From: Olga Bourlin (fauxever@sprynet.com)
Date: Wed Aug 22 2001 - 19:02:34 MDT
Brian Williams:
> >Is being in school all year necessarily best for the kids?
>
> This is a good question, everyone needs a vacation.
Hey, school in the U.S. *IS* a vacation! I went to first and second grades
in Rio de Janeiro -and when I moved to the United States I couldn't BELIEVE
all the "laffs" American kids were having in school. Our Friend the Atom.
Arithmetic Is Fun. Halloween parades. Art classes. School plays. Bake
sales and school fairs. Watching movies. Making Christmas ornaments (I
swear, in the 4th grade I made ornaments for a whole week in school, almost
nonstop). All we ever did in Rio was read novels, study history and
geography, learn French, master long division by 2nd grade, and take home
loads of homework. But what shocked me most of all was that EVERYONE in
America got promoted to the next grade (in Rio, many students were held back
if they didn't master what was taught that year).
Of course, this was way back in the days before computers. But from what
I've read and observed about American adults in general - how deep their
ignorance is when confronted with questions about geography and basic
science - I wouldn't be surprised if American schools are still lagging
behind many schools in countries we consider "poor," "third world" or
"backward." Of course, we have compulsory education - which may partly
account for the skew.
Olga
Olga
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