Perspective

This is an international group, and I am wondering about an international perspective so I will open a discussion here. I have just received a rating for my school…I teach English to 13-14 year olds who speak Spanish in their homes as a first language. My school has an 80% Hispanic population here in North Tx. We have been rated as unacceptable. This is based on the results of the science test that our 8th graders took this year.

I love teaching, but I feel so much pressure that in the US we have taken the pleasure out of learning. What is the educational climate in other parts of the world? Here in the US we as teachers have very regular reports of how we are behind of other countries in literacy, math, and science. Is this a common lament in Britain? In Italy? France?

What is the educational climate like in other Western nations? Is the American educational system a failure, or are we (I speak as a teacher) really being judged overly harshly by our own country?

I would so like a more global perspective on this.

In the UK there is no comparison with other countries for school teachers. Nor do they in Italy. The only issue we have in the UK is the ever increasing size of classrooms and the closing of schools. We have ‘league’ tables of schools which are nationally published, exam results being the only parameters used to determine the school’s position.

Personally I don’t like it as it encourages schools, whether they want to or not, to focus their resources on those that achieve good grades leaving those that can’t behind. Sure they like to ‘be seen’ to help under achievers by creating special classes etc. but it’s just a way of separating those that achieve away from those that don’t. It’s a common complaint.

The other thing with league tables is that is somebody is always at the bottom. This really affects moral for teachers and pupils as well as local communities.

Tracy, I don’t have an international perspective but I suspect we compare ourselves against the rest of the world more than the rest of the world compares themselves against us.

And for what it’s worth, I think “No child left behind” is the worst thing to happen to our education system (speaking as a mom to a “normal” kid and a developmentally disabled one).

There’s my 2 cents worth.

My son’s was losing his thirst and love of learning while he was a student of the California public school system. Before that he was abused by a teacher at a private Montessori school. So my personal perspective is that great teachers are hard to find, and with the masses that attend public school it is hard for any teacher, let alone a mediocre one to give the personal attention to each student. So what happens is that in most cases the easy students get the attention, while the challenging students do not get the needed attention.

With my son, he did not fit the mold even though he was intelligent. He had a love of learning very early on. He was reading at just 3.5 years old. When he entered public school I watched as his love of learning slowly drained out of him. Once we pulled him out of school it was quickly restored for the most part. The exception was that he hated writing. He had constantly been hounded about his pendmanship to the point that he just hated writing. He also thought that he “sucked” in math, so he was surprised when he got an award in the 1st grade for his excellence in Math???

I think our teachers, especially in California, should have training in areas other than acedemics. I also think teachers should have paid classroom assistant teachers to relieve some of the stress so it is not passed on to the kids. I also am not a big fan of testing the kids, and the curriculum that is taught in public schools in California.

Sorry rant over, lol.

No need to be sorry! I feel the same way you do about the education system and how the ‘one size fits all’ approach has limitations. It must have been extremely frustrating.
I am not a fan of testing either. I think it is crazy seeing these little children getting stressed over tests/exams and at such a young age.