I recently asked about the current state of education in your country. Now I'm asking, what would it be like if you were the one designing it? How would you structure your country's education system? What would the kids be taught, and how?
I'm not sure exactly what I would have them learn, but it would be affordable! most people I know will not be going on to college and university next fall because it costs far too much to attend! I would set up a program similar to that of the elementary schools where the government is providing money for the schools and the students would have tuition and accomodations taken care of.
In Belgium our max entry fee for university is 450$ a year. If you are below a certain income, it can drop to 225$ or even 77$ per year. The university takes care of accomodation too, enabling you to rent a room for less than normal, I don't know the exact price. They say that our universities have a good name in the rest of the world. Quality does not sink together with the price. The reason for these low prices is that the state sponsors education like crazy. What we actualy pay is peanuts compared to the actual prize.
I'm a slave to the U.S. secondary education system, and i believe that it can be made better. Personally, we lack alot of freedom in our academic choices. We have to take certain classes, requirements etc...gotta take classes you don't even want! I really fancy Britain's education system... secondary til 16, take a test and go to college where yout ake classes you elect, after a few years at college, go to uni like other countries. But you'll already have had some uni-level courses at college. I think it's a pretty good system...not perfect, but you're probably not going to find a perfect one. I wish more people would post to this thread, i'm ignorant in how other nation's education systems work.
you need to pay the teachers enough to make smart people want to be teachers then our population will be smart. I sound like pauline, print more money.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
A4Ever: Trust me, you and your fellow citizens are paying the FULL price of your country's education system. There are so many things I'd like to change, but probably the biggest one is just the philosophy that you go to school full time for 12+ yrs and then you suddenly work. I'd start phasing some form of work into the curriculum as soon as possible. I know that I had an entirely differnt view of my own education once I started working. Just to pull some numbers out of the air, let's say you get 100% classroom in K-4, then 90% in 5-6, 75% in 7-9, 50% in 10-12.
Ha! My university charged $30,000 per year, and it's far from the most expensive in the country. I never could have gotten in without a scholarship. Too be fair, though, it's easy for anyone to get a college education in the United States. The state-owned schools are very reasonably priced, and it's easy for anyone to get a scholarship that pays for everything. Even if you can't get a scholarship for some reason, there are plenty of other ways to get money for school; student loans, the government, militarym, etc. As to Adam's question: One major problem with public education in the United States is passing students on to the next grade when they aren't ready. I think there should be a test that each student would have to pass before they could be promoted. Somehow I suspect that this isn't a big problem in any other country...For some reason the public education system in the US seemes more concerned with effort than results and ability.
put more effert into teaching life type subjects like philosophy, logic, issues ect and less into the more higher level maths/science ect because they reteach all that as soon as u get to uni aim it more at going on to do more qualifications like an aprenticship or uni corse rather than trying to do all that and make it a thing in its own right as well
Not everyone goes on to college. I don't think you want a bunch of half-educated people running around when they get out of secondary school. That's the sort of thing that creates a market for magnetic therapy bracelets!
almost everyone here goes on to do an aprenticship, tranieeship, tafe corse or uni corse and those who dont do they REALLY need to know that the sqare root of neg 1 is i?? i mean if they want to do that educate yourself but we DO need our WHOLE population to be politically aware
I can't really comment on education outside of the US but... The main problem with US education is the fact that everyone is held to the same regimen, schedule, and standards. There are 'gifted' programs and 'honors' classes but these are fairly worthless in my experience. I would prefer that individuals would develop and advance at a customized level depending upon how they test out per semester. One individual might advance several levels in a year while another might take two years to advance to the next level in a particular subject. For example, students could be in an advanced level of english while in the elementary levels of english. A student could advance to college levels whenever they are able. If a student is particularily talented in a subject, they would be able to quickly advance to the highest levels possible. Basically, I wish students were not educated based on the weakest link methodology...where the slowest students dictate the curriculum and a student's progress is hampered by an all-or-nothing knowledge of mediocrity.
For the last 2 years, I have been highschooled via an internet-based school. (www.cmacademy.org) With this system, there is no "weakest link" holding you back. You begin schooling by taking a placement test, and then the school gives you the appropriate lessons pertaining to your various levels of previous knowledge. For example; I began 9th grade with some sort of Literature or another (i hate english!) and pre-cal. You are then free to finish your schoolwork as quickly as you like, though they ask that you complete at least one credit each month. I dont know for sure, but i believe several colleges in the US are offering similar options now. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Education should be affordable, made as stimulating as possible, and aimed at what will be of most use later on in life (rather that what you need to memorize to pass some test)... ...oh, and not too time-consuming. Kids need to play as well.
Some 6-12 grade classes in the US are having computerized tests now. They are basically placement classes. You are correct that colleges are also doing this. Many graduates (including me) are taking these classes for continued education. It's much more accessible then night school.
hello dearheart Hi Jutter I agree. One of the things I do is I tend to avoid testing my students if several of the other sophomore teachers are having big tests the same day. I recall it being stressful as a teen to deal with so many tests in one day. Sometimes I think kids get WAY too much homework, it borders on ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, homework is very important however I think it is a problem when some teachers don't take into account the assignments from other classes. For the most part I think the curriculum is good at the school I teach in Los Angeles however I can say I never attended a public school, having gone to catholic school all my life the one thing that was really left out was geography. To this day I am terrible at it...a little less religion a lot more geography would have been beneficial to some extent...
I would make sure that there is plenty of room for a student to excel if he can. I would make schools much like the ones we have now. I would also make one big school, one for every few counties. These big schools would accept the best students from the smaller, local schools. The students would have every opporitunity to excel. These schools would have fiercely competitive athletics and academics and an endless offering of courses and the graduates would become the leaders of the nation. I think many students in our current school system don't reach their full potential because they are either not pushed or not given the opporitunity to push themselves.
I agree with you. A plague in the public school (at least when I was in them) was that the entire class would have to slow down because 1 student didn't understand something. Some teachers would say 'see me after class' and keep going... but the majority completely stopped the class to review some simple concept. The student who didn't want to learn realized this and would play dumb to slow the teacher down.
Teachers unions are killing our public school system. They excel at producing status quo. How does striking/not teaching help our young ones learn? Not too long ago, here in the U.S., teacher strikes were unheard of. If I had my way, all public schools would go bye bye. I believe we would have smarter, more caring, and better-paid teachers with standards and competition thrown into the mix. We did just fine before public schools. Remember, we did not always have them.
