Let me preface this by saying I am not currently in a position with enough knowledge or experience to comment accurately on such matters. Regardless, I can’t help but point out my own experience with and witnessing to the education differences between the private academy of Seoul and North American public schools.
Recently at BIS (our school) we had a new student from Canada join us. He is in the 2nd grade and has spent his entire childhood from birth in Canada. He has Korean ancestral lines and has come to BIS to study and experience the culture for three months while living with his grandmother.
When he got to the school he was very timid and shy (I think because of the language barrier with the other students). I assured him we only speak English at school and he wouldn’t have to worry about that. After about a week and a half he loosened up and his vibrant personality began to shine through.
The principal placed him in the advanced grade 2 class (there are three 2nd grade classes, 2 at about the same level, and 1 for the advanced students) naturally as he was a native English speaker. Lauren and I both figured he would cruise through the lessons and could be a distraction as he would get bored quickly finishing before everybody else. Unfortunately, this did not happen.
As the classes went on it become more and more apparent the student was at a far lower level in reading, math, and writing. Fortunately his speaking skills were basically on par with the other students. This did disappoint Lauren and I greatly though.
Being such novice teachers we are not sure what to think. Is this individual student just at a lower level than his peers? Or, is it the case that education of his Korean counterparts has been more advanced in comparison to his Canadian education (up to this point)?
When we first arrived we were shocked to hear about the kids’ schedules. Going to 2 or more schools everyday on top of daily extracurricular activities such as music lessons, sports, and art academies was commonplace to them. Having a 10-12 hour day of instruction in some way or another was the norm. Furthermore, there seemed to be little to no break between the various mediums of instruction. At times when students didn’t do their homework we would ask them why not and their response more often than not came back as “my mom made me go to bed, it was 12 o clock”.
We couldn’t fathom such a terrible childhood. No time to for play after school, lack of recesses, double or triple hours of instruction, and mounds upon mounds of homework sounds dismal.
On the other hand…
We now have a North American, native English speaking, student in our school who is far behind his peers on this side of the Pacific in terms of academia. Was the education system he learned in too lax? Could he be pushed harder to learn more? Or, is it the individual student who is struggling, as opposed to the system? These Korean students are at a much higher level in nearly all subjects…not to mention bilingual and surely better at speaking Korean than they are English.
I’m still very unsure of what to think. On the one side it is truly amazing to see what these children are capable of. Their brains are so incredible and they can retain so much information it is inconceivable for me. Let’s throw as much as we can at them, see what sticks. I’m mean surely they’ll be thankful for it in the future. Trying to explain to them right now how incredible it is that they know two languages is like telling a fish you’re so happy it can swim.
Yet, are they happy? They constantly complain about having too much school and too much work. At first I thought, “yeah, yeah, every kid says this”, but then I realized they are saying this while not knowing any better. Children in North America say this because they can compare it to times during the summer when there is NO school, or the long afternoons they have after school. These Korean children are saying this not even aware of another lifestyle. Maybe it is WAY too much? Maybe we are slowly killing the kids (Korea leads the OECD countries in suicide rates).
It is clear right now to me there is not a solution. All I know is that children have extraordinary learning capacities and are capable of commandeering complex communication lines with half the effort of someone twice their age. When and if God blesses us with children we hope we’ll have the wisdom to find the balance between excessive free time and harnessing their learning abilities.
5 comments:
Excellent post. I've wondered about this issue for years. How is it that America is the dominant world power yet our education system seems to be far less demanding than that of many other nations.
Is it just a matter of time?
Dad H.
Great commentary, Christopher. Having grown up in Japan, I've experienced a similar type of education early on. What I've come to realize is that it's not the people who are the smartest who make the best decisions on important life matters. King Solomon came to this realization, too. The answer, if I may be so bold, is not to worship knowledge and education, but Christ. When we fulfill His will for our lives, we live to our fullest potential.
This sounds simplistic. But think of all the "intellectuals" who make rotten decisions that greatly impact their lives and others'. Not that Christians are above temptation. Having had the benefit of great schools: Japanese, Dept. of Defense, public, military, private Christian college, and Rhodes College at Oxford University, I've come to the conclusion that education and intellect are not worthy of idolizing.
When you have kids, I'm sure you'll be great parents, for you have the Holy Spirit to guide you at every turn.
Love,
Julee
I agree with Michael--excellent post and questions.
Many angles from which to view this issue, and lots of resulting questions. I guess the answer depends upon the context (cultural, social, economic, political, etc.) from which the questions are asked. When should parents see their child as a child, addressing their current developmental wants and needs, and when does that vision need to shift to imagining the 'best' for them as an adult. How does (can) a parent decide what will make their adult child content when they are still a child? Is it enough to seek happiness, contentment and from whose point of view: child, parent, community, country, world. I think you answered it for yourself when you included the word 'balance' in the last sentence of your original post. But 'balance' is also a subjective concept.
Well, I am sure you know that I would have to comment on this after being in education for so many years and having taught academically gifted students in 1st through 6th grade.
Young children have an amazing ability to absorb a vast amount of knowledge, however there is a developmental piece to all of this which I won't go into here. Children also develop patterns of learning, some by choice but in this case because they are told to do so.
Somewhere around 3rd grade the playing field levels and those who are going to be great in music or math or whatever, their talent surfaces and becomes apparent. If you were to take a child who had all the benefits of special schooling and were excelling in subjects before they entered school and then compared that child with a child who had no special lessons but were allowed to play and interact with loving parents and other children, and then place that child in the same educational environment in which they appeared to be far behind; you would soon discover that somewhere around 3rd grade the second child had quickly caught up to the first child.
Yes, introducing music early and providing a rich learning and exporation of knowledge may instill a love of learning and a step up, while an over abundance that is parent and teacher driven may lead to strict self discipline and drive. This over abundance also kills creativity and the ability to form your own opinions about things and really kills divergent thinking. It also can destroy self worth as one individual cannot do all things and live up to the tough expectations set early on. In a system like you are teaching, students will be divided into catagories later on and set on the path of learning in which they do best, not by choice but by design.
There are several reasons your Canadian student is not doing stellar. Here are a few off the top of my head:
1. His learning style does not match up with the teaching style.
2. His educational background has not provided him with the same set of skills as the class.
3. He has learning disabilities and has not been provided with strategies to work around them.
4. He has moved from place to place a lot and his education has holes in his learning because of inconsistencies of what he was taught.
5. His family sees this as an interesting and fun experience for him and is not provided the help he needs outside of the classroom.
Just my thoughts---Gram
A lot of my thoughts have already been mentioned-thanks everyone. I will just add, a lot can be said about the home enviroment, both past and present.
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