We have reflections on reflections today here folks. I dunno if we were supposed to have one for reading week, but while I was about, I talked to plenty of people about education systems and issues, so here goes... I'm going to have like, two weeks worth of entries in one long post, so prepare yourself for something real serious...
I'm going to start with what happened today, because it's still fresh in my mind. I was introduced, and exposed, to my school's new registration / class offerings, and it seriously blew my mind. The whole idea revolved around having students, in preparation for grade 10, choose whether they wanted to enroll in what I'd loosely call "trade math" or "academic math." I forget what the former was called, but the latter was like, "pre-calculus" or something. At the beginning this doesn't sound so bad, because it gives of the air of tailoring classes to student needs and interests, even though it is, quite obviously, academically tiered, with one math holding a certain stigma compared to the other. However, I guess the "trade math" is NOT recognized for students looking to enroll in university, which, to me, is a complete crock. I really can't make myself clearer than saying students don't know what they want to do in grade 10. Well, they do know, in that they are concerned with their friends, their relationships, and themselves, but the future really holds zero weight in their minds. Worse yet, if a student takes "trade math" and decides he or she wants to, instead, take a shot at college, they have to start from square one... trade math 10 CANNOT serve as a prerequisite to academic math 20. It just seems outright insane to try and set students on such deeply-rutted, and divisive paths at such an early age. Moreover, obviously, since anyone with the slightest urge to apply to college will go for the academic math, the trade math path is doomed to become nothing more than a stigmatized sort of "idiot math." Maybe I'm being reactionary, but I just don't know. As a sidenote, the idea of stigmatizing trades at all bothers me to no end. What is there to frown upon? More money? Shorter school? Practical knowledge? Pfah!
So begins the second part of this post... while I was in Whistler over reading week, I talked to a whole network of different people from different places, gathering interesting opinions and thoughts on education. Here are some of the more interesting ones, bearing in mind that this is all hearsay, and might require a bit of fact-checking on Google...
I get the impression that teaching is more of an onerous career choice in the United States than in Canada. Mind you, the general consensus is that the American school system, in its current state, is a catastrophe. I mean, it seems to be in a crisis state at this point. They spend an absurd amount per student, teachers are apparently underpaid, and success rates are lacking. Mind you, I've been watching nothing but libertarian "school choice" propaganda videos... I guess, in the states, or most states, your schools are chosen for you, based on where you live... the big libertarian solution is to give parents the right to choose where their kids go, and to shut down schools that are sparsely attended or doing poorly. Another sidenote: I have done my research, and I do know that it's effectively impossible to fire a teacher in the states for bad teaching. Basically, they have to get caught in some scandal to get the hoof, which is kind of scary, considering the flood of teachers applying for jobs in the states. At any rate, I was talking with some people from San Diego, and when I told them I was going to be a teacher, they treated it like such a wildly heroic endeavor. Around here, I don't feel it is... that's not to say I'm in it for the money, or that it's the most thankful job out there, but like... with the right set of degrees, a teacher's salary is nothing to sneeze at, especially considering the benefits, and factoring in the extended holidays involved in the profession. That said, the money sure wasn't the attractive factor to me, but I'm not going to treat myself as some underpaid martyr just yet...
Talking to a guy from the UK was interesting too, because man, did it ever seem like their schools are a good head and shoulders above ours. Mind you, this man had the money to fly to Whistler from the UK, so that may explain his child's seemingly stilted schooling. At any rate, his kid was learning Shakespeare at age 11, and had been for some time already. This blew my mind, (I'm really on a Shakespeare tear lately) as I couldn't have imagined approaching that stuff at an earlier age than 14 or 15. Apparently he got into arguments with his girlfriend regarding the validity and necessity of teaching Shakespeare to students, as he, being a scientist, believed there to be greater merit in teaching science. His girlfriend argued an appreciation of the arts was a necessity to any developed citizen. His clever retort was that she needed him to set up the V.C.R., making some jab at her lack of technological literacy for all the literature she reads. His son talked my ear off too, which was all sorts of fun. It was honestly like speaking to someone with my vocabulary, but like, still the mind and mental development of an 11 year old. Like, he wasn't smarter than our students, but better spoken, if that makes sense. Their school is considerably more rigorous than ours, however. This kid had like, three languages under his belt, and was obviously learning much higher math, science, and literature concepts than I had seen in equivalent grades here. It made me really wonder... is the answer to make things easier? Honestly, in each troubled or problem, or even in "richer" schools, the big answer seems to be to keep scaling back what students learn, or taking much more time... but in one of my field placements I wound up in a grade 5-8 split, and the kids couldn't multiply and divide at all. That seems like such lunacy to me. They spent a week learning about fractions with manipulatives, which seems like such an insanely long time to spend getting the mere concept of fractions down. I just don't know. In the same breath, it's no use sizzling through material, only to drown students, and overwhelm them. I just don't know.
I'm out of breath now, though. See you all next time.
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