will learn that they can enjoy a much higher quality of life and provide their children with a mush better education than is available to them in modern schools, and they can do so at a fraction of the cost of private schooling.
A simpler, sustainable, family-oriented model of learning is the future.
Mr. William C. Michael. O.P.
Classical Liberal Arts Academy
