“Being home schooled is what made me who I am today” Said Kimi Takikawa, a junior here at Piedmont College. She explains the pros and cons of being home schooled until coming to Piedmont. “I became more independent making my own lesson plans and making sure that I did my school work.” Being able to make your own lesson plans is definitely a pro of home schooling because it allows the student to go at the pace he or she feels most comfortable with. But it can also be a con allowing the student to slack off. I know plenty of students who were home schooled and graduated high school much earlier or even later than they should have. But, it is much harder for a student that was home schooled to get into college than for a student that went to public school because their transcripts are not from an accredited high school so most universities will not accept their application. Ms. Takikawa said that “Piedmont was really open; they made me feel like I was acceptable even though my transcripts weren’t from an accredited high school.”

I know that when I thought about home schooled kids I thought they didn’t have any friends or any activities to do. But there are actually sports and clubs for the home schooled to join. They aren’t deprived of a social life, they have dances, games and competitions to go to just like in a public or private school. One of the best things about being home schooled for Ms. Takikawa was that she was able to miss out on the high school drama. Who wouldn’t want to miss out on the popularity contest and the “clicks” in high school that we all wish we could just forget now? I believe that home schooling your children might not be that bad of an idea. It allows them to work at the pace that would be most beneficial to them and teaches them responsibility sooner in life.

Many Advantages, Just Not For Me

“Piedmont College is very home school friendly” Cindy Peterson, director of admissions said. “We reach out to the home school community because these students prove to be very self motivated individuals, engaging their professors, and often taking on many leadership roles.” 8 percent of Piedmont’s undergraduates were home schoolers. Although this may not seem like a large percentage, it is higher than most other colleges and universities. Piedmont’s administration strongly supports home schooling, but how do the home schoolers themselves feel about being home schooled?

Stephens County home school student, Ashlan Williams said, “I really like it. I am able to learn at my own pace and study whenever I want. My schedule is very flexible and laid back.” Williams laughed at the claim that home schoolers do not have any friends or a social life. Williams and her siblings are involved in the Currahee Home Educators in Stephens County. This is an organization made up of over 100 families with home schooled children that meet regularly and go on many trips throughout the year. “Even given the opportunity to attend a public school, I would still choose to be home schooled” Williams said.

According to ezinearticles.com, the 5 main advantages of home schooling are having a flexible schedule, receiving individual attention, spending more quality time with family members, not having to worry about peer pressure, and being able to openly teach religion. These advantages strongly support Williams’s feelings.

Although I see the definite advantages of home schooling, I still do not plan to home school my children. Debbie Payne, my mother, said, “A major part of the workforce is dealing and interacting with other people.” Even though home schoolers do have friends, they don’t experience the same day to day interactions with others students as public school students do. Sure the flexible study hours are nice but how is that teaching students time management skills at all? In the real world you are expected to be at work on time, not whenever you feel like getting there. Also, I can’t imagine graduating from high school without the memories of cheerleading for Friday night football games, going to proms and winter formals, and just daily talks around the lunch room table.

Most all of the home school students I meet are very intellectual, but I want my children to be well-rounded individuals in all aspects of life. It is all about what you are striving for individually. I understand that public schooling does have its disadvantages but to me the social interactive skills developed through public schooling outweigh those disadvantages in the long term, big picture called life.

Safe and Sheltered

With parents raising their children in the twenty first century it is easy to see the reason why homeschooling is on the rise. It seems like very day there is another Columbine High School or the University of Virginia Tech coming on the news. Keeping your children at home to teach them keeps them safe but will keeping them sheltered just hurt them worse when they enter the real world?

Homeschooling has many advantages and disadvantages. One of the main advantages is homeschoolers can be taught one on one much more. They can also be taught in the way that the child learns the best. According to http://www.blankslate.net/, “One of the biggest problems with public education is the mold. In a class of thirty or forty students, a teacher cannot possibly cater to the individual needs and must create a stereotypical student which hopefully represents the class.” One of the biggest disadvantages of homeschooling is that homeschoolers are not around their peers socializing much.

Nolan Adams a home-schooler said, “I really love getting done with school a lot faster everyday, but I do wish I had more friends and more things to do some times. I am really glad I just turned sixteen I can now go and get out and do more things on my own. I love my parents but I feel like since I am around them so much they control and are everything my teacher, providers, and I sometimes feel my only friends. Lisa Deal, a homeschooling mother, said, “It is easy for her children to be around their peers. All homeschoolers have to do is get involved. Churches have youth groups that go on trip that my children can go on. One of the biggest ways for them to get out is to play a sport with the local recreation department.”

If homeschooling is so much better then why do more people not do it? The biggest reason most of the time is both parents work and don’t have the time. Another big reason is that it is hard for students to get into college. They have to go on SAT scores alone in most places. Here at Piedmont 8% of the students were homeschooled. This is a large number for a college. Piedmont tries to get these students to come here because no other schools will cater to them. This is probably the biggest draw back from being homeschooled, but with more colleges accepting these students it would be safe to say that more children are going to started homeschooling.

Homeschool: What's really best?

Across the United States continuing numbers of parents chose to home-school their children. In a statistical analysis report conducted as part of the NHES, nearly half of parents asked said they choose to home-school their children because they want them to have a better education, other reasons included religious beliefs and seeing a poor learning environment in schools. With the failure of government legislations aimed at improving educations in schools such as No Child Left Behind it is easy to see why parents choose this method of teaching but is it really healthy?
Home-schooling has benefits that children can’t get in the regular classroom. Children receive a one-on-one education from usually their parents instead of having to share their education was a classroom full of kids it is often just themselves or a home-school group. Parents can be sure that their child is getting a good education and that they have more time for recreational activities and socialization but this is something that must be fulfilled if a child is to benefit from homeschool in their developing years.
Many parents that choose to home-school feel that their children are at “risk” to social and peer problems at school but surely sheltering them from this just creates further problems when an individual steps out into the real world. It is unfair for parents to make the “home-school” decision because of their own worries of socialization at school.
Here at Piedmont College however there are many students who have made the transition from home-school to college fine with few problems at all, there is also evidence that they are the better performers in the classroom. Freshman Emilie Garner who had home-school experience as a child says, “If home-school is going to work it’s vital that children go to a homeschool group or participate in sports for example because socialization with other peers is how children learn their social skills.”

You mean smart people DON'T go to school?

To begin this short argument, I would like to quote the words of a certain anonymous Piedmont sophomore. “Home-schoolers are weird.” I must say, I absolutely, completely, and unquestionably agree. Home-schoolers are different. Most of the time we are drug free, happy, healthy, intelligent, and above average students. This is, most definitely, a contrast from the majority of students enrolled in public institutions. However, The question of the day is not whether we are weird or strange, but rather, whether or not home-based education is an advantageous alternative to public school. Unfortunately, there is no completely right answer. Childhood education is such a complicated topic and each child is so unique, that no single unconditional answer is possible. 

If done correctly, home-schooling can be tremendously advantageous. If done wrong, it can leave the student both academically and socially inept. How can I say this? To be perfectly honest, I was home-schooled from birth until fall of last year. This fact means that I have approximately fifteen years of first hand experience, and can therefore be considered and expert in the field. I can personally attest to both the advantages and detriments of family based education. 

The pros are easy to see. As a home-schooler you have a highly flexible schedule, nearly exclusive teacher attention, and free choice of curriculum. Also, you have the ability to learn at your own pace, an idea that is often misinterpreted as learning slower; in practice, it nearly always means accelerated learning. As an example, while my sister began reading quite a bit later than normal, she is now within the top seven percent of children her age nation wide. At present she is 12 years old and reads possibly more than I, a mass communications major of Piedmont College. 

  And what are the possible problems surrounding home education? The greatest of course are lack of both social exposure and academic accountability. However, these disadvantageous ineptitude's arise only when the educational process is conducted in a parentally inept fashion. If parents chose to isolate there child, then the inevitable outcome is a social abnormality in the child. If parents choose not to make the effort to teach their child, the child will be academically impaired. The bottom line: parents have to be responsible. In the case of academics, responsibility obviously means setting high scholastic goals and insuring that they are met. In the case of social development, responsibility means supporting and encouraging children in extracurricular activities. Whether, those activities are sports, clubs, churches, martial arts, home-school co-op classes, trips to the Caribbean, horse back riding, or just neighborhood friends (note: I experienced all of these), they should always be supported by the parents. 

Interestingly, the majority of home-school families do not fall in the category of negligent or overbearing parents. Rather, they are parents with serious doubts on the public school systems ability to teach. (This information comes from knowledge of the families involved in Currahee Home Educators, the home-school organization based in Steven's County Ga.)  They see the statistics reporting american students being beaten out by the third world in standardized testing of math, reading and science, and chose to look for a better way. Therefore, the majority of home-schooling parents are in fact, extremely supportive of their children.  

Parental non-involvement, regardless of school format leads to maladjustment. Likewise, active parenting inevitably leads to healthy bright kids. Period.

Two sides to every story

The most recent Federal Government study concluded that about 2.2% of the K-12 students or 1.1 million students were being homeschooled in the United States as of spring 2003, according to time4learning.com. While this may be true, the real question lies in whether or not these students are given the same opportunities as those in public schools when it comes to developing intellectually as well as socially.

There are several disadvantages to withdrawing children from public schools for a homeschool education. The first disadvantage would be the opportunities that the students would be deprived of that are available in public schools. These opportunities could include difficulties in finding athletic facilities for children to participate in sports as well as music education programs.

The greatest disadvantage to those who receive homeschool education would be the lack in the development of social skills. This is the most crucial element to a child’s life due to the fact that they will use these skills as they grow into young adults. According to ezinearticles.com, “Social interaction with their peers and with adults outside the family is essential if a child is going to grow up with a properly balance of personality and a reasonable level of social skills.”
Amanda Underwood, a sophomore Business major at Piedmont College, says, “I agree that homeschooled students should at least be involved in some kind of sport or club outside of the house. This would allow them to develop socially, therefore making the transition into college much easier.”

Around 8 percent of Piedmont College’s student body consists of homeschooled students. While Piedmont reaches out to these students many other colleges throughout the state of Georgia do not. Cindy Peterson, Director of Admissions, says that Piedmont reaches out to those with a homeschool education. Several faculty members have also said that Piedmont’s homeschooled individuals are self-motivated and become leaders among the campus community.

With homeschooled students at Piedmont proving many of the states’ statistics wrong, it is easy to say that there are two sides to every idea. Homeschooling, just as any public education system in the state, has its problems. Nevertheless, a person must always analyze both the pros and cons of a program before jumping to any conclusion about the matter.

Home-schooling: A Better Idea Than Most Think

When the United States of America was becoming a nation, every parent in the country was home-schooling their children. If it worked at that time then why wouldn’t it work today? “Well, the times have changed.” The times may have changed, but the children’s minds have not.
Dr. William Brown, Professor of Education at Piedmont College, as well as the founder of “Home Education Coach,” a newsletter for home-schooling parents, finds home-schooling to be a good thing for the children of America. He says that “every child can’t always adapt to the curriculum of the grade. All childrens minds are different.” He also adds that “children should be home-schooled up until the second grade.” But why limit it to before the second grade? Before the second grade, children are simply “learning to read,” and the second grade is when they begin “reading to learn.”
This has to do with children making the transition from the preoperational stage to concrete operational stage as defined by Jean Piaget in the Theory of Cognitive Development. In the preoperational stage, children begin “mentally acting on objects” but not necessarily thinking for themselves. In the concrete operational stage, lasting through the age of 7-11 (or second through fifth grade), children begin to “use logic” and think for themselves. Therefore, the children that aren’t mentally prepared until the age of 6 or 7 are forced into restricting curriculum of kindergarten and first grade and end up becoming increasingly more and more frustrated with school and reading. And when National studies find that “17.5% of children will encounter a problem learning to read during their crucial first three years in school” things begin to come together.
Also, parents schooling high-school age young adults are required to follow a certain county-wide curriculum ensuring that all children are receiving equal education. Dr. William Brown also adds that students who come into college from being home-schooled tend to have more “focus,” better concentration as well as good study habits and “a better appreciation for the education they are receiving.”

Due Friday February 8

Give your opinion (or opinions) on homeschooling. Your research may include (but is not limited to) interviews with teachers, professors, friends, family, administrators; Internet research; personal observations and experience.

Lack of Communication: Media’s Flaw?

Radio, television and print; these are the top three conduits of receiving information. On Jan. 17, a two-hour delay had students asking questions to which no one had an answer. The snow day caused uproar among Piedmont students and faculty because of the campus closing. A delay of two hours set schedules to ten in the morning. The confusion arose when many wondered whether or not to report for nine-thirty classes. Also, some students thought that eight a.m. classes would proceed at ten a.m.
Resident assistant Katie Corley said, “It was frustrating because the administration didn’t set up a time convenient for Tuesday and Thursday classes. There needs to be better communication from the administration to students, whether that be through the website or by email. I called someone to see about the school’s hours and they said, ‘I don’t know’ when I was trying to answer my residents.”
A way to improve campus communication would be to have a phone tree. If the President was obligated to call Mark Maynard and Drew Davis the problem would be solved. Maynard would deliver the message to the Residence Staff and Davis would forward the message in an email or text message. Reinhardt college handles their commuters solely through email. However, if the Internet is down at the school, then she must rely on local news to post the cancellation. Today there are many types of media. However, Piedmont College neglected to use all their resources. In case of a real emergency, with what plan will the campus proceed? It wasn’t the media’s flaw of communication that was at fault. In fact, the Internet and phone lines were intact. The problem exists solely with campus communicators who left many cold and confused outside their classrooms.

Good Communication Between Administration and Students is Vital

In a small, private institution communication between faculty and staff is vital in ensuring the college provides an education and experience students are happy with. However, at the same time communication has to reinforce the mission statement of the college. This can obviously result in conflict.

As a student here at Piedmont College, I have noticed many ways in which the administration has communicated with students which has resulted in miss-communication or problems.

For example, last Thursday after the snow of the previous night it was unclear about how the campus was going to be operating for the day. Media sources from the college website and local TV channels, told students that classes would be cancelled until 10am. However a number of students who went to class at 10am found that their professor was going to cancel class anyway due to snow even though the college has announced classes would start as usual. Here professors and students all needed to have had a clear message as to what was going on with reasoning as to why a certain decision was being made.

This is similar to the confusion students have had with the attendance policy, different faculties seem to have different policies. When an argument was put forward about this at the Town Hall meeting last semester the President cleared the dispute up. This is a good example of how the exchange of ideas, “giving and receiving” can result in a positive outcome.

I think that at a small private college communication between administration and staff is vital especially as the college has the authority being privately owned to make decisions that may conflict with student’s wishes. Talking to other students attending small colleges in Georgia on the same International Program as myself they have experienced similar problems in miss-communication. I think communication and understanding on a two-way approach is necessary to a good relationship between staff and students here at Piedmont.

Communication or lack thereof

All it took was a winter storm to pass through Northeast Georgia for students to realize a complete lack of communication at Piedmont College.

On January 16 Northeast Georgia experienced its first winter storm since 2005. The roads were not only covered with snow and ice but trees were down around the county as well. This created a problem for many residents. These were the reasons that several of the counties surrounding Habersham closed their schools and businesses, which included other colleges in the area. However, Piedmont decided to remain open with a two-hour delay.

This would not have been a problem except for the fact that many of Piedmont's students were unaware of the delay due to a lack of communication on the school's part. Piedmont placed an announcement on the homepage of its website, however, the problem lied in its residents not being able to pick up an Internet signal to check the site or email. Piedmont also had a recording set up through the school telephone service. This was a good idea but many of its students didn't know the schools' number to call or were unaware that they could call. Even Piedmont's professors were unaware of the school's morning delay and were trying to rush to work on dangerous roads.

The winter storm was not the first time that Piedmont has failed to notify its students of events happening around campus. Throughout the fall semester several events took place that ended up being a bust because no students showed up. For example, on World AIDS Day the nursing school in conjunction with Rev. Dr. Ashley Cleere held a worship service at Congregational Circle. About 30 people showed up for the service. However, many were nursing students and faculty members. Other students knew nothing about the event until they walked up and saw a large group of people standing in the Quad.

It is events like these that separate Piedmont from others schools across the country. If its own students are unaware of what is happening on campus, how is the community supposed to see the success of the school?

Other schools that are similar in size to Piedmont, which include Young Harris and Savannah College for Art and Design out of Atlanta, have great methods in which they communicate with their students. One such method is having a section set up on the front page of their school website that lists several of the upcoming events. If you click on a link it will also take you to a list with events for several weeks. If Piedmont would take the time to fix Internet connection problems in its dorms, then both the resident students as well as commuters will be able to know what is happening on campus. This would also mean that Piedmont would have to constantly update its website on current happenings instead of listed events that have already past.

If Piedmont would just take the time to listen to its students or look at the example of other schools communication, it could build its greatness and expand it reach to not only current students but also prospective students. If they see the amazing things that Piedmont does for its students, they too may want to come and join the Piedmont family.

Lacking Communication

During the recent winter storm in Northeast Georgia, very little was done attempting to get in touch with the students, and even the faculty, giving those who find the college home for the majority of the day some sort of piece-of-mind.
A personal experience I have been in with another college (roughly the same size as Piedmont) proves that communication between students/faculty and administration can, in fact, be done. Upon entering Thomas More College in Kentucky, it is required that the student give a telephone number (preferably a cell) for contact upon the case of an emergency. The acquiring of a cell phone number allows the college to potentially be in constant contact with the student through a direct line. This plan proved to be useful when a county-wide tornado warning/watch was issued, at which point the student received a text message reporting the condition in the area and the steps to take for safety. Although a “simple” winter storm may not be as important as a tornado (bringing death and destruction), it can calm a worried mind and allow a person a sense of control over any situation. Although, in a place where ¼ inch of snow could be extremely hazardous, the two “disasters” could possibly be considered equal in size. In giving Piedmont the benefit of the doubt, assuming that the cell phone numbers of the residents were collected, but have they been used? In the one situation where this procedure could have been applied, no messages were received nor were television/radio stations contacted.
This problem could be fixed by cooperation with the local television and radio stations, and an updated website telling the current conditions of the school. Students would be satisfied with a simple message of “Piedmont College is still debating whether or not classes will be cancelled” or even “Piedmont College is confused at the moment.” After a “buying-time” message, a deadline should be set, a reasonable time, allowing students to sleep with a sound state-of-mind and a happy, well-informed heart.

He said, She said, They said. What?

Last Friday morning Piedmont College was three inches deep in snow. While this would not have normally spelled a problem whatsoever for the daily classes, the partial thaw followed by the prompt refreeze created black ice on roads and sidewalks alike. Because of this, students and professors have questions over wether or not classes would be cancelled. This is where the day’s problems began. While students were assured that they would have information on class cancelation and postponement at six a.m., they were not informed on where to find the information. To make matters worse, professors themselves were in a state of bewilderment over the issue. In many cases students would hear three different stories; one from other students, one from the registrar, and a third from there professors. Under the circumstances, it is quite commendable that any students came to class at all. 

One good thing to come out of Friday’s confusion is the question of school communication. Having such a mishap occur forced the school to question its communication network, and hopefully improve. Luckily, Piedmont is a college devoted to excellence; when problems occur, the administration does work to find and institute solutions.  

What are some ways to improve current campus communication? Simple. Use the school email system. Every freshman at Piedmont College has a school email address. Many students check these addresses daily. If a school wide email had been sent to the students (and for that matter professors) Friday’s confusion would have been prevented. Another way to improve on the current system of communication would be to include campus wide text messaging. Forwarding a text message is no more difficult than forwarding an email. Also, in a time of emergency, or confusion campus wide text messaging would allow the school to contact students no matter what the student’s location happened to be. Campus wide text massaging would contact and inform both students and faculty instantly. Either of these solutions would be an improvement to the current, watch the news and hope system. 

Facebook: The New Flyer

Facebook.com is a website well known by most all college students. It seems to be becoming a better form of communication between students than actually talking. With just 10 minutes spent on facebook you can learn just about anything you want to know about your “facebook friends”. You can view photos, see relationship statuses, read what your friends are writing to others, and many more social things. Facebook.com is definitely the answer to Piedmont College’s communication problem.

As a commuter I often feel left out of what is going on at the college, but after talking with residents I see that the lack of communication has nothing to do with being a commuting student. The most recent problem occurred when a snowstorm hit Northeast Georgia on January 16th and 17th. Some colleges closed for the day, others stayed opened, and a few delayed classes. Piedmont chose to delay opening two hours. Finding this out was not the problem, but understanding it proved to be a different story. I arrived at Piedmont at 1:00pm for my 11:00am class, assuming that each class throughout the day would be pushed back two hours. I was quick to learn that this was not the case, rather any class before 10:00am was just canceled. Matt Curtis, along with many other students in his 8:00am English class, also encountered this problem as they arrived at 10:00am to find their class had simply been canceled.

Another issue that occurred recently at Piedmont was that the Walker School of Business received national accreditation. Writing for the campus newspaper, I went out in search of business majors to get a good quote from one of them about how they felt about the award. The first business major I found, Andrew Beckett, responded, “I had no idea about this.” Unfortunately, I got the same response from about five more business majors before I found one that actually knew about it.

A number of events have come and gone without many students knowing about them, including myself. The events that I have known about have been brought to my attention through facebook. To improve the communication at Piedmont, I believe someone from each organization should be appointed to posting the event on facebook to everyone in the Piedmont network. I sent messages to five of my friends from high school, asking them to explain how word of events get out to students at their colleges. Within 24 hours I had responses from each of them, which shows how often college students check their facebook. Many of them said flyers and banners are posted and mass e-mails are sent out at their schools. They seem to all say these means of communication were only effective if you took the time to read the flyers, banners, and e-mails, but many students do not do this. I believe students spend much more time looking at facebook than they do flyers posted on the wall, therefore more students, whether commuting or not, would be better informed of events on campus.

Communication Within the School

There is a lot of controversy on whether Piedmont College’s method of communication with the students is negligent or not. Because Piedmont is such a small school, it is much easier to get in touch with teachers or the College offices then it is for students attending major universities. However, most of Piedmont’s communication is through the internet. E-mails are sent to the students telling them homework assignments, cancellations, or events coming up. Although this might be the fastest way of communication between students and the school, it might not be the most efficient way. What would happen if your power or your internet went out? Many students have conflicts with the method of communication in the school, especially living in the dorms. Many girls have said that GB dorms have unreliable internet and has made it hard for them to feel updated. Will Kent, a freshman at Piedmont, said that “There is so much going on at Piedmont but you don’t hear about it until after it’s happened”. Some suggestions that have been said were to post bulletins, or create a phone tree that requires each person in the class to call another in the event that something changes in that particular class. Another suggestion made was to have the TV channel committed to Piedmont College give updates on class schedules, cancellations, or changes throughout the week. For the most part, students at Piedmont don’t really complain about miscommunication between them and the school, the only change they wish would to be some form of communication other than just through e-mail.

Communication on a Two Hour Delay

Communication is a much needed thing on any college campus. Some schools have found many ways in which to effectively get in touch with their students. Meanwhile, other schools are having a hard time informing students of changes and upcoming events.

On Thursday, January 17, 2008 Piedmont students found out just how bad the communication between them and the school was. The students woke up to a snow covered ground. The school tried to get word out that classes were delayed two hours. They put this on the website. The problem with this was that the Internet was out in the dorms. They put word out to local television stations. They put this on with all of the other school closings. Most students got this message. The problem with this is that the school did not explain what the two hour delay was. Ryan Orlovsky said, “I was confused because a two hour delay in at my old high school meant you showed up two hours late. So I went to my eight o’clock class at ten. When the professor did not show up I went and found her for her to inform me what the two hour delay really meant.” The delay meant that school did not start until ten so students eight and nine thirty classes were canceled and the rest of the day was on a normal schedule.

This communication problem can be fixed though. Piedmont can look to other small schools to see how they are get word to students. Atlanta Christian College, a college with roughly 1200 students, have a great way of getting word out. Students there are required to go to one chapel service every week. If they do not go their grades can be lowered. During this service they go over all the events of the week. They also receive an email every two weeks with a two week calendar. If Piedmont would do something like this it would get students more involved and get them out of trouble making.

Young Harris College gets in touch by sending weekly emails. Every club also makes posters and puts them every where on campus. Student Jordan Burgess said, “If you do not know what is going on then you must be totally blind. With posters up on every door you enter it would be hard not to know when upcoming events are.

Nathan Dean, a Piedmont Freshmen, commented on the communication system by saying, “If the school would get the internet to work in the dorms, contact could be made. A phone tree would be a good idea; even taping posters to the doors would be nice. In my opinion the school does a terrible job of contacting students and making it clear about the cancellation or delay.”

Last semester Piedmont tried the use of mass text messages. This seemed to work but stopped all of a sudden. If weekly email and just a few other things were implanted complaining about the lack of communication and things to do. There are events happening all the time students just need to know about them to show up.

Communication Between Administration and Students

As a student at Piedmont College, I have received one-on-one attention from faculty members at the college, whether it be for academics or just personal advice. I have never had a complain with the school's administration until recently. My complain is with the President of Piedmont College, who delayed school for two hours and didn't give faculty or students any idea of what that meant. Quite a few faculty members and students trekked through the snow and/or ice to make it to their classes at 9:30 to find out that the delay meant morning classes were canceled and the day would continue as normal from 11 o'clock.

After the snow day, i realized that Piedmont's communication with students about events and severe weather directions. Being a student that lives on campus, it wasn't hard for me to walk to class and discover it was canceled and go back to my room. Yes, I was a bit frustrated with the school for having to go outside in the cold weather but my main concern was for the commuters of the college. Many of them had to miss class or drive on the icy roads to make it to class on time. A few ideas, for this improvement would be to follow the idea Millsap College came up with for their students. They made a link on their homepage that directed students to a place to log in and see if classes were canceled, sporting and other events happening on campus.

The administration should try to set up a system for students to log in a see what is going on in the upcoming week or if school is canceled. This would greatly lessen the confusion that was caused by the snow.

Communication all right with non-traditional student

From my perspective as a commuter student, I haven’t found communication to be problematic. In fact, I’ve been captivated by the individual attention I’ve received since enrolling at Piedmont in January 2005. For example, when I have registered for classes I have been amazed at how quickly the process has been facilitated. The personalized service I have received at Piedmont has been a breath of fresh air compared to my previous experience as a student at the University of Georgia in the early 1980’s. Being a part of small college community has been a much better fit for me.

With regard to overall communication, I don’t have any specific complaints about the lack of communication here at Piedmont but again my perspective is not reflective of the typical student experience.

I did take a look at a similar sized liberal arts college – the University of Montevallo located just outside of Birmingham, Al. This small college has about 3,000 students and has been in existence since 1896. I looked at their website and noticed many similarities between Montevallo and Piedmont.

I did glean something that could prove to be of value to our learning community. Montevallo has several reports available online. The reports reflect the results of surveys from several segments of the learning community – students, alumni, faculty and the greater community surrounding the college. I am unaware of this being done here at Piedmont. I have completed surveys after taking classes but have not been invited to participate in other types of surveys. This could be something for Piedmont to consider.

Perhaps it is time for a survey about communication to be offered to our own learning community. This survey could produce interesting results and the feedback could be used to create an opportunity for better communication. After all, communication is defined as an “exchange of information.” To exchange means to give and to receive. If Piedmont is to be about truly communicating, it is important to realize it is a two-way street.

Assignment Due Wednesday, January 23

What can the Piedmont College administration do to improve communciation with students? In your answer, consider any current problems with communication and how such issues are handled by other schools, especially small schools like ours.

Producing "Results"

Teaching the youth and future adults of tomorrow would seem to be a stressful enough task without interference of outside sources with regulations, but the No Child Left Behind program has certainly put yet another stress factor into the mix. The No Child Left Behind program puts excessive and unnecessary stress on teachers to simply produce “results.”
According to John Stortz, a 4th grade teacher in the Gwinnett County School System (a source with much experience in this area), the No Child Left Behind Act is one of the worst programs that could be placed into the field of education – something that he considers to be “absolutely horrible.” Stortz stresses that the teachers are given time to only teach what is on the test, therefore, preparing the students for that test and that test alone. Stortz states that the “premise behind it all is false,” believing that the government as well as the people of the United States find that our beloved country is somehow “falling behind.”
Furthermore, the classes placed in schools to “culture” their students are also being taken out. Classes such as art, music, and sometimes physical education are being replaced with tutoring sessions for students who are “lagging behind.” But this replacement also poses the question - is too much of an emphasis being placed on these classes anyway? How important are they to the wellbeing of a student? They are EXTREMELY important. With the attention span of a child being roughly 15 minutes and when a student is required to sit for hours on end reciting mindless information, this tends to be frustrating and that student looks for a creative outlet. This creative outlet is in the form of a picture with bright colors or possible a simple game of dodge ball. The program is once again causing more stress to be placed on, not only the teacher, but the student as well, disrupting the basic nature of a child.
BUT with Georgia being 40th for the 2006-2007 school year, according to the Morgan Quintno’s Press Rankings, there is much on the contrary to say about the “No Child Left Behind” program also. Is it that the schools need the improvement that this plan is aiming to provide? Is this pressure necessary to create better teachers as well as better student? The pendulum has swung too far to one side and we have taken the extreme measure of placing the young generation in an atmosphere of extreme pressure. One program that suggests a middle ground would be the Aspen Institute Commission, proposing action to be taken ONLY when “students fail to show improvement for several years in a row.” This seems to be a good plan proving that there may one day be a medium after all. J