Private v State
I can’t understand how anyone can teach in private 'schools', which is why employment there generally depends on the teachers popularity, ability to 'perform' and the office politics of 'fitting in'.
"Although Michael is from Austria, the school that hires him tells his students that he’s American because they prefer a native speaker. Sometimes he forgets whether he told a student he was from Connecticut, or Chicago. Michael was hired without any previous teaching experience and given no training. Just thrown into a room with students and told, "go teach."
If you put together a dozen people of differing abilities and you have one lesson plan, some are going to drop out because it’s too easy and some because it’s too difficult. Chinese state schools stream (I have 60 students in each class) with none of this, 'learn at your own pace' and 'self-discovery' nonsense, yet of course I adapt the lesson plan according to each of the four grades I have.
East v West
"In Shanghai, the average 15-year old mathematics student is performing at a level two to three years above his or her counterpart in Australia, the U.S., and Europe [..] That has profound consequences. As economic power is shifting from West to East, high performance in education is too."
Life outside the safe space school environment consists of more than learning txt speak and following Lady Gaga on twitter and is why the east now outperforms western education in just about every field.
"China's education system is the envy of many Western governments, who are keen to replicate the nation's high test scores and levels of discipline in their own schools."
I do rote and added Activity Based-Learning (ABL); you can’t beat it and if someone can’t keep up, they go into the lower grades. Rote to prepare for exams and ABL to keep an interest. I consider myself fortunate to have been schooled in an era before human rights and politics came into the classroom. Here’s an interesting look at the differences between Chinese state education and that of the UK.
"Rude, bone idle... and cosseted by the welfare state! Chinese teachers' damning verdict on British children after spending a month in UK classrooms."
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