My eldest is homeschooling via online courses. He's taking two CTY courses that are fantastic. One is Forensics and the other is From Structure to Style (English). I highly recommend these courses. His writing has improved considerably in only five weeks, and the English course is an important reason why.
However, he wasn't happy with an AP history course offered through CTY because it had a big emphasis on memorizing and regurgitating and very little emphasis on patterns and motivations in history. As a test prep vehicle for the AP exam, it's probably pretty good. But when judged against teaching about how historical events unfold and why, I think it's a failure. I did my first degree in history and have published in the field, and therefore believe I have a reasonable understanding of how the discipline should be practiced. Memorizing factoids and writing essays in 45 minutes or less (part of the course) isn't it.
Someone from CTY called me this morning to ask about why DS dropped the course. I talked about the differences between the history course and the other classes. A key one, IMO, is that Forensics and English are homemade by the teachers, whereas AP history is a canned course from a big company. IMO, the homemade courses are superior. The teachers' enthusiasm for their subjects is abundant and obvious and the classes serve the needs of gifted students very well. For example, the English class requires that students think HARD about
how they write and
what they write. The canned course is what it is: generic test prep for a broad audience (IMO).
The woman from CTY told me that they're thinking of licensing in a bunch of courses from a company called
OdysseyWare. I looked at their site. The courses aren't designed for gifted students. I saw things like Aligned with Common Core! and Differentiated Instruction! and Success for at-risk students! There was lots of what I perceived as generic EducationSpeak. Perhaps this approach is good for most students, but I question the fit with gifties.
I may have been too blunt (
), but I said that inlicensing too many canned courses that aren't aimed at gifted students would dilute the CTY brand. I also said, "Why should I pay a premium for OdysseyWare via CTY when I can get the same course for half the price?" She countered that "Our teachers are so great," but I countered back that canned online courses don't really lend themselves to great teaching because the teacher has to follow a prescribed syllabus. And besides, they aren't designed with the needs of gifted students in mind,
yet CTY is supposed to be all about gifted students.
I suggested that CTY hire subject specialists from community colleges or other tertiary-level institutions, and let them design their own courses. I can see it now: "The Rise of the Dictators," "The fall of Communism," "Evolution and living things through ages." Compare to the canned courses after two or three years. Which ones get better reviews? Etc.
What do people here think?
