by Olga LaPlante
I happen to have a friend staying in Thailand at the moment, and working at an international school. International also implies private, or not free.
When we talk about China, or Asia (which would then include Thailand), do we somehow have this stereotype that those kids are well-educated, successful and pose a serious threat to US job-seekers? It will be safe to say yes.
Now, last time we spoke (on Skype, of course), he said (he teaches French), that he has a small class, they are all A students. They say, "That's all???" after he assigns homework, quite disappointed... He said that they might enjoy joining Alliance Francaise, and they did to take a course. It's middle school students by the way.
Now, my question was - to my friend's son who is a high school student now - do you have laptops? He said - no, we have like 4 computers in the lab/library.
Does this tell you anything? Can US schooling be in the large part a product of the culture, rather than limited resources, poverty, ESL students etc.?
Comments?
This reminds me of the old stand-by:
ReplyDelete"you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."
or the variation:
"You can lead a man to knowledge, but you can't make him think."
The question seems to be:
Why does it seem that there is so much apathy in our culture, and in turn, our schools?
What is going on?
Ed . . . I think you have at least one book in you!
ReplyDeleteThought-provoking stuff.
See lulu.com :)
I would be interested in what everyone else has to say about Ed's analysis.