Replying to Avatar Lucas M

And here we are, still convinced, that a nearly two century-old "education" system is the best way to create a happy life. No wonder so few lack effective critical thinking calabilities. I am VERY happy to see homeschooling becoming a more prominent approach, though.
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RedTailHawk 2mo ago

I used to teach critical thinking and math to students of all ages at a supplemental learning center for years.

My students won awards at national math and critical thinking test competitions every year in increasing quantities.

Other than the students who earned medals, all of my students, as a whole, outperformed both national and international averages every year in increasingly larger margins each year.

Our learning center was the exact opposite of the Prussian model. We didn't treat our students in a one-size-fits-all way. We neurologically profiled each of our students to inform our efforts to lovingly tailor the curriculum and our interactions to each unique individual in ways best suited for their development and success.

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Lucas M 2mo ago

Do you still keep in contact with the center? I'm only asking because I'm curious if the educational quality has stayed the same, degraded, or has perhaps improved. Sometimes it degrades when a larger number students begin attending. Not always, of course.

My kids attend a co-op that uses a unit study-based curricula system. In the usage of neurological profiling per individual student, it's very similar to what you described.

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RedTailHawk 2mo ago

That center no longer exists. The director shut it down over a decade ago.

There was a non-compete agreement.

After the non-compete agreement's period had elapsed, a new center was opened.

I've helped out there a few times but that was years ago.

As far as I know, the director is still excellent at diagnosing, profiling, and teaching when it comes to students but the director has other issues (emotional, political, social, and financial issues to name a few) that compel me to avoid the new center.

You're right that scaling was a major issue with which we had to contend. The scaling requires high quality teachers who are well trained, observant, and insightful. Obviously people like that are not typically interested in working for $15/hour with no benefits. That meant we were stuck trying to develop talented high schoolers to serve as classroom instructors which worked but, understandably, led to significant rates of employee turnover which means new trainees and more time sunk into training them every few years.