So, I've been seeing a lot more articles on bullying in schools, and most of them are basically doing nothing about it. In fact, a common mindset I've noticed in quite a few of the articles have been along the lines of "eh...it'll blow over..."
Bullshit.
But I've also been thinking of an interesting solution...
A friend of mine is in online classes for college. One of the things set up is a message board (forum) for the classes. What if public schools became more like these? Now, understandably, it'd be next to impossible to get it passed due to people saying "oh, well, the kids need peer-to-peer relationships in person, not online" for a good number of reasons I'm sure you can come up with on your own, along with the obvious issue of a lot of homes unable to afford internet (although some home school programs will actually pay the internet bills, so if that could be set up too then there ya go...)
But assume for a minute that public schooling suddenly changed to a mixture of home schooling and online colleges. Class discussion and lectures would take place on a message board, where everyone can get their point across, everyone can fully understand the material (along with the easier ability to take notes, and also more effectively at that), and of course, as mentioned earlier, the idea of bullying would nearly cease to exist. I'm sure that some way some kids will still find ways to pull it off, but it also would be a stupid idea to even try because of the monitoring and moderation of the sites, and since Facebook and Google+ want to incorporate everything into everyones lives, there will always be proof of the act, so it would be much easier managed.
Kids would also be able to judge people only on their personalities, and by judge, I mean more along the lines of getting to know people, not only by their ideas and participation, but also by the way they show their personalities as well, being that most kids wouldn't feel the need to bottle up their own selves into a shell. There would be no shell to break out of eventually because there wouldn't be one there to begin with.
Everyone would be able to participate and interact the same ways as they would in person, but you would also see somewhat stronger friendships because they wouldn't be self concious about anything, since if they were to hang out in the "real world" (for lack of better words) they would do so because they would have already gotten to know each other by who they are, not what they look like. You would see more and more people hang out with more similar personalities and ideas, rather than people who have conflicting ideas and personalities, leaving behind those who may actually get along with them better, but they wouldnt know since theyve judged those people by looks alone.
Now, i have to go back to the educational side of it as well. This idea may just help the education system in America too. Less and less kids would be falling behind, and it would be so much easier to help those who still need assistance. Anyone with a learning disability wouldn't have to be hidden in the back corner, afraid to slow down the class in any way, or anyone who doesn't understand the material wouldn't have to feel like they're in the same situation as well. Everything would be in plain text. No misunderstandings, no misinterpretations, and no missed material. On top of that, taking notes can be as easy as a simple copy/paste if needed, then spending the time to put it in your own words later even to make it easier to understand. 24/7 access to any and all material, tests would be much more convenient and much more accessable for each individual to actually test their knowledge. Worst case scenario, just have a designated test location monitored by the instructors themselves.
I'm more than certain that there's other, easier things that could be set up, but there's a foundation for ya...
Using something like this would 1) lower local school district taxes, 2) save the district a lot of money, 3) severely lower, at worst case, the acts of bullying, 4) help students learn much more effectively, and gain access to further help when needed in a much easier and more convenient way, and 5) well, theres really way too many "pros" to list, but im sure you get the idea by now...
Why not at least try a system like this? Why not at least make an attempt to make some home school programs take this into effect to see how it works out?
....oh yeah.... the state would be losing money....
...wait... NO IT WOULDNT!!!!!
The state, hell, the whole country, would be SAVING a lot of money... no major utilities, no constant maintenance bills, and so on and so forth... not only that, but it would even make full benefits of the current, shitty school budget cuts...
also less drop outs, and long term, a BOOMING economy...
But what do I know, I never got the chance to graduate my high school.... must make me retarded or something, idfk...
Just think about it for a bit....
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