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Section 2
Young Life
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Homeschooling gains steam as US debates school choice by Maggy Donaldson
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ASHINGTON | AFP | - As her eldest son conjugates French verbs with a tutor, Emily Bradley coaches her three-year-old in speech, while her daughter tackles math drills in the kitchen using colored rods that represent numbers. None of Bradley’s four children -- the eldest of whom is nine -- have ever attended school. She plans to keep it that way as she seeks both to personalize their education and lay a Christian foundation for them. The Bradleys are among the roughly 1.8 million US students who are homeschooled -- a fast-growing community whose approach may find a champion under Donald Trump’s controversial new education secretary, Betsy DeVos. Their 36-year-old mother is no fan of the incoming president, but she is all “in favor of alternatives to education” -- which DeVos strongly supports. “I don’t think that the American education system is very good,” she said. “I can do it better.” Bradley’s kids join some 20 other homeschooling families in the capital Washington for weekly enrichment courses with “a biblical worldview.” After opening the day with a psalm and the pledge to the American flag, kids disperse for parent-taught lessons in subjects including math, literacy and the arts.
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ARIS, France | AFP | Tuesday 3/14/2017 - 21year-old woman with Down’s Syndrome, broke new ground for the disabled on Tuesday by presenting the weather forecast on French national TV.
FRIDAY, March 24, 2017
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Down’s woman presents weather on French TV
Segard provided a summary of the weekend weather on France 2, achieving a personal goal that she hopes will also boost awareness for people with Down’s. She soared to prominence after an advocacy group, UNAPEI, launched an awareness campaign ahead of World Down’s Syndrome Day on March 21, entitled “Melanie can do it.” Roughly 1.8 million US students are currently homeschooled (AFP Photo/) In nearby Northern Virginia, some 350 families take a similar, albeit secular, approach, supplementing their homemade diet with weekly classes at Compass Homeschool Enrichment. - Minimal oversight While many early homeschoolers cited religious reasons for their choice, today they comprise a wide range of demographics -- some three quarters of whom cite their dissatisfaction with the other school options available to them. Individual US states govern homeschooling families with a patchwork of policies that generally include minimal oversight, and there are concerns from some critics who fear children could lose out on a rounded education, or even be exposed to neglect or abuse. Less than half of states mandate testing for homeschoolers, according to
investigative website ProPublica. Approximately one-third do not require teaching specific subjects, and most of those that do have no means to ensure parental compliancy. Christopher Lubienski, an education policy analyst at Indiana University, has described the level of deregulation as “concerning.” “There is a larger societal responsibility to all children. I don’t think that precludes homeschooling as an option, but we have a responsibility to make sure that parents are doing right by their kids,” he told AFP. The classes at the Compass homeschool program are a way for families to address two oft-voiced concerns about homeschooling: that it limits children’s socialization, and that older kids need input from specialized teachers, especially in science and technology.
Kids ages four to 18 choose from an array of courses -- taught by hired experts -- including foreign language, chemistry, chess and acting. Kristin Yashko, 47, brings her three children here, and homeschools the rest of the week. “The benefits are off the charts,” said Yashko, who worked as a speech therapist in public schools for several years. “I encourage the teachers -- I support them -- but I just thought that we would be able to provide a better experience.” - ‘Outside the box’ Yashko’s 13-year-old daughter Aldrin said she “wouldn’t have thrived as much” at a traditional school. Gripping a book of short stories, Aldrin described her typical day as “pretty lax” -- she works on math, peruses the newspaper, studies several languages and sometimes watches a
On her Facebook page, Melanie announced that her dream was to present the weather, and vowed to do it if she scored more than 100,000 “likes.”
On her Facebook page, Melanie announced that her dream was to present the weather, and vowed to do it if she scored more than 100,000 “likes” (AFP Photo) cameras.
France 2 heard of the buzz and gave her a chance.
Segard, shy and clearly moved by the event, was flanked by the channel’s forecaster, Anais Baydemir, who paid tribute to her flawless delivery, as did her fans on Twitter.
Before her broadcast, the channel showed her rehearsing her lines and being made up for the
“A magical television moment,” said one. “Bravo, Melanie, we are all equal,” said another.
documentary.
Yashko is confident about her children’s higher education prospects.
About 3.4 percent of US students are homeschooled, according to the latest 2012 estimates from the National Center for Education Statistics -- a population that has more than doubled since 1999.
“Colleges are looking more for kids who can kind of think outside the box,” she said. “Instead of just memorizing facts and spitting them out for a test, we want our kids to actually be ready for the work world.”
Trump’s newly minted education secretary is a forceful advocate of school choice, a movement that calls for US government funds to be diverted to families who leave the public school system.
Within 10 days, she had picked up 200,000 “likes” and drawn a following of thousands on Twitter.
She does plan to attend college: “a little bit of exposure to the school structure would be good.”
Melanie herself tweeted, “That’s it, I’ve done it, I’m finally a weather girl,” adding: “I am different, but I can do lots of things.” Down’s syndrome is the most common genetic form of intellectual disability. Also known as trisomy 21, the condition is caused by the presence of an extra, or third, copy of chromosome number 21. Humans normally have 23 pairs of chromosomes, which together contain up to 25,000 protein-coding genes. Around one in 1,000 people have Down’s, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In France, there are an estimated 65,000. A 19-year-old Down’s woman, Laura Hayoun, who presented the headlines on news channel BFMTV in 2013.
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