Thoughts on education in the USA

So we just finished up parent teacher conferences. I met with 67 of 100 possible parents. I was blown away by how many came. It was actually a pretty good experience. It is pretty tiring and I felt like I repeated myself a lot. However, I felt like it gave me a lot of insight into where my students are coming from and that is always useful.

So I have some thoughts about education that I have been considering. You always hear about how the US does poorly compared to other countries when it comes to education. Well from my experiences so far here in Korea I would suggest that those shortcomings are more a result of culture than methodology.

Education is a huge deal here. Students in Korean public schools spend ridiculous amounts of time at school (like 7AM to 7PM or later, 5 days a week). After that they go to private tutoring. This isn't just our school; its Korea in general. Education is the gatekeeper not only to status when it comes to money making but also socially. If you fall behind you are done for. You must keep up and you must do well. Nothing else is an option. That is the expectation laid down to any kid no matter what their social status is. Poor kids are expected to perform just as well as rich kids; they just have to work more for it.

I think that in the US the problem with education is that it is not a priority to our society. School is something you have to go to. It is a necessary evil. It is day care for some parents. From my experiences at RBHS we had some fantastic teachers doing interesting and challenging work with their students. I think this goes on at many schools. I just think that the culture that our students are immersed in does not give a rip about education. It is all about the money. You know the rundown: movies, sports, music, etc... A lot of "attractive" folks making crap loads of money and acting like they own the world as a result (I fully realize this is a broad generalization and there are a lot of intelligent, educated people in those occupations).

Here are a couple suggestions to help solve this problem. 1) make people fill out applications before allowing them to procreate. This process would work to ensure that they will be responsible parents (this one was a joke). 2) Mandate early childhood education starting at age 2. This would presumably get kids into a constructive learning environment sooner, and hopefully begin modeling appropriate learning practices at an early age. 3) Don't allow a kid to advance past a particular grade level until he/she has proven they are proficient at that grade level. 8 y/o in kindergarten? If that's where he needs to be keep him there. (This sounds like it should happen right? It doesn't.) 4) Have the US go through one giant paradigm shift.

Now let me say this too. Korea has problems with the way it views education. There is a reason that it has one of the highest suicide rates of any country in the world. Failing is viewed as worse than death because of the public shame involved. That's why so many people take their own lives. Also the emphasis in the Korean public schools is to memorize as much information as you possibly can in preparation for the end of high school exam (which determines your college choices). There is very little emphasis on critical thinking and innovative thought.

I feel like there is more rolling around in my head about this but it is not coming to the forefront at the moment. I'm sure it will spill out at times throughout the year.