Rapid Spread of Virtual Schools

Online school programs, like K12, are spreading quickly across the country. In the United States, there are 250,000 students attending virtual public school out of 50 million school-aged kids in the country. There are virtual public schools from Boise to one even in our very own state of Massachusetts. This article caught my eye because for the first time this year, I am taking Latin I, a Virtual High School course that I would not have otherwise been able to take. It has so far been a great experience because things are done differently online than in the classroom and there is a lot more of independent learning. However, this article writes about kindergardeners taking full time virtual school on a computer. To me, that just doesn't seem right because when you are in elementary school, you begin to learn the very basis of knowledge that needs to be learned correctly. Also, you learn how to make friends, which you can't really do on a computer. I can see that virtual public school would be a good approach for a couple scenarios. Maybe a victim of bullying, a kid who just can not learn from the approaches of their teachers, or an young athlete who has practice five hours a day. Another variable of this virtual public school is that the parents need to be "learning coaches" to their kids and have an important role in their schooling. If there is no learning coach, the student will fall behind and not succeed. I think the virtual school at a middle school and high school age is good because the school can offer courses that the public school doesn't have and it can also get students used to online resources.

Lyndsey Layton and Emma Brown both utilize research specific rhetorical strategies that appeal to the logos and ethos of their audience. The organization of their article "Virtual schools are multiplying, but some question their educational value" is broken down into headings of "Seizing an opportunity", "No need for the bus stop", "Mixed performance", "Cost to taxpayers", and "Targeting rural counties". This organization helps the audience follow all of the aspects of the K12's virtual public school program. Layton and Brown write of the history of K12 and its political allies throughout the years. There are the differing costs of attending a K12 virtual public school from different counties in one state to different states, where it would cost $3,728 in Florida, $5,000 in Massachusetts, and $6,200 in D.C. This appeals to the audience's logos and how much money they would be willing to spend for their child's virtual public school. Another technique that Layton and Brown use is that they write about the Hirata family and how their two children are enrolled in the K12 program and why they enrolled. This appeals to the audience's ethos and allows them to compare their situation to the Hirata's. In The Washington Post's "Virtual schools are multiplying, but some question their educational value", Lyndsey Layton and Emma Brown appeal to their audience well as they fully report their research on the K12 virtual school program.

Source: Layton, Lyndsey, and Emma Brown. "Virtual schools are multiplying, but some question their educational value." The Washington Post 26 Nov. 2011, sec. POST Local: n. pag. The Washington Post. Web. 27 Nov. 2011.