One of the major reasons that after-school programs are needed is because many youth, because of lack of parental presence during after-school hours, are in unstructured environments during the hours of 3-6pm. These are the hours that many youth participate in dangerous activities such as drugs, violence, and sexual activity. However, if the role of an after-school program is to ameliorate that lack of structure, how structured should the program actually be? Should after school programs include structured academic components and be an extension of the school day? Or should the programs be less structured and more relaxing?
I believe that after-school programs should be less structured to give youth the opportunity to learn in a different setting and under different guidelines. I feel if we make after school programs an extension of the normal school day, this will turn kids off from the idea of the program and will debilitate their participation. Most youth have taken in as much as they possibly can by the end of the day when it comes to classroom learning.
After school programs need to focus on informal learning. In this way after school programs can extend what the students perceive education to be. The point is to engage students, and through this engagement, students will learn. Many times providing an opportunity to learn informally can lead to success in the formal sector of learning. The goal of after-school programs should be to implement programs that enrich and educate, but are so fun that students don't strongly connect them with the negative perceptions they have of school.
1 comment:
Great Blog, I would suggest a different color font some of the blogs were hard to read. Thank you for your efforts, I will return I am currently working with a after-school program as an youth advocate and creative writing instructor.
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