What It Takes to Make a Student…
Here is feedback from my buddy Simon Humphries about an article, “What It Takes to Make a Student”, that I emailed him from the NY Time Magazine on Novemeber 26th, 2006. The article highlighted many of the issues that plague the US Education system. So here is Simon’s feedback from a UK perspective.
Check it out..
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Hey Bro,
A very interesting article. As you know, I have lived in the UK all my life and have no experience of the US educational system. However, it does seem that there are a few similarities between the two systems. Particularly with reference to the poor/middleclass background.
First, let me qualify what follows by saying that I am no authority on education, nor am I well versed in anthropology (although the subject is slightly familiar to me as an archaeologist) but I would like to offer a few points;
1) I think that the question of differentiation between black/white/Hispanic/yellow/green/pink-with blue spots is misleading. Scientifically speaking there is no such thing as ‘race’. Skin colour (please note the spelling of colour! -just a British dig at American education! he he…) in my opinion is not a factor in education, though I will concede that some will argue that there is a link – such as the majority of poor people in the US are predominantly ‘ethnic’.
2) Hart and Risleys’ work is interesting. It seems to me that the wealthier families seem to be less stressed in general and so can spend more time with their children in let us say a more positive fashion than those of poorer backgrounds.
I myself come from a fairly poor white background. My experiences as a child tally quite well with this research; my father spent a lot of time working and mother, if she was not busy with the household wanted time alone to read or relax, which meant that my little bro and I were left to our own devices most of the time, as well as being exposed to short (often one-word commands).
As per the article, my brother [Lee] and myself were not exposed to a large vocabulary and (I think the article expresses it well) this defiantly effected me in an educational sense. I remember spending a lot of time asking myself what the teachers were talking about (i.e. they were using words that I had never heard before) and also as the article suggests, being brought up to respect unquestioningly any adult. So, from such a perspective it seems probable that the children of wealthier families may do better at school having a larger vocabulary and if the research is anything to go by I would say that being encouraged to question things in general would help a child’s development. While I’m on the subject, my childhood still affects my educational performance even now at university level. The key word I think is CONFIDENCE. I still feel that my opinions are worth less than those of my tutors – even though we are told endlessly that our opinions are just as valid as theirs.
3) The idea of the ‘KIPP’ schools seems to me a stroke of near genius. If the results of these schools are ‘all they are cracked up to be’ (is this just an English phase?) then the expansion of such schools needs to be taken far more seriously. Perhaps the US government should consider replacing the existing school system with ‘KIPP’ schools or their equivalent.
Now my friends, seeing as you have asked me for my opinions, how about you let me know what your thoughts on this are? I’m sorry if my ramblings are not quite what you were expecting (see, the confidence issue raises its’ ugly head again) but I have tried to express my feeling as they were prompted by the article.
Talk later bro,
Ciao,
Simon
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Thx for sharing you thoughts Simon…
~Time to Shake,
YG
YG Note:
YES, Simon is an archaeologist! We met in Greece a while back and have been buddies since. If U would like a copy of the article please shout me an email at Young.Global@Gmail.com
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