ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

One large and growing segment of alternative education consists of "home-schooling." According to Jaycox (2001), it is estimated that almost one million students are currently being home-schooled in the United States. Parents, Jaycox reports, tend to have diverse reasons for home-schooling their children although most do so simply because they feel that they can give their children a better education at home. About 39 percent of parents, home-school for religious reasons. Other, less frequently cited, reasons include transportation convenience, and a general dislike of the environment of local schools.

Rudner (1999) conducted a study using a large national sample of 39,607 home-schooled students. Findings showed that m

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nvironment is student-focused. Although many Waldorf schools both in the United States and abroad serve a standard student mix, it should be noted that some Waldorf schools are currently being used as a form of "alternative education" for many children and adolescents who have gotten into trouble. One such application has been discussed by Oppenheimer (1999) who notes that in Yuba Country California, Waldorf education is being used to teach juvenile offenders. Observations of the school left Oppenheimer very impressed by the knowledge (especially of the arts) of these juveniles. He notes that the curriculum, while arts focused, is substantial and requires a good deal of hard work on students' part. For example, one boy, with serious problems reading, had been inspired by Waldorf's focus on oral story telling to memorize huge amounts of information about Greek and Roman history. The juveniles at the Waldorf school are doing so good that Oppenheimer (1999) notes that the school principal has been told that the program can't be evaluated because she didn't have kids who were "real problems." In terms of analyzing why the program appears to have worked so well, Oppenheimer feels that it is because the school's focus is on stimulat
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Parents Jaycox, Silverman Solomon, Greek Roman, Murphy Nathan, Enrichment Center, North America, Rudolf Steiner, California Waldorf, Introduction Koetzsch, USA June, charter schools, alternative education, public school, school system, waldorf schools, waldorf school, waldorf school system, public schools, rudner 1999, oppenheimer 1999, waldorf education, 2000 charter schools, carnoy rothstein 2002, benveniste carnoy rothstein, schools north america,
Approximate Word count = 1643
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)