Posts
Showing posts with label soviet schools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soviet schools. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Friday, June 1, 2007
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
get involved! part 2
Parental Involvement: No Child Left Behind requires schools to develop ways to get parents more involved in their child's education and in improving the school. Contact your child's school to find out how you can get involved.
source:
Facts and Terms Every Parent Should Know About NCLB
suggestions for parent involvement from Steve H:
1. Bake cookies for the PTO fundraiser.
2. Make sure your child gets his/her homework done even though it's a silly waste of time. Do not swear in front of the children.
3. Make sure your child has a proper place to study with a big table and lots of art supplies.
4. Answer questions, but do not help with your child's homework. (Yeah, right!)
5. Bake more cookies.
6. Make sure that your child eats a good breakfast. If you don't, we can use that as an excuse.
7. Make sure that your child goes to the dentist. You don't want toothaches to interfere with learning.
8. Don't be poor.
9. Attend the really important (15 minute slot) parent-teacher conference where you can find out about issues that have been going on for months.
10. If you have more things you want to talk about with the teacher (like what you found out in your 15 minute time slot), then you can take time off from work to fit in a meeting at 3pm.
11. Go to town meetings to support their agenda (more money).
12. Join a school improvement team where you can talk about really important things like bus safety and healthy foods for hot lunch. (Oops, that's the school committee's big job.)
13. There's no need to help the school with union issues like seniority, bumping, and competence. Those are contract issues and we all know how there is no conflict between what benefits the teacher and what benefits the student.
14. Bake more cookies.
15. There is also no need to help with the curriculum. They are the college-trained experts in their own opinion.
16. Encourage after-school activities, like tutoring.
17. Make sure that learning gets done.
18. Be part of the(ir) solution, not part of the problem.
"Thank you for your input, we'll take it from here."
suggestions for parent involvement from Kathy Iggy:
19. Donate gift baskets for the carnival.
20. Donate raffle items for the carnival.
21. Help at Market Day and take orders for overpriced food items.
22. Go to "student-led" conferences with your 1st grader where nothing at all is accomplished. Nod politely.
23. Donate food and gift items for teacher appreciation day.
24. Don't ask too many questions about standardized tests. Nod politely at the non-answers you receive.
suggestions for parental involvement from Paula V:
25. Take an active role in your child's education by ordering educational workbooks and materials for use at home.
26. Volunteer in your child's classroom at least 2-3 a week. Never question the teacher or provide input.
suggestions for parent involvement from Lynn G:
27. Don't get divorced.
28. Chaperone field trips to the same places they visited last year (and the year before that).
29. Keep a list of classroom supplies included on your regular shopping list: kleenex (must be antibacterial), wipes (also antibacterial), paper towels, ziplock baggies, party supplies. Send these things in weekly.
30. Sew costumes.
31. Purchase a long list of school supplies at the start of each year, many of which will never be used.
suggestions for parental involvement from Susan S:
32. Take secretarial courses so that you can keep up with all of your child's various projects, notes, research, packets, etc., since he will be developmentally unable to do so himself.
33. Attend all Parent Math Nights so that you can learn why everything you were ever taught was wrong.
34. Bookmark many homeschool sites so that you may fill in the gaps created by your school's new (fill in the blank) program.
35. Memorize where all of the Kumon, Syvan, and Huntington sites are in your immediate area should your patch-the-gap method fail you, or you become a victim of hard drive failure, whichever comes first.
suggestions for parental involvement from Doug Sundseth:
36. Ask all your co-workers to buy things they don't need or want at unreasonable prices so that the school can keep 15% of the sale price.
37. Buy soup from the approved soup company and save the labels so we can get a few pennies toward buying new computers to replace the old computers that did nothing for your children's education. Because computers are good and stuff.
38. Vote for school bonds, always, and without asking for details. It'll help. Really. No, don't ask why it will be different this time.
39. Bake some more cookies. But in the name of all that's holy, don't let your children eat them or we'll report you for child abuse.
suggestions for parental involvement from cranberry:
40. Come in to school during work hours to admire the children's projects, as uncritical admiration of arts and crafts is the royal road to a good education.
suggestions for parental involvement from Barry Garelick:
41. Never say "good bye" when you leave a parent teacher conference. Say "We respect you!" And don't take their nose in the air and back turn personally.
so.... I don't get why nobody said set up a Yahoo list so you can complain about your school district in public.
get involved!
get involved! part 2
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
On slow and fast learners, uniformed curriculum and more in Sovied education system
Centralized education system has its disadvantages for a individualist. However, in my opinion (and in opinion on my husband's grandmother who spent 47(!) years being a teacher and who I consulted on this topic) the benefits for a student were quite balancing it.
First, of course, was the funding of the schools - the schools in the capital city(at that time - Moscow) were financed and equipped better than schools in the province and country sides. The principals had nothing to do with the budget. All textbooks, supplies, materials, furniture etc were approved and provided from "the top". The teacher's salary was uniformed with differentiated pay with the increase of the years of service. Retirement started at 55 (and it's still so) for women, 60 - for men.
Second, the centralized control over curriculum was strict and a teacher could not work as she or he pleased. Everything was scripted, outcomes of the lessons approved. (For examples, there were lists of books the literature teacher could not even recommend for extracurricular reading - banned).
Third, there was no choice in terms of electives and so on the students could take. There was no choice in anything.
Fourth, no differentiating was done for students with different abilities.
Fifth, no students with disabilities (of any kind) were in general schools. Such kids were attending special internats (institutions) with medical personnel and other specialists available.
Though I understand the disadvantages of former education system in USSR (it doesn't exist any more!), I still feel nostalgic and therefore may be rather subjective.
Centralized funding - at least the BOOKS were available and provided for free for everybody. The last days in school year after the exams were taken, students were returning their books to the library and receiving complete sets of books for all subjects for the next year.
Scripted programs -The weak or inexperienced teachers were able to actually teach. New teachers were coming to school equipped with complete set of lesson plans for the subject they teach, by grades. They all had taken a class on TEACHING their subject and wrote (under strict guidance of their professors and chairs) the scripts for teaching each unit. The teachers in early grades had scripts (aligned with textbooks used) for teaching reading step by step, writing, and math. There were no social studies before grade 4 (in grade 4 History started), and no science (in grade 4 we had "Observing Nature" class in which we kept Nature observation logs.
All classes were mandatory and scheduled for the whole class. No choice. One would be moving through the school years with the same 30 people he started 1 st grade.
This type of scheduling ensured that ALL students had physics, chemistry, geography, biology despite their personal preferences (I still don't get it - how can you come out of high school and never take chemistry or physics, and then in colleges the professors start from the stuff that is SO basic!). So it was a kind of common knowledge. The literature you studied in grade 7 was also studied by the person you talk to, so you could be safely referring to and citing the authors and lines you memorized , and have the common ground of understanding.
Differentiated instruction - the school program was created for an average student with satisfactory marks (somewhat up to 75% in a 100% scale). So everyone, if not completely brain-damaged, could master it. Here we often hear about different pace of learning. I was the fast one. My prize was the amount of free time after school. I didn't have to read the chapter twice (and since most HW was oral, I always did my reading quickly or briefly looked up the notes), or spend much time on trying to understand the concept. The lessons were structured very close to direct instruction model, with clear and direct explanations, and guided practice,, so just to practice 10 problems in math was good enough.
Slow students had to spend much more time practicing at home, reading and re-reading the chapters, and memorizing rules and definitions. My cousin had also all excellent marks but it took her three times the amount of time I spent on the same material.
This way, the fast students could spend more time on extracurricular activities (as I did) provided for free by many culture centers. I was in the theater studio, I danced, I sang in a choir, I drew, and I did science research without harming my learning but rather enriching it.
Please, also note - in most cases parental involvement was in terms of checking with the teacher if the child behaves and what are the grades. If something was not "great", the kid would be spanked. But nobody had to re-teach anything. My parents, both engineers, paid attention to my HWs up to grade 4. After that, they could help me with resources (my mother works in research) but never had to explain or teach any topic to me.
I am not going to say anything about "special" students - I didn't see much of them while in school (BTW, the colleges could also refuse to accept a student based on the health issue - I was almost rejected by the vet.school because of the bad vision : - 9 is not a joke!)
However, now they mainstream kids based on parents' demands. My husband's grandmother is a homeroom teacher of an autistic child (a son of my mother's co-worker), but she also works with him individually after school.
As of now - there is still some remaining centralization, but the schools are moving toward the western (read - american) model. Workshop models are introduced, teachers are mandated to write activities and projects for students, private schools operate by "individualized approach to each students abilities" and work on "development of creativity", students cannot write properly, and the History as a subject looks like a twisted and deformed stick - no curriculum at all. My husband's grandmother still checks and corrects all spelling mistakes in essays, but most teachers don't. Education lost the value for average people becoming elitarian
P.S.: After talking to my husband's grandmother today I don't feel like sending my kid over there to school anymore (even though it's still cheaper to find the Math-English school with traditional instruction there). At least they didn't damage the science curriculum yet. And this Summer I'll go there and will bring myself sequenced and organized books in Physics (6,7,8), Chemistry, Geography...
First, of course, was the funding of the schools - the schools in the capital city(at that time - Moscow) were financed and equipped better than schools in the province and country sides. The principals had nothing to do with the budget. All textbooks, supplies, materials, furniture etc were approved and provided from "the top". The teacher's salary was uniformed with differentiated pay with the increase of the years of service. Retirement started at 55 (and it's still so) for women, 60 - for men.
Second, the centralized control over curriculum was strict and a teacher could not work as she or he pleased. Everything was scripted, outcomes of the lessons approved. (For examples, there were lists of books the literature teacher could not even recommend for extracurricular reading - banned).
Third, there was no choice in terms of electives and so on the students could take. There was no choice in anything.
Fourth, no differentiating was done for students with different abilities.
Fifth, no students with disabilities (of any kind) were in general schools. Such kids were attending special internats (institutions) with medical personnel and other specialists available.
Though I understand the disadvantages of former education system in USSR (it doesn't exist any more!), I still feel nostalgic and therefore may be rather subjective.
Centralized funding - at least the BOOKS were available and provided for free for everybody. The last days in school year after the exams were taken, students were returning their books to the library and receiving complete sets of books for all subjects for the next year.
Scripted programs -The weak or inexperienced teachers were able to actually teach. New teachers were coming to school equipped with complete set of lesson plans for the subject they teach, by grades. They all had taken a class on TEACHING their subject and wrote (under strict guidance of their professors and chairs) the scripts for teaching each unit. The teachers in early grades had scripts (aligned with textbooks used) for teaching reading step by step, writing, and math. There were no social studies before grade 4 (in grade 4 History started), and no science (in grade 4 we had "Observing Nature" class in which we kept Nature observation logs.
All classes were mandatory and scheduled for the whole class. No choice. One would be moving through the school years with the same 30 people he started 1 st grade.
This type of scheduling ensured that ALL students had physics, chemistry, geography, biology despite their personal preferences (I still don't get it - how can you come out of high school and never take chemistry or physics, and then in colleges the professors start from the stuff that is SO basic!). So it was a kind of common knowledge. The literature you studied in grade 7 was also studied by the person you talk to, so you could be safely referring to and citing the authors and lines you memorized , and have the common ground of understanding.
Differentiated instruction - the school program was created for an average student with satisfactory marks (somewhat up to 75% in a 100% scale). So everyone, if not completely brain-damaged, could master it. Here we often hear about different pace of learning. I was the fast one. My prize was the amount of free time after school. I didn't have to read the chapter twice (and since most HW was oral, I always did my reading quickly or briefly looked up the notes), or spend much time on trying to understand the concept. The lessons were structured very close to direct instruction model, with clear and direct explanations, and guided practice,, so just to practice 10 problems in math was good enough.
Slow students had to spend much more time practicing at home, reading and re-reading the chapters, and memorizing rules and definitions. My cousin had also all excellent marks but it took her three times the amount of time I spent on the same material.
This way, the fast students could spend more time on extracurricular activities (as I did) provided for free by many culture centers. I was in the theater studio, I danced, I sang in a choir, I drew, and I did science research without harming my learning but rather enriching it.
Please, also note - in most cases parental involvement was in terms of checking with the teacher if the child behaves and what are the grades. If something was not "great", the kid would be spanked. But nobody had to re-teach anything. My parents, both engineers, paid attention to my HWs up to grade 4. After that, they could help me with resources (my mother works in research) but never had to explain or teach any topic to me.
I am not going to say anything about "special" students - I didn't see much of them while in school (BTW, the colleges could also refuse to accept a student based on the health issue - I was almost rejected by the vet.school because of the bad vision : - 9 is not a joke!)
However, now they mainstream kids based on parents' demands. My husband's grandmother is a homeroom teacher of an autistic child (a son of my mother's co-worker), but she also works with him individually after school.
As of now - there is still some remaining centralization, but the schools are moving toward the western (read - american) model. Workshop models are introduced, teachers are mandated to write activities and projects for students, private schools operate by "individualized approach to each students abilities" and work on "development of creativity", students cannot write properly, and the History as a subject looks like a twisted and deformed stick - no curriculum at all. My husband's grandmother still checks and corrects all spelling mistakes in essays, but most teachers don't. Education lost the value for average people becoming elitarian
P.S.: After talking to my husband's grandmother today I don't feel like sending my kid over there to school anymore (even though it's still cheaper to find the Math-English school with traditional instruction there). At least they didn't damage the science curriculum yet. And this Summer I'll go there and will bring myself sequenced and organized books in Physics (6,7,8), Chemistry, Geography...
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Soviet Education - continued
First, let me highlight few points touched in comments to my previous post. Since I experienced soviet school system only as a student and never as an employee, I consulted my husband's grandmother who works in that system for more than 40 years (she teaches Russian language and literature and Ukrainian language and literature in grades 5-10 in one of the schools in Odessa, Ukraine).
Thus, before year 1990 - all educational institutions (including art and music schools) and extracurricular activities, such as science, technology, math, journalism clubs, choirs, dance studios etc were free of charge.
General schools - 8 years (compulsory) or 10 years
Vocational schools - 2 years after grade 8, profession in manual labor (carpenter, seamstress, car mechanic etc)
Professional-technical school - 4 years after grade 8, 2 years after grade 10, analogous to a Community college Associate degree, lower level specialists, nurses, daycare teachers
Institute, Academy, University - 5 years after grade 10, specialists: engineers, teachers, veterinarians, doctors, lawyers, researchers. Medical school - all specialities except dentistry -6 years.
Prestige from lowest to highest: institute, academy, university. Institutes were "specialized" with a range of major available within specialization. For instance, I graduated from veterinary faculty of the Institute of Agriculture. This one was also offering majors in wine production technology, agronomy, live-stock breeding, plant-breeding, and economics of agriculture.
Universities offered more classical education, with broad curriculum in liberal arts and sciences. Students in universities had more opportunities to participate and stay in research. Odessa university was also preparing teachers for grades 5-10 (major in speciality +classes in teaching the subject).
Since it was the centralized system, and education was free, the funding was miserable. Higher ed institutions had yearly set up limits on enrollment with entrance exams given in July. The best institutions (or even majors within institutes) had very high number of students wishing to be accepted with low percentage of acceptance. When I took my entrance exams into a vet school, the competition was 5 students for 1 place. Thus, out of 500 students who took exams, a 100 was enrolled. The rest had to do something else and could try again next July. (I knew a guy who tried to enter medical school for 6 years in a row, and finally entered a vet. school. For all those "missed" years he was working as a nurse in a hospital).
After 1990, the institutes were allowed to accept 10% of the students above the limit charging them a tuition, so called contract students.
All other students who didn't pay money for education could receive a monthly stipend which depended on each semester's GPA. I was getting " an honor" stipend for all 5 years - you couldn't live on this money, but it was good enough for some treats.
The higher ed institutions have day and night sections. Day section - classes 5 days a week, from 8 to 3-4 pm; no choice in classes; programs set up for you and are not flexible. A student is placed in a group (about 20-30 people) and has all classes with the same people for all 5 years. If a student failed an exam session, he/she would be expelled from any year. After 1990 such students could repeat a semester they failed if they paid a tuition. All subjects are carefully sequenced and interconnected, so repeating a class you failed in Fall semester during Spring semester was not possible.
The acceptance for Day section was limited by age - after age 35 one could not get into Day section.
Night section - for working people and people getting a second degree. Also Distant learning was quite popular. In Distant learning classes you would visit your school twice in a semester - 1 week introductory sessions, and in 3 month - the exams. I was doing my post-grad studies (didn't finish) in another city by Distant learning. Very convenient.
Thus, before year 1990 - all educational institutions (including art and music schools) and extracurricular activities, such as science, technology, math, journalism clubs, choirs, dance studios etc were free of charge.
General schools - 8 years (compulsory) or 10 years
Vocational schools - 2 years after grade 8, profession in manual labor (carpenter, seamstress, car mechanic etc)
Professional-technical school - 4 years after grade 8, 2 years after grade 10, analogous to a Community college Associate degree, lower level specialists, nurses, daycare teachers
Institute, Academy, University - 5 years after grade 10, specialists: engineers, teachers, veterinarians, doctors, lawyers, researchers. Medical school - all specialities except dentistry -6 years.
Prestige from lowest to highest: institute, academy, university. Institutes were "specialized" with a range of major available within specialization. For instance, I graduated from veterinary faculty of the Institute of Agriculture. This one was also offering majors in wine production technology, agronomy, live-stock breeding, plant-breeding, and economics of agriculture.
Universities offered more classical education, with broad curriculum in liberal arts and sciences. Students in universities had more opportunities to participate and stay in research. Odessa university was also preparing teachers for grades 5-10 (major in speciality +classes in teaching the subject).
Since it was the centralized system, and education was free, the funding was miserable. Higher ed institutions had yearly set up limits on enrollment with entrance exams given in July. The best institutions (or even majors within institutes) had very high number of students wishing to be accepted with low percentage of acceptance. When I took my entrance exams into a vet school, the competition was 5 students for 1 place. Thus, out of 500 students who took exams, a 100 was enrolled. The rest had to do something else and could try again next July. (I knew a guy who tried to enter medical school for 6 years in a row, and finally entered a vet. school. For all those "missed" years he was working as a nurse in a hospital).
After 1990, the institutes were allowed to accept 10% of the students above the limit charging them a tuition, so called contract students.
All other students who didn't pay money for education could receive a monthly stipend which depended on each semester's GPA. I was getting " an honor" stipend for all 5 years - you couldn't live on this money, but it was good enough for some treats.
The higher ed institutions have day and night sections. Day section - classes 5 days a week, from 8 to 3-4 pm; no choice in classes; programs set up for you and are not flexible. A student is placed in a group (about 20-30 people) and has all classes with the same people for all 5 years. If a student failed an exam session, he/she would be expelled from any year. After 1990 such students could repeat a semester they failed if they paid a tuition. All subjects are carefully sequenced and interconnected, so repeating a class you failed in Fall semester during Spring semester was not possible.
The acceptance for Day section was limited by age - after age 35 one could not get into Day section.
Night section - for working people and people getting a second degree. Also Distant learning was quite popular. In Distant learning classes you would visit your school twice in a semester - 1 week introductory sessions, and in 3 month - the exams. I was doing my post-grad studies (didn't finish) in another city by Distant learning. Very convenient.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
How soviet education system worked
I am going to describe the structure of soviet (before 1990) system of Education. It is more or less stays the same, though more options (private schools, gymnasiums) are available now. This should explain why I feel so strange and hesitant when seeing how education works in America. And keep thinking of sending my son to live with my mother in Ukraine despite the loss of everyday English in this life.
First, the grade school was set up to be completed in 10 years, starting at age 6 or 7. (They included a preparatory class -K- into it now, so it's 11years presently.)
There was no locational separation of elementary, middle, and high school grades - all grades from 1 to 10 were in the same school. And since taking ALL classes was mandatory for all grades, one would come to 1st grade and move on through the school with the same students in the class.
Teacher -generalists were teaching grades 1-4, with visiting art, music, and shop teachers. Looping was usual - your 1st grade teacher was staying with you until grade 4. Students stayed in one classroom. No more then 5 45min. periods were allowed in grades 1-4, with 5 min. breakes between the periods and one 15 min. lunch break. Afterschool (HW help and simple daycare) was free for working parents 5 days of the week.
In grades 5-10 all subjects were taught by teachers-specialists in their subjects. Again, there was looping: same teacher who taught you math in 5th grade would continue "to grow" with you until grade 10. So, the teacher HAD to know curriculum for all grades. After the whole "line" of this teacher's classes graduated, this teacher would return to grade 5. The same approach was taken with other subjects - language, literature, foreign language, physics, chemistry, biology, history, technical drawing etc.
Only 8 years of education were compulsory: After 8th grade the student could get into a vocational school to get a trade in hands or straight join the world of work. Those, who were bound to college, were staying in school until grade 10. (Best years! All misbehaving and failing students - gone!)
Repeating the year was an accepted practice for failing students (without filing paperwork or consulting parents, the decision was made by faculty), though In my 10 years of schooling there, I haven't seen anyone left to repeate the year.
Higher ed institutions (Universities, Academies, Institutes) did not rely on any state exams (state exams were introduced first when I was in 10 grade), rather testing the students on the school program themselves. For instance, to get into vet. shool after 10th grade I had to take oral exam in the school course of Biology, written exam in the school course of Chemistry, and write an essay from the course of Russian literature. To get into Technology school to study computer systems, my husband had to take an exam in the school course of math, school course of physics, and write an essay. Again, all entrance exams were tailored to the major (so one had select early!) and were completely in accordance with the school courses.
How was it possible? All schools in the country (15 republics during soviet times) had the same curriculum, logically alligned over the grades. If a student transferred from one school during the time they studied decimals in math , then the next day in the school across the country he would get to study decimals, too. And not miss anything. Since books were the same for everyone, one could perfectly catch up with missed portion, too. So the institutes knew the school program and were sure that everything needed had been taught. The schools were provided with the curriculum targeted on proper preparation for the higher education. Attention: NO REMEDIAL CLASSES in universities! Whatever was learned in school was taken as a basis to build on. Kids who did not satisfy the requirements could not enter the higher ed institutions. They would lose a year and try next time.
Thus, here some of the benefits of centralized system of education (there are disadvantages, too... but I'll bring them up later):
1)connection between the grades in terms of the same place, same teachers, same classmates
2)gradual and logical arrangement of the curriculum
3)connection between school and higher ed institutions
4) teachers - specialists in their subjects, not just educators.
5)vocational schools for students who do not succeed in academics.
First, the grade school was set up to be completed in 10 years, starting at age 6 or 7. (They included a preparatory class -K- into it now, so it's 11years presently.)
There was no locational separation of elementary, middle, and high school grades - all grades from 1 to 10 were in the same school. And since taking ALL classes was mandatory for all grades, one would come to 1st grade and move on through the school with the same students in the class.
Teacher -generalists were teaching grades 1-4, with visiting art, music, and shop teachers. Looping was usual - your 1st grade teacher was staying with you until grade 4. Students stayed in one classroom. No more then 5 45min. periods were allowed in grades 1-4, with 5 min. breakes between the periods and one 15 min. lunch break. Afterschool (HW help and simple daycare) was free for working parents 5 days of the week.
In grades 5-10 all subjects were taught by teachers-specialists in their subjects. Again, there was looping: same teacher who taught you math in 5th grade would continue "to grow" with you until grade 10. So, the teacher HAD to know curriculum for all grades. After the whole "line" of this teacher's classes graduated, this teacher would return to grade 5. The same approach was taken with other subjects - language, literature, foreign language, physics, chemistry, biology, history, technical drawing etc.
Only 8 years of education were compulsory: After 8th grade the student could get into a vocational school to get a trade in hands or straight join the world of work. Those, who were bound to college, were staying in school until grade 10. (Best years! All misbehaving and failing students - gone!)
Repeating the year was an accepted practice for failing students (without filing paperwork or consulting parents, the decision was made by faculty), though In my 10 years of schooling there, I haven't seen anyone left to repeate the year.
Higher ed institutions (Universities, Academies, Institutes) did not rely on any state exams (state exams were introduced first when I was in 10 grade), rather testing the students on the school program themselves. For instance, to get into vet. shool after 10th grade I had to take oral exam in the school course of Biology, written exam in the school course of Chemistry, and write an essay from the course of Russian literature. To get into Technology school to study computer systems, my husband had to take an exam in the school course of math, school course of physics, and write an essay. Again, all entrance exams were tailored to the major (so one had select early!) and were completely in accordance with the school courses.
How was it possible? All schools in the country (15 republics during soviet times) had the same curriculum, logically alligned over the grades. If a student transferred from one school during the time they studied decimals in math , then the next day in the school across the country he would get to study decimals, too. And not miss anything. Since books were the same for everyone, one could perfectly catch up with missed portion, too. So the institutes knew the school program and were sure that everything needed had been taught. The schools were provided with the curriculum targeted on proper preparation for the higher education. Attention: NO REMEDIAL CLASSES in universities! Whatever was learned in school was taken as a basis to build on. Kids who did not satisfy the requirements could not enter the higher ed institutions. They would lose a year and try next time.
Thus, here some of the benefits of centralized system of education (there are disadvantages, too... but I'll bring them up later):
1)connection between the grades in terms of the same place, same teachers, same classmates
2)gradual and logical arrangement of the curriculum
3)connection between school and higher ed institutions
4) teachers - specialists in their subjects, not just educators.
5)vocational schools for students who do not succeed in academics.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Let me introduce myself: Exo
Let me introduce myself - I'm Exo.
Catherine was very kind to invite me to blog on KTM, the blog I read and comment on quite often. Thanks, Catherine.
I live and teach in Brooklyn, NY. I came to the US 7 years ago -seems like a century now.
Since my education experiences are all pretty fresh in my memory, and I still follow the trends in Russian education system, I will try to provide some insights on the education abroad comparing it to the education in the US public schools.
I am not promising you a lot of official data, rather some personal experience in both systems of education: I went to a soviet grade school (10 years) and graduated from a vet school there, then graduated from a college here, landed a job in a middle school as a science teacher, and my son is in Kindergarten in a public school. ( And, as most parents, I re-teach him at home!)
Truly yours,
Exo
Catherine was very kind to invite me to blog on KTM, the blog I read and comment on quite often. Thanks, Catherine.
I live and teach in Brooklyn, NY. I came to the US 7 years ago -seems like a century now.
Since my education experiences are all pretty fresh in my memory, and I still follow the trends in Russian education system, I will try to provide some insights on the education abroad comparing it to the education in the US public schools.
I am not promising you a lot of official data, rather some personal experience in both systems of education: I went to a soviet grade school (10 years) and graduated from a vet school there, then graduated from a college here, landed a job in a middle school as a science teacher, and my son is in Kindergarten in a public school. ( And, as most parents, I re-teach him at home!)
Truly yours,
Exo
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In Soviet schools the content with building-on spiraling was set across a number of years. Lets say, biology would start in grade 5 and it will be Botany (2 times a week), then Zoology (grades 6-7, twice a week), then Human Anatomy and Physiology (grade 8, twice a week), then General Biology (grades 9-10, twice a week). Of course, topics were studied in logical order according to evolution theory, and concepts of cells, tissues, organs, functions were coming up again and again. It was allowing for understanding of complexity and patterns in living things and processes.
Here I have to teach general bio (Living environment) to students who have no idea of plants stuctures, animals, or human's anatomy and functions; I have to mix it all together with emphasis on molecular biology (that requires knowlege of chemistry) and genetics, that heavily connects with evolution. Many of my honor students don't know that insects pollinate the plants!
When I was in school, by the time we had general bio, we knew evolution of plants, organization of animal kingdom, anatomy of humans, and were up to organic chemistry in chemistry class and nuclear physics in physics class that was well alligned with molecular bio and gene engineering. Oh boy... And when in vet school, we took the entrance exam in bio (covering everything in curriculum from Botany to General bio) and didn't have a general bio class ever again.
BTW, from my trip to Ukraine: the school curriculum is still in place the way I had it - still logically built, but spread over 12 years now. However, there is no school that would have students sitting 8 periods per day. The maximum number of periods students can have is 6 in grades 6-12, and 5 in grades 1-5. A period is 45 minutes. The school year starts September 1st, and ends May 25th, with final exams in higher grades scheduled from May 28-to June 12.