Easy Education Ideas on the Future

An article in yesterdays Los Angeles Times describes three instances in which immigrants, each from different countries were unable to communicate with medical staff at local hospitals because they did not know how to speak, write or understand English.

Federal law requires that healthcare providers who receive federal funding offer language assistance to patients if needed. Because federal law also requires that emergency services be available to patients regardless of immigration status or ability to pay, most hospitals and healthcare providers depend on the federal subsidies to offset a portion of the loss. Consequently they are forced to provide a language translator. Government mandated programs and services are passing these costs on to tax payers.

According to a recent study by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, one in three Los Angeles County residents do not speak English.

The most common languages spoken are Spanish, Chinese, Tagalof, Korean, Armenian, Vietnamese, Persian, Japanese and Russian. In a recent study by the Journal of Internal Medicine, 1 in 15 or about 20 million people nationwide have no or limited English speaking and writing skills.

In order to comply with federal laws, healthcare providers and legal service agencies rely on dozens of non-profit organizations, funded by the federal government, who offer language translation services contracts. According to the National Language Services Network the number of those who speak a language other than English in their home is staggering. 46 million people or 17% of the entire US population are either non English speaking or have limited English skills.

Lian Zhen Li, one of the patients unable to communicate with doctors interviewed for the Los Angeles Times story said (presumably through an interpreter) that she never needed to learn English because she lived in an ethnic enclave in the Alhambra community.

When she arrived at the hospital she was unable to communicate her problem. She was later diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

This problem is self inflicted and deeply systemic. We have laws that offer no incentive for immigrants or illegal aliens to learn English. We advertise free medical, free education, free welfare, free food stamps, free language translation services, free housing assistance, jobs and the promises of freedom and liberty.

I can’t imagine moving to a foreign country without learning to speak the native tongue well enough to live safely and comfortably. It is disappointing to me that our national immigration policy doesn’t require minimum English skills and that our laws are setup to protect and serve those who won’t take the time or make the effort to learn our national language. The promises of freedom and liberty are available to all that come here, it seems to me requiring English language skills of those that do come here, is reasonable.

Theodore Roosevelt is rolling in his grave and grinding his teeth at what we have become.

We should insist that the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man’s becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American…There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language…and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people. Theodore Roosevelt 1907

It’s almost as though homeschooling was invented for a special needs children’s education.  Kids afflicted with ADHD, autism, dyslexia or Asperger’s among other learning difficulties can all benefit from being taught at home by their parents.  Some public school systems can afford to hire trained therapists for these fields, but the extra attention and time afforded a student at home by a loved one can make a big difference in a child’s ability to learn.  It’s just natural for a parent to be able to teach their own child more effectively.  They’ve been doing it for the student’s whole life and know how to best approach new things with them.  They will likely be more patient than a public school teacher and offer the extra time it might take to learn.  A classroom would likely not be as able to offer the one-on-one time it might take until a student “gets it”.

It’s likely a parent would also know better than a public school instructor what manner of teaching would best suit their child.  Some learn better with visual aids, some by repetition and some by seeing it done for them and copying what they’re taught.  It’s very likely a parent would already know this from their own experience.  They’ll also know what to look for when a special needs child is getting frustrated and ready to act up or quit, thereby avoiding a bad learning experience for the child.

If you’re wondering what sort of curriculum would best suit your special needs children’s education, there are several avenues to get started.

We would first look on the Internet.  Non-profit groups who support your child’s disorder will likely have a presence there and should have good information about learning difficulties and how to overcome them.  They will likely make suggestions or direct you to other good sources.  They may even list case studies of various methods of learning and their success rates.

We would also try to find support groups on the Internet for your particular disease.  There will likely be several forums on the Web where you can read others’ posts and ask questions directly.  Parents on these websites are often very willing to share their experiences and will offer help when they can.  Although your child is an individual, often there can be common practices that will help almost all children suffering from a common ailment.

There are also many books available about homeschooling your special needs children.  Some are written specifically for particular disorders and offer teaching suggestions as well as curriculum selection guides.  Most are written by people who have been homeschooling their own special needs children, so they speak with experience and write in every day language, rather than from theory with medical-babble-speak.

If you start with these suggestions, you should quickly be on the road to solving how to best get your special needs children educated.  It can be as rewarding for you as it will be for your child since you will have contributed directly to his education and well-being.

Internet has provided us with many wonderful gifts – from video games to music and a lot more. Today, we can get all the information in the world with the help of internet. The online education or e-learning is the latest addition which internet has brought in front of us. These virtual classrooms on the internet have opened plenty of opportunities for students around the world.

There is absolutely no doubt that e-learning has given new incentive and hope to learn. However, you must be surprised to know that the concept of e-learning started in the early 1980’s. During that time educational institutes and companies hired qualified instructors for training their students. It proved quite expensive but there was not much option left as computers were still at a nascent stage. But the mode of instruction proved great as it allowed hands on training.

The fact that students could see the lessons and interact with other pupils made it all the more special. However, the factor of ‘blank time’ proved as a real problem for the students in the 80’s. These students were unable to study the materials on their leisure time.

Fortunately, with the growth of computer industry things started to look a lot brighter. E-training and e-learning soon became a reality. Multimedia was the next big thing! Companies started to utilize PowerPoint slide shows; a program which made people to produce creative presentations. This sophisticated technology gave new dimension to e-learning.

The first serious form of any online education in the world was experienced during 1990’s. It was the time when both multimedia and internet were at their prime. E-learning companies at that time devoted their services primarily to businesses which were not that keen to hire professional trainers. The online form of education and training proved a great success for the new employees. The training provided them the foundation and at the same time prepared them for the upcoming challenges. However, the growth of education online moved at an extremely slow pace. This was mainly because of text based course content. In the absence of charts, diagrams, and pictures, learning became boring and dull. Nevertheless, the concept still managed to generate a good amount of interest among the people. The positive response gave birth to fresh online course content. And soon upgraded online study materials were available for various courses. The growth continued slowly and steadily for a good period of time and nowadays you can even do an online MBA from the comfort of your home.

The UK universities have given a whole new dimension to the concept of online MBA . Moreover, the value provided by their course content has been recognized by the professionals all over the world. Their management courses are designed and tailor made keeping in mind the practical aspect of learning. Students find learning fun and easy in the presence of virtual campus and online chat sessions. They also get the opportunity to solve all their doubts and queries with the help of various online tools.