Homeschoolers Use the Internet, Too.在家学习者也用因特网

文/内森·利默 译/赵敏

By Nathan Leamer

As pandemic lockdowns linger, the“homework gap,” a growing divide between students with online access and those without, is attracting increased attention. With nearly 17 million students on the losing end of this digital divide, closing the gap is a necessary goal. As many schools continue remote learning indefinitely, students without Internet connectivity are falling further behind.

由于疫情封锁继续，越来越多的人关注“家庭作业差距”——能上网和不能上网的学生之间日益明显的差距。有近1700万学生处于这一数字鸿沟的弱势方，因此，消除这一鸿沟是一个必要目标。随着许多学校无限期延续远程教学，没有因特网连接的学生正在进一步落后。

2 与此同时，一定程度上由于封控措施使公立教育受限，在家上学正越来越普及，也越来越重要。新冠疫情证明了许多公立学校未能适应远程学习计划。按照教师工会的要求，全国各地的学区往往拒绝回到全日制的面对面学习。数以百万计的孩子缺失了一年的学业，他们和父母陷入教育炼狱。尽管很难跟踪确切的数字，但最近一些报道表明，新冠疫情期间选择让孩子在家上学的家庭比例空前的高，许多家庭打算不再让孩子回学校上学。

2At the same time, partly due to the limits of public schooling amid the lockdowns, homeschooling is growing in popularity and importance. The COVID pandemic has demonstrated the failure of many public schools to adapt to remote learning programs. Often, at the behest ofteacher unions, school districts across the nation are refusing to go back to full-time in-person learning.Millions of children have lost a year academically, trapping them and their parents in an educational purgatory.While hard to track the exact numbers,recent reports suggest the percentage of families choosing to homeschool during COVID is unprecedentedly high, with many families planning never to return.

3As Michael Hansen, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institute said: “COVID-19 has helped people to see that there are other education options out there that they had never seriously considered before. It allowed people to see flexibility and think outside the box about what schooling means and how it works best for their children.” But homeschooling families are in danger of being relegatedto the wrong side of the digital divide.

4Under pressure to prop up the fortunes of public “Zoom schools,” Congressional Democrats are poised to appropriate an additional $7 billion for the E-Rate Program, a broadband fund for eligible schools and libraries administered by the FCC. Lawmakers need to make homeschooled families eligible,too. A spigot like this, turned on as a slush fund for public school interests,should not leave homeschooling parents high and dry.

3 正如布鲁金斯学会布朗教育政策中心主任迈克尔·汉森所说：“新冠疫情促使人们看到还有一些其他的教育选择，是他们以前从未认真考虑过的。它使人们看到教育的灵活性，让他们跳出固有思维模式，思考学校教育的意义、如何让教育最好地服务于孩子。” 但是，让孩子在家上学的家庭也面临着沦落为数字鸿沟弱势方的危险。

4 面对要为公立“Zoom学校”提供财政支持的压力，国会民主党人准备为E-Rate计划额外拨款70亿美元的资金，这是联邦通信委员会管理下的一个宽带基金，面向符合条件的学校和图书馆。立法者需要使孩子在家上学的家庭也符合条件。像这样的资金龙头可以拧开为公立学校输送经费，它不应使孩子在家上学的家长孤立无援。

5 鉴于“Zoom学校”的普遍性，新任命的联邦通信委员会代理主席杰茜卡·罗森沃塞尔建议机构规章将学生的家算作教室，以使他们有资格获得经费。她最近发布了一项提案，旨在批准用现有的联邦拨款购买热点和技术设备，提供给目前没有这些条件的在家学习的学生。

5 In light of the prevalence of “Zoom school,” newly-appointed FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has recommended agency rules to count students’ homes as classrooms to qualify them for funding. She recently released a proposal to authorize existing federal funding to buy hot spots and tech devices for students learning at home who currently lack them.

6 If we accept Acting Chairwoman Rosenworcel’s premise that all students should be connected at home, we should not limit the eligibility to those locked into the public school option.We should expand the E-Rate program to include families pursuing other options, including homeschooling. Parents who want to do what’s right for their kids should be empowered to seek outall the available alternatives. And for parents of homeschoolers, the idea that the living room or dining room table is a classroom is pretty standard. Families across the country have been using their homes successfully as full-time schools for decades. Increased funding for student connectivity would enable families who never considered homeschooling before the pandemic to have that conversation now.

6 如果我们认可代理主席罗森沃塞尔提出的先决条件，即所有学生都应在家有联网条件，我们就不应将资格锁定在公立学校的学生。我们应该扩大E-Rate计划，以涵盖做出其他选择（包括在家上学）的家庭。想要为孩子找到合适学习方式的父母应该能够寻求所有可能的选择。孩子在家上学的父母通常将客厅或餐桌当作教室。几十年来，全国各地的家庭一直在成功地把自己家用作全日制学校。对学生网络连接增加资金投入能让疫情前从未考虑过在家上学的家庭如今可以有这样的考虑。

7 对于许多家庭来说，探索在家上学这一选择仍然太过困难。除了孩子在家上学的父母所面临的污名和不公平描述之外，许多家庭发现根据自身经济状况，寻求其他教育形式是不可能的。如果父母双方都在工作并且无法花费时间来担任老师，则尤其如此。对于不具备因特网连接条件或连通性有限的家庭，在家上学障碍则更大。20世纪90年代我在家上学时，我们依靠Usborne和Saxon数学书籍。当前的在家上学课程采用混合的教育方法，结合了在线教学和当面指导。的确，一些让孩子在家上学的父母可能对E-Rate基金的附加条件持怀疑态度，但至少他们应该有可能成为被考虑的对象。

7 It is still too difficult for many families to explore homeschooling as an option. Beyond the stigma and unfair characterizations faced by homeschool parents, many families find it financially impossible to pursue alternative education. This is especially true if both parents are working and unable to dedicate the time needed to step in as teacher.These barriers to homeschooling rise higher for families who lack Internet access or have limited connectivity. In the 1990’s, when I was homeschooled,we relied on Usborne and Saxon Math books; current homeschool curricula incorporate a blended educational approach, with online learning experiences as well as in person instruction.True, some homeschooling parents may be skeptical of the strings attachedto E-Rate dollars, but at least they should have the option to be considered.

8 Homeschooling should not be reduced to a luxury for the well-off, or an eccentricity for the self-marginalizing,but made an opportunity for all families.Unlike the prevailing stereotype, the decision to homeschool isn’t one just made by religious families or hippies.Reporting shows that many new minority families are also homeschooling as an alternative to state-sponsored education.Otherwise, it’s obvious that closing the“homework gap” is not a serious effort to connect all students, but just another slogan to protect the union-beholden public schools who continue to put the interests of teachers ahead of children. ■

8 在家上学不应沦为有钱人的奢侈品，或者是自我边缘化人群的怪癖，而是所有家庭应享有的一个机会。与普遍的刻板印象不同，选择在家上学不仅仅是信教家庭或嬉皮士做出的决定。报道表明，许多新的少数民族家庭也选择在家上学，以替代国家资助的教育。否则，很明显，缩小“家庭作业差距”就不是让所有学生都能上网的正经举措，而只是保护公立学校的另一个口号，这些公立学校受制于工会，始终将教师的利益摆在孩子的前面。 □