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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hearing people say that the school system must be reformed to "match the modern age" and that we must get rid of our "out of date 19th Century" education system.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:

    Whole sale change would be scary and likely very damaging in the short to medium term and may throw out any sense of "equal" opportunity in that everyone is taught the same stuff. How would anyone "benchmark" anything? How would any definable standard be maintained. Overall school is pretty good but they could extend it until 4pm for 16 & 17 yo. A little more practical experience like retail or trades. Teenagers are growing and have tonnes of physical energy and should have PE type stuff 2 - 3 times per week. Those who are unfit or may have health issue could be identified and perhaps assisted. Also talent identification could begin around age 14. More artistically inclined, mathematically, or whatever could be given more advice as to what classes may be suited and where that may lead; ie: what specific colleges, etc. Agree schooling could certainly be improved, though not wholesale change. Also recall our teacher in grade 7 (age 12 in Australia) discussed with the class some are slow learners and others fast. Ultimately he explained that he had a set amount of work to teach each day, as defined by the department and found it best to "pitch to the middle ground".

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Your hypothesis in your first paragraph is incorrect and invalid, therefore anything else you base on it in the following paragraphs is most likely wrong. Public schools do take into account an individuals needs and differences. Most teachers change or modify their lessons so that all areas and styles of learning are taught. Also students with special needs (on average about 20% of a class) have individual educational profiles which aid the teacher in dealing with those special needs. It is not the duty of a teacher to "entertain" or see that an individual student isn't bored. The students have a responsibility to want to learn. I had a student whose parents encouraged him to try hard in his math, science etc. classes, you know the "real" classes. He would just sleep through my art classes, after all those don't count (but they are entertaining). The problem is not with the public schools, it is with the parental support and funding.

Kahless

Or current K-12 system is built on a socialist model where the bureaucracy dictates the standards without taking individual needs into account. I agree. Another problem is that they system is top-heavy with high paid bureaucrats who have to justify their existence by providing input on everything, and not enough grunt level teachers who actually interface with the students. I feel a less centralized system and compaction from private schools, alternate learning facilities, and home schooling would serve our children better and provide them with a more rounded and useful education.

Gerald Cline

Sure it would work. But, the money isn't there. It wouldn't be feasible with all the different learning styles and individual preferences. This is one of the main reasons I have been homeschooling my kids for more than 18 years! Individualized instruction.

SOORLSN

Welcome aboard Seaman, I by profession am not a school teacher although I have several family members that are and they are the rare type that could have had much higher positions in the LAUSD but instead choose to stay where they were most valuable, to the students as teachers, caring and patient and loved so well that years after some of the students have grown to have kids of their own they have stayed in touch with them. I my brother and sisters were fortunate in that our education was not of the public school system but private schools,therefore, we had a classical education meaning that it was well rounded for I knew the Greek classics in the 10th grade as well as the beginnings of English literature starting with Beowulf and languages such as Latin and classical Greek. But today's problems is not the school system but the home, there is in many cases no discipline. My parents both worked to pay for our education and at report card time My brother and I would get a beating because of our grades and by the time I graduated I had a c average in all but English, history and geography, A's but thought I was dumb until I took the entrance exam to UCLA after my military service and was admitted. In the 80's the problem was so bad in the public school system that they went back to the old way but in a new mode. The old way was that in public schools if you got kicked out of 3 H.S. you went to Jacob A. Reese for boys and Betsy Ross for girls many of the teachers were cops or probation officers and the Reese "Rats" whom we as an all boys catholic H.S. fought all the time, until the rats found out that not all catholic school boys were punks. The idea here was to separate the underachievers from the movtivated student and the same principle is being applied but in a different way. There are magnet schools for those good in math and science and there the problem of the recalcitrant student who is like a rotten apple in a barrel that effects all the other apples is easier to control. When a 15, 16, 17 or 18 yrs. old kid becomes a parent chances are that they inherited no discipline themselves as kids from their parent who were the same and have no parenting skills so they expect the teachers to do this. Then there is a problem with funding for the schools but voters voted for the lottery which was a promise to solve all our school's money problems but the money is used just to build new schools and as a carrot on a stick by the Govenor

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