Sandra Dodd

http://www.creatinglearningcommunities.org/resources/
lifelonglearning.htm

Bill Ellis sent this (I guess because of the exchange with Isaac
Graves on this list). He sent the whole text, which I don't want to
do here, but for those of you whose incalcitrent relatives are
wanting "proof," there might be things in that (and that site in
general) you can use to quote.

Here's a section:

-=- Considerable research has shown that students learn much
more easily when they self-learn. As long ago as 1930, the "8 Year
Study" of 30 special schools demonstrated that: "The most effective
schools used a different approach to learning. Instead of organizing
learning by subjects, they organized it around themes of significance
to their students." There seemed to be an inverse relationship
between success in college and formalized education as opposed to
student selected learning.
-=- A recent Cornell University study confirmed this and showed
that schooled children become "peer dependent" while those who
learned with their parents have more self-confidence, optimism, and
courage to explore. A Moore Foundation study of children of parents
who had been arrested for truancy found that their homeschooled
children ranked 30 percent higher on standard tests than the average
classroom child.
-=- Providing possible insight into the reasons behind these
successes, a UCLA project showed that the average schooled student
receives 7 minutes of personal attention a day but the self-learner
receives from 100 to 300 minutes of attention daily. Following this,
a Smithsonian Report on genius concluded that high achievement was a
result of time with responsive parents, little time with peers, and
considerable time for free exploration.
-=-

Thanks, Isaac, for stirring that up for us. I've been to that site
before, but it's good to be reminded, and this list gets new members
constantly.

Sandra