How similar is the British education system to the Canadian education system?

How difficult would it be to simply change the education system to fit individuals' needs?Would doing so work?

• As we all know the Public School system of the United States gets bashed for being "Soviet Style One Fits All" and does not take into account an individual's needs and differences and whether or not kids are having fun are or bored with school. In fact I keep constantly hearing people say that the school system must be reformed to "match the modern age" and that we must get rid of our "out of date 19th Century" education system. I remember when I took Psychology last year, the teacher stated that if he was head of Department of Education, he would do a complete reform to make a complex school system accompanying an individual's unique learning methods.He states if he were ever in this position, he would really make multimedia educational curriculum,where various tech from interactive medcassettessettes to other stuff wouavailableilible for kids to learn.In fact he states he would make school courses free for all(learn in any method you want instead of taking traditional set tests and assignments, IE you get to play games if you learn best that way). It's been a while and I forgot most about it.My Psych teacher bluntly states that it would cost a hell lot more money than the current educational model,but he sincerely believes that college and High School graduation rates would boost in such a huge percentage to near 100%. In writing of this,I am reminded of something Bill Gates is attempting. I think he is trying to structure a school based around the individual persons strengths instead of this Soviet Russia "one size fit all" model we're all using. Also other people I chatted with agrees with the ideal school system my psychology teacher proposes. For example one person I knew in an online forum stated that the school system is a bunk way of analyzing intelligence. It merely tests how good you are at absorbing and regurgitating whatever information they feed you. In other words, it teaches you what to think, not how to think, which is precisely the problem with the school system. How you do in school is only one possible measure of a true dynamic intelligence. He further adds that school should be teaching people how to think for themselves and individualism within them rather than the current model of education. Another person I once chatted with online stated that tests and homework homework is a waste of time. And the way the grade levels are set up? Ridiculous she says. She belthats taht the school system should be based on capability and skill, not on age, necessarily. She does admit most people esp. those working in the school swould woukd consider her views too "liberal" and "far out" for education. She personally disagrees and full-heartedly believes that education should be fun and engaging, not tied up and stuffy and uncomfortable like an 18th century corset. A friend of mine told me this in a discussion: "See I got terrible grades in high school simply because I was too lazy to do homework. I did perfectly fine on tests so they clearly knew that I knew the material. It's just that this technicality of home work got in the way. I had some classes that went so far as to fail you completely if you didn't do enough of the homework regardless of your normal grade in the class. I have been called smart on multiple occasions by my teachers, they clearly knew what was wrong with the system." What do you think Teachers?How difficult would changing the current educational system to suit individual student's needs and to make it "fun and engaging" as the above peoples' comments about how school should be? If the school system did change to suit an individual student's needs and to be as fun and engaging as possible,with as much multimedia tools and freestyle educational methods, would it work and be as successful like everyone who criticizes the current school system believe? Would like your opinion teachers!

• Answer:

  Spending exorbitant amounts of money to technologize the school system is not needed to make it actually work; if a teacher cannot make their class "fun and engaging" without relying entirely on technology, they suck at their job, frankly. And really, reform is out of the question; it need to be completely destroyed and rebuilt, reimagined from scratch. Just changing how classes are taught and scored would make a huge difference, referencing your friend's anecdote. Another direction to go would be a more integrated learning experience, rather than the [intentionally?] disjointed, dis-integrated system we have now. Further, the idea that age should determine learning level must be purged. If a kid is ready to move on, don't halt them; if they're not, don't just shove them along before they're ready. Mixing ages in the classroom also adds a competitive edge to the environment: younger kids would want to prove themselves just as good as the older kids; older kids wouldn't want to be one-upped by the younger kids. Everyone moves forward. This is just a tiny sample of ideas, but there you go.