In China last year there were 8 children trampled to death by their fellow students in a rush to leave their late night study sessions at 9:15 p.m. Also last year, you may recall President Obama’s comments after visiting South Korea and talking with officials about what they believe is the biggest problem in South Korea’s education system—“The parents are too tough on their children.”
At the same time, I hear every “expert” say that the only way Americans will retain their global economic superiority is through the continued education of our population. I mentioned before that I have a 9th grader and a 4th grader. Both seem fairly bright, both are pretty much straight “A” students, but they (and their peers) do not seem to be working very hard to attain such “lofty” results. They certainly aren’t in study sessions every night until 9:15 pm!
Is our education system “better”, I hope. Although you also hear of our continued weakness in math and science as compared to many other countries. I just wonder if we are pushing our kids (and ourselves) hard enough to stay ahead? What do you think?
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I believe education is a powerful means to get ahead in the world. Here in America we are slightly behind in the mathmatic and scientific areas. But we are advanced in certain areas such as business. In my opinion, our culture is not as strict as other cultures when it comes to educational practices. As we discussed in class previously, in other countries students are clustered in learning groups that fit their academic strengths. In America, clusters are not prevelant and students who arent very bright are in the same classroom as more advanced students. Also, educational practices are not consistent nationwide, there are certain areas of the U.S. that are more educated than others. We have to make an effort as a nation to make sure we all get the same education.
ReplyDeleteIn the U.S. we are reliant on parents encouraging their students to do well or the child possessing the desire to succeed. Foremost, is the problem that a lot of parents are not involved enough with their own children? There are staggering statistics on how little time is actually spent with one’s children in most U.S. families. Since, as we discussed in class there is practically no career guidance, students must figure out for themselves what they want to succeed in and how to accomplish it. Unfortunately, since the U.S. has not seen any really bad times in quite a while our children have not wanted for much. In other countries parents and children ‘really’ understand that education is the only way they can gain access to a better world. A good job and future is equivalent to doing well in school right from the beginning or you are placed in the lower functioning job tracts, as Clarence pointed out. The inspiration exists from a young age for most students to excel so that this does not happen and school is taken much more seriously. This is not a ghetto dream for some but reality for all in a lot of other countries. Teachers do not concentrate on making the classes fun and creative, internationally. Students are at school to learn and they know that is why they are there. The U.S. educational system is mired in the quandary of appealing to student’s desire to learn (freedom) and actually increasing their engagement. (Korea is the other extreme). In short we have lost our drive and we need to find it soon to stay competitive in all areas.
ReplyDeleteI forget who I was listening to speak. I remember they were a Harvard graduate. he said, that through high school and most of college he was driven to succeed, but not necessarily to learn; arguing that just because you are getting the grads and doing the things that are good for your resume, you may be missing some of the point.
ReplyDeleteAre we pushing students? Yes we are, and there are extreme consequences to pushing. This year at Cornell, fences had to be put in place on all the surrounding bridges because so many of the students were committing suicide off of them due to the extreme pressure they felt from being pushed to succeed.
I believe that we are pushing are kids very hard, but I think that other countries are maybe going harder and growing in education as well. I want to say that we have more important ideas and concepts to focus on, like family, values, and religion. However, are we willing to slack in the area of education as a result of this? On the other hand maybe my opinions are wrong all together and we are not focusing on what we should for our students. Maybe we should be pushing students harder in schools. Not only that, but I think inclusion and all of these topics come into play as well, because we may not be pushing everyone the same way and maybe some students could excel more than they are, but are not being pushed.
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