Tread Lightly on their Dreams

[misswrite]

I don't go around saying this too loudly, because frankly, educators raise their eyebrows when I do, but whenever I hear some teacher or administrator bragging about a 100% college-bound rate, I'm inclined to suspect that the school, in fact, has failed. Or succeeded in brainwashing an entire student body in buying into the whole flawed system

Comments

[misswrite]

Hmmm...interesting.

There seem to be quite a few factors at play here. For some inexplicable reason, teaching is a competitive field there, unlike in the US. I've heard of some charter schools in the US paying exorbitant salaries and attracting the best teachers by holding American Idol-style auditions. I've always thought that teacher salary should be based on performance, not seniority.

They say they don't separate the weak and strong students in the Finnish system, but they do go off to separate schools at 16. So I'm not sure I buy that argument - in fact it appears they very clearly separate them into entirely separate schools. Still, they describe a system similar to one I worked in here on Maui, where a SPED teacher would be on hand in the mainstream classroom to work with the struggling kids. I like that - rather than lowering standards, give them the same challenges, but offer support. I still raise my eyebrow at not allowing the advanced kids to advance faster if that's their pace.

I also raise my eyebrow at the chalk and whiteboard thing. I just think there's incredible potential in technology. And not just technology, but other approaches than the teacher standing at the front of the room. Also, it's interesting that students must buy their own books. I wonder if they would value their materials more if they had to buy them.

Also, I think I like the start school at 7 thing. I think children learn a lot more than we realize by just playing and socializing and maybe coloring and creating. One-on-one attention from a parent is HUGE. It seems like parents generally take their jobs seriously there. I also think the subtitles on TV probably helps literacy there from an early age, especially if someone like a parent is helping with letter recognition and phonics.

And finally, the lack of language learning students there (and just homogeneous demographics) makes things a lot more level and simple. I love our big, messy, diverse population here. It makes things interesting. But it also makes teaching a challenge.