I totally agree - we need a school system that looks at actually what we are teaching our young people - and it’s not what we think we are! Yes there are the facts and ‘knowledge’ we make them learn but realistically, how much if that will stick as it’s all learned in isolation and with no meaningful reason given for why it’s important other than to pass exams. But more concerning is that alongside this knowledge curriculum, we are also teaching our young people that they are useless, what they think doesn’t matter and that they can’t be trusted to behave in an appropriate manner. Any wonder that they leave school with no real skills that can help them succeed in adult life. An example from my experience is that when my eldest went up secondary school he got 2 detentions in his first term - one for not having a ruler in a geography lesson so he couldn’t underline the title neatly, and the second for wearing his coat inside the building. Both of these seem like things that a quiet comment could have resolved, particularly as the school had no written set of rules so he had no way of knowing he was disobeying them. But one of the pivotal moments which clarified our decision to home school was when he was penalised in a test for choosing his own suitable example and being told it was wrong because he had not been taught that in class. Having been a teacher myself for 23 years, I am all too aware that what we think we’re teaching is not necessarily what the young people are learning and there are many more lessons being learned than what I put on my planner!
Such a nice comment, can't agree more with you! I ask people around me what they remember from school program. Usually it's things they genuinely cared about. All the rest forgotten right after the tests!
I totally agree - we need a school system that looks at actually what we are teaching our young people - and it’s not what we think we are! Yes there are the facts and ‘knowledge’ we make them learn but realistically, how much if that will stick as it’s all learned in isolation and with no meaningful reason given for why it’s important other than to pass exams. But more concerning is that alongside this knowledge curriculum, we are also teaching our young people that they are useless, what they think doesn’t matter and that they can’t be trusted to behave in an appropriate manner. Any wonder that they leave school with no real skills that can help them succeed in adult life. An example from my experience is that when my eldest went up secondary school he got 2 detentions in his first term - one for not having a ruler in a geography lesson so he couldn’t underline the title neatly, and the second for wearing his coat inside the building. Both of these seem like things that a quiet comment could have resolved, particularly as the school had no written set of rules so he had no way of knowing he was disobeying them. But one of the pivotal moments which clarified our decision to home school was when he was penalised in a test for choosing his own suitable example and being told it was wrong because he had not been taught that in class. Having been a teacher myself for 23 years, I am all too aware that what we think we’re teaching is not necessarily what the young people are learning and there are many more lessons being learned than what I put on my planner!
Such a nice comment, can't agree more with you! I ask people around me what they remember from school program. Usually it's things they genuinely cared about. All the rest forgotten right after the tests!