The way Finnish education works may be unusual for the rest of the world. For instance, the average school day there takes about five hours which is shorter than schools in other countries offer. Teachers there assign less homework which does not affect Finnish students’ perception and the ability to understand what they learn. According to Finnish teachers’ assumption, “mastery is attained in the classroom.” People there believe that everyone should have the same opportunity, so there are no private schools. What is more interesting, there are no standardized tests for children (“The Finland Phenomenon: Inside the World's Most Surprising School System”). Apparently, Finland has found another way of educating children. As far as everyone can see, their educational system fully accomplishes its mission, being considered one of the best in the world. Krista Kiuru, the Minister of Education of Finland, believes that “school should be where we teach the meaning of life, where kids learn they are needed [and] where they can learn community skills.” Also, Finns think that “school is important for developing a good self-image, a strong sensitivity to other people’s feelings… and understanding [that it is important] to take care of others”. By spreading the policy of doing different activities during a school day, Finnish teachers try to make education work the way that they believe it should. They believe that by “cooking breakfast” or “sewing their own bathing suits” children get more from things they learn during lessons (“Finnish Education Chief: 'We Created a School System Based on Equality'”). In Finland, teachers are supported and given freedom in trying new ideas in the educational process to “improve learning”. Jussi Hietava, a teacher in a Finnish school, has introduced self-assessments “where his students write daily narratives on their learning and progress” and peer-assessments “where children are carefully guided to offer positive feedback and constructive suggestions to each other” (“How Finland broke every rule — and created a top school system”). Seemingly, it gives the teacher some understanding on how students see themselves and their classmates in the school environment. Additionally, it may develop children’s ability to sensibly evaluate their and others’ progress and make conclusions on what they should improve. The educational system in Finland is focused on every individual child. Finnish teachers are often heard to say that “[they] can’t afford to waste a brain.” Clearly, children are considered to be one of the most profitable assets of the country. According to the interview with the Minister of Education of Finland, “[they] don’t know what [their] kids will turn out like — [they] can’t know if one first-grader will become a famous composer, or another a famous scientist.” Therefore, “[they] created a school system based on equality to make sure we can develop everyone’s potential” (“Finnish Education Chief: 'We Created a School System Based on Equality'”). Obviously, Finnish children are regarded to be important for the future of the country. Thus, people are encouraged to make investments and introduce innovations into the educational system of Finland to keep the country flourishing. Works Cited
“The Finland Phenomenon: Inside the World's Most Surprising School System”, The Daily Riff, December 17, 2014, October 24, 2016, http://www.thedailyriff.com/articles/the-finland-phenomenon-inside-the-worlds-most-surprising-school-system-588.php “Finnish Education Chief: 'We Created a School System Based on Equality'”, Christine Gross-Loh, March 17, 2014, November 26, 2016, http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/03/finnish-education-chief-we-created-a-school-system-based-on-equality/284427/ “How Finland broke every rule — and created a top school system”, William Doyle, February 18, 2016, November 25, 2016, http://hechingerreport.org/how-finland-broke-every-rule-and-created-a-top-school-system
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There have always been debates over the importance of homework. Opinions on this subject vary and there is no right or wrong side. Some people view homework as a way to review the information learned in a class, test yourself on what you have perceived during a lesson. However, others think that it causes a child to feel stressed out and be uninterested in learning something new in a particular area (“Is Homework Harmful or Helpful?”). So, there still is a question: does homework have a positive or negative impact on children? A person’s attitude toward homework may be influenced by different things, like your own or someone else’s experience. For instance, parents of a child who struggles with doing some particular exercises spends too much time on doing it or does not get enough sleep due to it are most likely to view homework in a negative way. To some extent, they are right because a child’s health should be more important than grades for every mother or father. Alfie Kohn, an American author and lecturer, points out that “homework is frequently the source of frustration, exhaustion, family conflicts, a lack of time for kids to pursue other interests and, perhaps most disturbingly, less excitement about learning.” Apparently, it does not seem to unite families, deepen children’s interest in subjects or make them feel more confident about their knowledge. When children are obsessed with completing assigned homework and do not dedicate themselves to their hobbies or some games, parents who see that do not create a good opinion about it. Harris M. Cooper, a professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University, says, “At all grade levels, doing other things after school can have positive effects. To the extent that homework denies access to other leisure and community activities, it's not serving the child's best interest” (“Is homework a necessary evil?”). The point is that if a child does not see the world around them except for school, education is not helpful for them. Learning is not successful when you do not experience other things, do not have a rest from school and do not clear your mind. Nevertheless, homework can be helpful as well. According to Sharon R. Stallings, the principal of Signal Hill School, “Homework is important because it’s an opportunity for students to review materials that are covered in the classroom. You need to practice in order to become proficient.” Clearly, homework is an opportunity for students to quiz themselves on what they remember from a lesson. Also, the principal mentions that homework gives a teacher a feedback on how students have understood a topic, covered in a classroom, and makes it clear if “they need more help” (“Is Homework Harmful or Helpful?”). Taking all the arguments into account, homework can be both helpful and harmful. It depends on how you view it. Works Cited
“Is Homework Harmful or Helpful?”, Terri Akman, November 2014, November 14, 2016, http://www.metrokids.com/MetroKids/November-2014/Is-Homework-Harmful-or-Helpful/ “Is homework a necessary evil?”, Kirsten Weir, March 2016, November 14, 2016, http://www.apa.org/monitor/2016/03/homework.aspx Homeschooling has not been introduced only at the end of the twentieth century. It has existed all the time, but it was a privilege for the elite groups of people ("Homeschooling"). Closer to modern times, homeschooling has been reconsidered to be needful for children with some disabilities so that they can get a proper education. However, as time changed, people’s opinion changed as well. Nowadays, homeschooling is a way which is mostly chosen by parents in order to give their children better education or to avoid problems their children have faced at school. There have been plenty of arguments for whether homeschooling is a good way of educating children or it is more harmful than useful. Apparently, everything has advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, people are open to forming opinions about different things, referring to the advantages and disadvantages as to foundations of their conclusions. Opinions about homeschooling range, so it is hard to say if it is the best way to educate children. Even so, in some certain cases, home education is the best option for parents to give their child an appropriate education. In particular, for Saad Nasser, a child from India with amazing cognitive abilities, homeschooling was the best option to develop his potential. The boy showed his parents that a basic school system did not suit him when he was at elementary school. The child’s father, Pervez Nasser, explained that their son “moved rapidly beyond the school program.” He told that they did not want to stunt his growth but “thought [they] might at least let him read on his own." Also, the man said, “homeschooling has allowed Saad learn from his mistakes, something a regular schooling does not allow” and stated that "[their] schooling system tends to average out everyone. That’s how the syllabus is made” (“Homeschooling: Good, bad or ugly?”). Of course, homeschooling may not seem perfect to some people. Clearly, it should not be flawless. It is obvious that the education at home does not give children many opportunities for social development, comparing to those who study at normal schools. Nonetheless, the example of the gifted Indian boy shows that there are always some solutions to problems. Specifically, Saad’s parents mentioned that their child “continues to be a student at Clarence High School but does not have to attend classes. He visits the school now and then to spend time with friends” (“Homeschooling: Good, bad or ugly?”). Some people think that there may be problems with motivation, growing up or further adaptation to an atmosphere in a university or workplace. The author of the article “The Negative Effects and Aspects of Homeschooling” refers to the fact that “some children need to be challenged to excel in their studies” and remarks that “in this sense, they thrive when they are involved in some competition.” Still, such a problem can be solved if parents of educated at home children sometimes let them study at school to meet challenges, interact with other students and gain some different experience. In spite of the fact that it may not suit everyone, homeschooling seems to be one more step in school system evolution. It can help a child avoid being peer pressured or possibly bullied which might be great problems for some families with children. Evidently, the child, educated at home, can feel free to choose friends, spend more time with family and be less stressed out. Additionally, homeschooling is the best choice for those parents who want their child to learn beyond standard school curriculum and broaden horizons (“Homeschooling vs. Public Schools”). Undoubtedly, there are some disadvantages in educating children at home, but in some cases, benefits may be more important for parents. Works Cited
“Homeschooling”, November 4, 2016, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeschooling “Homeschooling: Good, bad or ugly?”, Divya J Shekhar, Bharath Joshi, Ipsita Basu, November 13, 2015, November 5, 2016, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/education/homeschooling-good-bad-or-ugly/articleshow/49765375.cms “The Negative Effects and Aspects of Homeschooling”, November 5, 2016, http://www.middleschool.net/negative-homeschooling.htm “Homeschooling vs. Public Schools”, November 6, 2016, http://www.homeschooling-ideas.com/homeschooling-vs-public-school.htm Interviewer: Grading system has been the major way of evaluating student’s performance and knowledge for a long time. Some people think that grading system is a correct way to represent how much a student has learned, but others think that grades affect learning process and students themselves. As a teacher, do you personally think that grading system is a good way to evaluate student’s knowledge? Does it have any impact on student’s desire to study for the sake of learning? Josie Patrick, a high school teacher: I think that the grading system is a good way of evaluating students' knowledge, to some extent because it measures their learning and puts it into something that is easy to read for parents and for students. If we didn't have the grading system, there would have to be a lot more communication between parents and students and it might be a bit harder to communicate about how much they are learning at school to the parents and to the students. I think that it does have an impact on their desire to study for the sake of learning. For some students it can be very motivating when they see a letter grade, for other students — they can get discouraged. I think that seeing a letter grade and seeing a percentage is, overall, motivating. I: "A 2002 study at the University of Michigan found that eighty percent of surveyed students based their self-worth on academic performance—more than cited family support as a source of self-esteem. A 2006 study at King’s College showed that adolescents with low self-esteem were more likely to have poor health, be involved in criminal behavior and earn less than their peers" (“The Case Against Grades”). Do you personally think grading system has an impact on student’s self-confidence and their lives at all? Have you faced it during your teaching career? JP: Good question. I think that it's really important that when students are younger, their grading is more just like giving them feedback, comments and not giving them letter grades or percentages. When children are younger, they are very, very sensitive. I think that younger schools should be focused on self-esteem, building friendships, learning how to share and just fundamental human nature, basically, and how to interact with one another. From my experience teaching in China, from a very young age kids are graded and evaluated with scores and percentages. I think sometimes that can make students have more insecurities or feel like they can't openly talk about their feelings, communicate with their teachers. It makes parents kind of obsessed with performance and grading from a very, very young age which I don't think is entirely healthy. I: It has been reported that "ninety percent of students want good grades, but only six percent of them want good grades for the sake of learning. Being so concerned with grades and tests, students lose what is really important about school, they ignore how learning works. When they do not succeed, they feel terrible about school" (“Challenges in Education: A Student's-Eye View”). Have you faced such a situation in the environments where you have worked? If yes, what have you done to change it? JP: Sometimes, what you said earlier in that statement, students get so obsessed with studying for tests and quizzes that as soon as they've applied that information, it kind of disappears from their head. I think it is more important to focus on processes and teach students information that they can teach to someone else rather than just answer questions on a test about it. I've seen this happen where students memorized definitions, questions for a test and answers, formulas. Then, over the summertime they forgot all the information. So I think changing your teaching styles and teaching the actual skills, processes, having students understand answers rather than just writing down the information is much more effective. It's knowledge that lasts rather than knowledge that just goes away after you've written a test. I: You mean that they just memorized definitions and couldn't explain those in their own words? JP: Yes. Like they've just memorized enough information to write a test, get an "A", and then it's gone because they have never attached any real meaning to it. I: "A 2006 comparison in Milwaukee found that Montessori students performed better than grade-based students at reading and math; they also "wrote more creative essays with more complex sentence structures, selected more positive responses to social dilemmas, and reported feeling more of a sense of community at their school'" (“The Case Against Grades”). What is your attitude to grading system? What do you think may happen if grades are abandoned? JP: I think that if grades are abandoned, it will be really difficult for students to apply for universities. Universities would have to change the way that they accept students. One of the problems with Montessori schools is that they don’t write the same exams in high school as students do in public and private schools. I know that if students study in Montessori, they have to make up for that somehow. Maybe they have to go to school for a year before university and learn how to write those exams so that they can apply for university. Until universities change the way that they accept students, then I think that we have to have a grading system. Otherwise, your education would stop after high school or your formal education would and you would have to have some kind of other education I: According to Wikipedia, in Norway "children are not given official grades from the first to the seventh year of studying in a school. However, the teacher often writes a comment, analysis, and sometimes an unofficial grade on tests." Do you support this style of education or you don’t think it is correct? JP: I do support it in some ways, but I can see a lot of loss with it as well. If we were only given comments, analysis, and unofficial grades, then you wouldn’t have transcripts. You need to have transcripts in order to get into university, especially if you are trying to go to competitive universities, like top universities. It is also like thinking in an international setting. If I was only writing comments and analysis of students, that would be really difficult for parents who are ESL learners to understand. It would have to get translated into that language, and even for my lower-level English students, it would be a hard time to understand what I was saying. Percentages and grades are kind of universal. I know that the parents would understand those marks. I: Ken Halla, a high school history teacher in the USA, "wishes students were motivated just by learning". However, he says, “that is not realistic as they have to get into college or get a job after high school.” Therefore, the teacher thinks that “grades are a motivating factor – not unlike money for an employed person” (“Are Letter Grades Failing Our Students?”). Do you think grades give students any motivation? In your opinion, is grading system really useful? JP: I like that quote, saying it’s not really realistic. I think that the grading system kind of prepares students for kind of a hard truth. If we were only saying great comments all the time, giving kids golden stars and saying “great job” even though they weren’t fully meeting tasks and skills, then they might grow up being too sensitive or too soft. Then maybe they couldn’t function in the real world like when they get a career and negative feedback. They might not be used to getting negative feedback, they might crumble under that and not be able to handle it. Overall, the grading system does have some floss, but I think we still use it because it is effective and it’s the best way for students to get into university and post-secondary. Works Cited
“The Case Against Grades”, Michael Thomsen, May 1, 2013, http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/05/the_case_against_grades_they_lower_self_esteem_discourage_creativity_and.html “Challenges in Education: A Student's-Eye View”, Hunter Maats, Katie O’Briens, June 10, 2015, https://www.edutopia.org/blog/challenges-education-students-eye-view-hunter-maats-katie-obrien “Are Letter Grades Failing Our Students?”, Cindy Long, August 19, 2015, http://neatoday.org/2015/08/19/are-letter-grades-failing-our-students/ Particular groups of people have their own beliefs, customs, and these things are what distinguish them as different cultures. It can appear in lots of parts of human lives, such as their history, language or dialect, what they eat, wear, believe in, how they raise children. Most of the time people connect culture with a person’s ethnic origin, race, social background, religion, first language, the place where they live, but some of them are focused on people's preferences, habits, art, etc. Culture is not something we are born with, but something that we learn. Therefore, everyone can associate themselves with a particular culture if it is based on something they believe in. Cultures have a strong impact on how students perform at school, which information they are taught, how they learn and perceive that information and what they learn from the society they are parts of. It influences people, their lives, families, behaviour, opinions, so children's preschool education also depends on their cultures. "Since culture consists of values and beliefs which affect academic performance, students are more likely to participate in the process of education which has a connection with their cultural identity" (“What is the relationship between education and culture?”). Person’s culture and upbringing have an impact on how they see the world and catch on to information they receive. Apparently, "Asian children see the world in terms of the connection between things while American children see the world in terms of the objects as distinct things." Clearly, it may be considered that students, raised in different cultural environments, may approach education and learn differently. For example, according to the Polynesian style of learning, younger children mostly gain knowledge from older children rather than from adults. Suchlike concept demonstrates that there are different styles of educating young generation, comparing to the one that is used, for example, in American schools (“Examining the Impact of Culture on Academic Performance”).
There are several theories which explain differences in school performance among different cultural groups. One of them describes how the home environment influences the way a student performs at school. Two other ones are focused on how cultural differences and the way children are treated by teachers affect students' performance at school. Obviously, teachers need to "develop an understanding of their students’ cultures" and simultaneously "know who their students are as individuals". Likewise, it is important for teachers to make sure that they have the same attitude and expectations for each of the students so that all of them will make great efforts to succeed and fulfill their potentials (“Examining the Impact of Culture on Academic Performance”). Works Cited
“What is the relationship between education and culture?”, https://www.reference.com/world-view/relationship-between-education-culture-186a271a8037f914# “Examining the Impact of Culture on Academic Performance”, Matthew Lynch, December 27, 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-lynch-edd/education-culture_b_1034197.html “How cultural differences may affect student performance”, GreatSchools Staff, March 14, 2016, http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/cultural-differences-student-performance/ “The Impact of Culture on Education”, Michael S. Rosenberg, David L. Westling, James McLeskey, July 20, 2010, http://www.education.com/reference/article/impact-culture-education/ A school is basically the first step in a person’s formal educational path. Schools lay the foundation of a student's personality. They help children become responsible, teach how to be good and respectful people, how to behave in society. A school is a place where students discover their talents and are encouraged to develop them into something more. It provides children with useful knowledge and skills which are required for an individual to be a part of this world (“Why is Education So Important? Something We Don't Think of But Should”). Education is not only about the marks you get. It’s about processing the information we receive every day, reflecting on it, forming opinions, making our own assumptions based on this knowledge and distinguishing right from wrong. Education opens our minds and uncovers, shows some things we haven’t been familiar with before. It helps students develop creative thinking and perspective of looking at life as well as the world people live in. In addition, education provides people with knowledge about the whole world around, introduces to different cultures, religions, important facts we may never learn about otherwise (“Education Importance in Today’s Society”). Education is not just a school program, subjects like Math, English, Biology, etc. During the process of education, students are introduced to the basics of social skills and are brought up as trustworthy citizens of a country. It helps children become mature by teaching them how to manage their time and make good choices. Education helps to distinguish our aims, understand the meaning of life, importance of some things and how to learn from mistakes we make. It challenges us to think, analyze, judge and have our own opinion no matter what. It turns us into educated inhabitants, a country’s major assets. Therefore, it will not be a mistake to say that future of a nation is safe and flourishing in the hands of literate citizens (“Why is Education So Important? Something We Don't Think of But Should”). According to Nelson Mandela’s words, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Evidently, education is the key to most of the global issues, such as putting an end to gender inequality, reducing poverty, creating a sustainable world to live in, curing illnesses and stopping deaths, promoting peace. In a knowledge economy, education seems to be a profitable area to invest in, and simultaneously, it is a moot enough question for some people not to agree with (“Education: The Most Powerful Weapon for Changing the World”). Works Cited
“Why is Education So Important? Something We Don't Think of But Should”, Manali Oak, September 4, 2016, http://www.buzzle.com/articles/why-is-education-so-important.html “Education Importance in Today’s Society”, Kiri Rowan, May 20, 2014, https://blog.udemy.com/education-importance/ “Education: The Most Powerful Weapon for Changing the World”, Arne Duncan, April 23, 2013, https://blog.usaid.gov/2013/04/education-the-most-powerful-weapon/ |
AuthorA high school student who is looking for answers on certain questions. |