What is wrong with our education system?

[SultanOrder]

The last week and a half I have been volunteering to be a teachers assist (3rd to 4th graders) at one of our local private schools. It is an alternative to the school system for our culturally and religiously sensitive community, and an attempt to put roots on the ground. I commend the effort and the handwork put into it.

Now, during my short time I have noticed a lot of things. Very little teaching is done at all.

Preparations: A lot of time and effort is put into getting children to settle down, to get on the right page, and to prepare for the lesson.

Homework: it is not used to instill the lessons learned in class, but it has become something akin a tradition. You give out homework just to give out homework. Kids must have homework.

Teacher to Student ratio: almost always the number of students to teachers is too high, as high as 1 to 18+ students.

Mechanisms to get children to behave: usually it is some kind of points system/reward system, that is ineffective at best, with points usually awarded arbitrarily and some students considered "bad apples" falling into the why-even-bother cycle. It's a type of favoritism, so it defeats the whole purpose.

At the end of the day, teachers are drained and tired, which should never be the case. Now, these are not problems limited to this school, but somewhat of a epidemic. What are some solutions you might have to solve these problems? Can they be solved? Or is the whole system messed up?

[Lillaahiya]

Do you enjoy volunteering?

[SultanOrder]

Not for in it of itself. But if I think it is important, then yes.

But what do you think of this problem? I have noticed of the some 6hrs of class time, maybe 2/3 is instructed work i.e. activities, worksheets, assignments.

[Lillaahiya]

Why'd you choose to volunteer with 3rd and 4rth graders?

[AbdiJohnson]

Religious private schools are crap. I know a guy who works for one as a teacher and he didn't even go to teachers college. He just has some undergraduate. Somalis are so incompetent and unprofessional. They pay him $15/hr. No salary. You think these people will take the education of their students seriously? Crap funding

I went to the same school during my early years and remember how bad it was. They rented the gym every week to some club to get money. We didn't even have a breakfast club. This is standard stuff. My class in Grade 2 had at least 35 kids

Education system is fine at the public schools (both secular and religious). Secular private schools are the best.


I am,

Abdi "1 to 18 ratio is pretty good" Johnson

[SultanOrder]

The topic love, the topic.

Abdi, we are a new group, and of a poor uneducated background, so funding is scarce. I don't expect to have the best facilities as these things take time and money to develop. Teaching doesn't also require the latest degree, as you can clearly see, a lot of students here in America are doing terribly.

Public schools have the same problem. Schools have become free daycares, and daycares are becoming more like schools with kids getting lessons.

[Lillaahiya]

lol You look so suspect now.

[AbdiJohnson]

The topic love, the topic.

Abdi, we are a new group, and of a poor uneducated background, so funding is scarce. I don't expect to have the best facilities as these things take time and money to develop. Teaching doesn't also require the latest degree, as you can clearly see, a lot of students here in America are doing terribly.

Public schools have the same problem. Schools have become free daycares, and daycares are becoming more like schools with kids getting lessons.

You make a good point about it becoming free daycares. This is what was recently created

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/kindergarten/

I am,

Abdi "But I guess kindergarden was always like daycare" Johnson

[SultanOrder]

Now Obama is pushing for Pre-school funding, smh, as if schooling at an early age is the answer. It's like they have declared they do not trust the parents with their children's instruction so they will take them away from them more and more.

Parents and teachers need to have one system of teaching kids to behave, that way the corporal punishment at home isn't needed at school, cuz some kids need a good old ass whooping.

[AbdiJohnson]

You support corporal punishment?

I am,

Abdi "Grounding or a time out would suffice" Johnson

[SultanOrder]

I don't, but it is a major problem to schools, if parents discipline through corporal punishment, time outs are a walk in the park, therefore ineffective at school.

[gurey25]

The purpose of the school system is 2 fold.
1. To keep children out of the workforce preventing them from competing for scare jobs.
2. To break the will and spirit to condition children to become obedient servants to the system as adults
Education is the least priority.

Bring me any illiterate street kid of average intelligence and I could get him to pass high school exams and do high school level maths in 6-8 months.

[LiquidHYDROGEN]

Schools in the west in general are pretty bad. You should see the awful mess they call the UK education system. Under qualified, underpaid teachers with a complacent system of teaching. Right ow the models are the Finnish and the east Asian. I prefer the Finnish.

[BlackVelvet]

2. To break the will and spirit to condition children to become obedient servants to the system as adults

African education system


There is little imagination and understanding of concepts, you just rinse and repeat the material. There is intelligence in being able to do that but it does not open up the mind.

So to answer your question PO I think that is the problem. We already know that people learn differently; visual, auditory, tactile, reading/writing, but the lessons have not been implemented. So as you condition kids to accept a way of learning that is different to what comes naturally to them there is bound to be disruption. Also how long are the classes and is it fair to expect children of what 9/10 to have such an attention span?

[SummerRain]

Jasmin

How is the African Education system different then say UK or US systems?