Education Options for ‘At Risk Youth’ by Julie Jackson

With today’s technological advances, educational opportunities have taken on different “faces”. No longer is a student required to attend school 5 days a week for at least 8 hours a day. They don’t have to physically “go” anywhere. With the widespread availability of the internet, student’s can now attend an online high school. Distance learning is now available to many at risk youth and it will enable them to continue their education even through extenuating circumstances.

Of course, at risk students could attend a traditional high school setting, but 9 chances out of 10 that student is not flourishing in that atmosphere. Circumstances in their home life may be interfering with their ability to physically attend school. It could be that mom is single and has to work to put food on the table, so the teenage daughter is required to stay home and take care of her non-school aged brothers and sisters because mom is unable to afford a babysitter. In this case, the distance learning environment would be a great opportunity for the student. She would be able to help her mom and also continue with her education.

People may automatically assume that a child doesn’t want to go to school, just because they have a high rate of absences, but the truth is you don’t know what (if anything) is keeping the child from attending and getting a quality education. At risk youth are characterized by the obstacles that stand in their way of receiving an education, whether it is drugs, alcohol, sex, gangs, crime and so on. We don’t have to necessarily assume that it’s the students fault or that they don’t want an education. Unless someone talks with the student to find out what the problem is, they will never know and won’t be able to help the child.

This is where caring educators come into play. It takes someone to care about that specific child and their education to help that child obtain the knowledge that he/she will need in life. If we give up on these children, they will not become productive members of society in their adult years.

At risk youth now have the option of a distance learning environment. As long as they have access to a computer and the internet (the access could even be that of the public library) they have the opportunity to continue and receive a quality education. The distance learning curriculum is based upon the same foundations as that of a traditional high school. The student will receive all of the basic courses such as: reading, writing, math, science and so forth. The program can be “tailored” to them as well. The child could be in tenth grade, but have a reading level of the 8th grade. In this case, reading would be customized to their abilities until the child reaches the right level. In reverse of that situation, the student could actually be smart and require eleventh grade studies. In a traditional school setting, this could have been overlooked based upon the child’s high rate of absences or so forth.

So, now you can see that at risk youth have other options when it comes to education in today’s society that could benefit them greatly and even more so than that of a traditional high school setting.

About The Author

To learn more about a quality, distance learning homeschool please visit Laurel Springs School. Laurel Springs School is an accredited, college prep private school offering distance learning programs and teacher services for students in grades K-12. Laurel Springs uses web-based communication tools, a standards-based curriculum, and personalized instruction to offer students the highest quality home education experience based on your child's learning style.

Visit the author's web site at:
http://www.laurelsprings.com