Hi! I am starting this blog to keep a record of things I do while teaching sixth grade. I am especially interested in the movement of the Common Core State Standards. I am really passionate about creating an education for our students that prepares them for the global world in which they will live. We can no longer do what we have been doing for the past 50 years. It isn't working and we are cheating our students out of a chance to compete with those from other nations.
When my son, who went to a private boarding school for high school, entered Washington University in St. Louis, he expected to be top of the class since he was at his high school. However, he found, that even with the best education money could buy, he was not as well prepared as those students who came from foreign countries. He had to work very hard to catch up to where they were. Now, he could and did, but why aren't our students at the same level of education when they enter college? Why is our educational system continuing to teach material that does not prepare our students for the world in which they live? As educators, we need to push for changes that will make the system a better place for the students. If we back away because it is new or we like doing things the way we have always done it, then we no longer belong in education. We need to work together to make education in the United States a priority so that future generations will be able to be successful in our global world!
Great new blog! Some things you also need to consider. Most parents in foreign countries, especially Asian countries push their kids very hard to do well at school. Also, kids are in school much longer - longer day and longer year. From my experience in Taiwan the students are in school from 8am to 4pm and then they go on to attend what is called "review school" (separate from the school) where they spend another two to four hours going over everything they did that day in class. Then they go home and do their homework which can take anywhere from one hour for the younger children to four hours for someone in high school. And most also have class of some kind on Saturday mornings. Many spend part of their weekend in a review school and doing homework. Teachers can do a lot but until the student's attitude towards education and working at getting an education changes I don't see the standards rising much. There needs to be an attitudinal shift in the US which makes it cool to be the best in your class. Every child must want, more than anything else, to be the best they can be in school and want to study most of the time. Until then, the kids from China, India and many other countries are going to out-perform the students from the US for years to come.
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