The educational systems seems to me similar enough in different countries. When I read stories of teachers in Britain or USA, of course there are differences, but the similarities are also obvious. Some of the stories could have as well happened in my class.
The biggest differences are: How the school is organized. (Are teachers in a union? Who appoints the director? Is there a management layer between the director and the teachers?) Which minorities underperform, and what political consequences does it have. (Black students? Romani students? Are there ethnical quotas? Affirmative action? How often are teachers accused of racism; what is the typical reason and typical consequences?)
Another significant difference is the level of violence at school—but this varies also within the country, and changes during time. (How often and how severly do students attack each other? Do students attack teachers? Do parents attack teachers? What are the consequences for the agressor?)
And here are the similarities: Bureaucracy. Decisions made by people who don’t have a clue, and often have zero educational experience. Supervision and assessment according to unintelligible or actively harmful criteria. Pseudoscience, and aversion to measuring outcomes. (Tests are bad. Teachers shouldn’t explain, but entertain. If any recommended technique doesn’t work, it is always the teacher’s fault, never a problem with the technique. Knowledge is a lost purpose, the true goal of the school system is to make students happy.) People making big money selling pseudoscience to schools. Random minor changes in school system to make voters see that politicians care about their children. Textbooks containing nonsense. Parents treating teachers as babysitters.
And here are the similarities: Bureaucracy. Decisions made by people who don’t have a clue, and often have zero educational experience. Supervision and assessment according to unintelligible or actively harmful criteria. Pseudoscience, and aversion to measuring outcomes. (Tests are bad. Teachers shouldn’t explain, but entertain. If any recommended technique doesn’t work, it is always the teacher’s fault, never a problem with the technique. Knowledge is a lost purpose, the true goal of the school system is to make students happy.) People making big money selling pseudoscience to schools. Random minor changes in school system to make voters see that politicians care about their children. Textbooks containing nonsense. Parents treating teachers as babysitters.
I mostly agree (strongly) with this. However the “Tests are bad” part in particular doesn’t seem to be completely general. More testing and measurement seems to be the direction things have been going here.
The educational systems seems to me similar enough in different countries.
Ok, I’ve answered the survey adopting this assumption. I chose “Very difficult to believe, school system insider”. But note that I would also have found the prom segregation difficult to believe if not for the somewhat credible sources so discount the results as appropriate.
Whose country? Viliam_Bur’s country is most probably not the same country as the OP author’s.
In that case the survey makes even less sense to me.
The educational systems seems to me similar enough in different countries. When I read stories of teachers in Britain or USA, of course there are differences, but the similarities are also obvious. Some of the stories could have as well happened in my class.
The biggest differences are: How the school is organized. (Are teachers in a union? Who appoints the director? Is there a management layer between the director and the teachers?) Which minorities underperform, and what political consequences does it have. (Black students? Romani students? Are there ethnical quotas? Affirmative action? How often are teachers accused of racism; what is the typical reason and typical consequences?)
Another significant difference is the level of violence at school—but this varies also within the country, and changes during time. (How often and how severly do students attack each other? Do students attack teachers? Do parents attack teachers? What are the consequences for the agressor?)
And here are the similarities: Bureaucracy. Decisions made by people who don’t have a clue, and often have zero educational experience. Supervision and assessment according to unintelligible or actively harmful criteria. Pseudoscience, and aversion to measuring outcomes. (Tests are bad. Teachers shouldn’t explain, but entertain. If any recommended technique doesn’t work, it is always the teacher’s fault, never a problem with the technique. Knowledge is a lost purpose, the true goal of the school system is to make students happy.) People making big money selling pseudoscience to schools. Random minor changes in school system to make voters see that politicians care about their children. Textbooks containing nonsense. Parents treating teachers as babysitters.
I mostly agree (strongly) with this. However the “Tests are bad” part in particular doesn’t seem to be completely general. More testing and measurement seems to be the direction things have been going here.
I read “Tests are bad” as “The tests do not accurately measure”.
Ok, I’ve answered the survey adopting this assumption. I chose “Very difficult to believe, school system insider”. But note that I would also have found the prom segregation difficult to believe if not for the somewhat credible sources so discount the results as appropriate.