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Learning by Correspondence

 17-Nov-2006
Posted At : 4:18 PM | Posted By : Russell
Related Categories: Russell Rants
Mood: The usual angsty frustration
Now reading: Path of Revenge (for mistakes)

 

Anyone ever successfully completed a course by correspondence?

My younger son Alex is in his penultimate year at school (year 12). He wanted to do Geography (bless him). But they only offered it by correspondence because it clashed with his drama class.

So. The material arrived late or never. He couldn't be bothered if the administrators couldn't be bothered. It all ground to a halt. His exam is next week. So I'm giving him a crash course.

And I'm discovering just how appalling secondary school geography is. It's mired in the 1980s - there's been no curriculum review since 1990. This is not the fault of the teachers - the Ministry of Education has left the subject out to dry. Alex is having to learn stuff that academics abandoned thirty years ago.

It makes me angry. But then most things make me angry these days. 

Comments (4)

Comments

Yes, I have successfully completed a course by correspondance, and a friend successfully completed her entire High School years via correspondance (her parents travelled the country music trail every year, which only gave them about three months each year at home.) But it does need to be handled an awful lot more competently than it appears our son's has been, and a lot of stuff taught at High School over here angers me. Especially the whole take your calculators into your maths exams because you don't know how to add up

Posted By Sharyn / Posted At 11/17/06 5:27 PM

I did year 12 by corro and it was likewise impossibly silly. I did my teaching quals by corro too, and that was a much better experience.

Posted By Gillian / Posted At 11/17/06 5:54 PM

I did my Graduate Certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language via correspondence, and found it didn't really work for me. I missed the interaction with other students, and thought to myself that I require a mix of reading and hearing information for it to meld and make sense.

Then, I did my bookkeeping qualification via correspondence, and did that just fine. The difference? The grad cert was at a very high level of information and ideas, because it was a grad cert. The bookkeeping course, however, was very basic info, from the very beginning, and I was able to accept it that way.

High School, however, would be a different thing entirely. A) there's a real power to teacher-student interaction. And B) parents shouldn't know too much about what's happening in school, particularly in an area they are an expert in :)

Posted By Nicole Murphy / Posted At 11/20/06 6:11 PM

Like Nicole, I did my Grad. Cert. by correspondence. I didn't have any difficulties (awaiting final results though) but was fortunate to undertake it through a well organised and helpful institution.

PS. Have enjoyed reading your posts on the frustrations of assembling your shed!

Posted By Geoff Rollins / Posted At 11/22/06 1:31 PM