How Accreditation Can Be Harmful: No Diploma? No Problem! (Part 5)
Categories: No Diploma? No Problem!, Léo’s Insights 2019-2020
Tags: public programming
School based public programming may work in schools, for which they were created, but they are very difficult to complete at home. These programs are designed to be delivered by a certificated teacher, not as an outline for those teaching themselves. Few agencies offering public programming make this information known.
Another thing to consider is that it is better to have never started a job than to have started one without completion. Let me explain.
A home educated student using alternatives to public programming will not have a transcript of her high school program on government record, as would be the case for accreditation seeking school attendees.
Should the home educating attempt and fail to get all the appropriate courses towards a diploma, the incomplete nature of their transcript screams dropout or failure. This is hardly the message one wants a post-secondary institution to receive.
Now, if a home educating student avoids doing any government accredited programming there is nothing to put on a provincial transcript, therefore, none is generated.
This is why we avoid public programming and developed a transcript system for students using alternative programs. These alternative transcripts have been used to meet alternate admission criteria for the non-accredited home educated and with a high degree of success.
Related to this issue of uncompleted transcripts is the question of whether or not home educated students should do a GED. For starters, GEDs also come with the stigma of having failed to complete high school. It should also be known that they are not a “grade twelve” equivalent and they cannot be written by anyone under the age of 18.
On the rare occasion that home educated students do end up writing this test, the results are pretty well useless as they rarely get anything under 95%, with 100% being the most common grade. GED’s should be avoided.
So, there you have it. Let’s review what we have learned so far.
• Legends and myths can be created through bad motivations.
• Repeating a narrative without alternatives will eventually become self-perpetuating.
• Once firmly established, self-perpetuating legends and myths eventually involve a peer pressure leading to fear of failure if one neglects to do things the way most everyone expects.
• The belief that only accredited students with high school diplomas can succeed is created by the government and a school related program designed to maximize student attendance.
• Alberta’s home educating students are funded and borderless.
• Public programs pay schools/providers better than parent directed programs.
• Home educating providers make money by attracting home educating families and more money if parents can be convinced to follow public programs.
• Accredited programs are hard to do (appropriately) and spawn the creation of an incomplete government transcript that comes with the stigma of dropout and failure, as does the GED.
• Avoiding government programs allows students to progress at will in keeping with their gifts, talents and interests, rather than following someone else’s “standard and expectation.”
• Education Unlimited has a cumulative online transcript to help parents and students document their higher level programs, which have been successfully received by post-secondary institutions across Canada.
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