Reply To: Online Learning

If this would be offered by the schools themselves, I think it would resolve all of your issues.

1) There would still be a classroom setting and an adult supervising. However, there would be no need for a secular studies principal and licensed teachers with a Master’s degree etc; as they are just supervising for discipline and not instructing and there is no staff to supervise. Also, it would be possible to combine classes and have a much larger class size. While one teacher cannot teach a class of 50+ students, an individual could supervise them.

2) Using some napkin math; currently, average high-school full tuition is approximately $12,000, which is presumably the cost to the school of providing that education. Of that, around 1/3 is for secular studies; or around $4000/year/student. This company is proposing a mere fraction of that cost. If we save ~$3000yr/student, that savings goes somewhere. Hopefully, the school will pass it on the parents.

3) Actually, language has long been successfully taught without teachers, think Berlitz etc. In any event, this company offers a full curriculum at a set price.

4) The devices they offer are Chromebooks and they retain administrative rights. This enables them to have complete control over which sites, and even programs, the student can see and run. The students could not even play solitaire on the computer unless it is approved. Obviously, the internet connection should be password protected so no other devices can be attached. This password can be pre-loaded into the Chromebook so the student has no knowledge of it.

In short, it seems this could save ~$3000/student/year with little drawback. For a typical frum family, that is tens of thousands of dollars every year. Not to mention that it offers a higher quality of individual education than currently available.

I think every school should at least seriously consider if it is appropriate for them.