Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Having just finished a classic book about the rapidly failing American education system, I was wondering about a solution. Home schooling is growing expontentially, as parents see they can`t win the battle against the monopoly of government education. At the same time, after-school activities predominate, as dual-career working parents look for ways to handle after-school child care.

Setting aside the argument over whether or not children`s self-esteem and free time are worth more than an education, here`s my thinking. Why not have a franchised, standalone, brick-and-mortar "After School" business?

It would be like a dance or martial arts studio, but would offer real education instead of the nonsense taught in regular school. Kids would sign up for sessions, and the studio would offer sessions in basics: phonics (reading), writing, basic arithmetic (logic), and standard history (judgement).

Employees would be teachers or tutors who want out of the insanity of public education, and sessions would be available year-round, without summer vacations. Homework would be minimal, instead being accomplished during the sessions.

This would provide a physical, supervised location for kids (maybe before high-school only?), so parents could continue to pay someone else to look out for the kids. At the same time, the teaching methods would be widely different from public schools, focusing on what actually works in education.

Already there are mathematics institutes done as a franchise, and we had a SuN community member some time ago who was selling off a science business along these lines. We`re about to reach a critical mass where few kids graduating from high school actually can function in a real-world situation. At that point, there`ll be a revolution in the parent world, and demands for solutions.

Whomever has this type of consolidated educaiton system based on objective standards, likely will be positioned to scoop the industry.

-------------------------

Darien Brown
dbrown02@gmail.com

Well, there ya go then...! Anyone who wants to take advantage of the idea, feel free. I think it`d be a tremendous money-maker, and it would do a whole lot of good for our society along the way. I had no idea it already is being done in Korea, but I DO know that Korean students are among the brightest in world statistics, and that the Asian work-ethic is well above the US standards.

I have no clue how this would be put together, that`s up to whomever decides to implement the idea. I do believe it would best lend itself to a franchise operation of some sort, though.

And yes, I`m thinking of the connection between child-care and education, together with the "throw money at the problem" mentality of most people these days. :-)

-------------------------

Darien Brown
dbrown02@gmail.com

No, America is struggling to remain innovative, and in the coming decade, the collapse in the education system will show in the downward spiral of innovation, development, and competitive edge.

I don`t mean to say Korean students are innately smarter---that`s not the contextual meaning of "bright" I had in mind. Instead, I mean that they and other Asian kids are scoring the highest on standardized tests that have NOT been graded downward to accommodate student self-esteem and feelings.

Based on what the author of the book suggests, neither he nor I believe any of the proposed solutions to the US education problem will happen, unless they take place outside the massive bureaucracy and monopoly of gov`t. controls.

To that end, a private entry combining childcare with real-world education would likely help solve the problem AND make someone a whole lot of money in the process.

As to it being "popular" to be down on the American educational system, that implies that it`s merely a fashionable statement without much urgency behind it. Unfortunately, that`s the problem with America in general, circa 2000. People believe we`re not all that bad off, we`ll "muddle along, somehow," and that nothing really serious is going wrong with anything.