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Yong Zhaos chapter ,
The Wrong Bet, Why Common Curriculum Standars Won't Help from his book "World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Learners" tells us how there is two educational systems in the world. One where the government is in charge of deciding what students should be learning and another where there is no control of what students are learning mostly because that education is decided by the state or even the school. Every child is different as every country is different. I understand the importance to set common standards because it is important for all children to be prepared for a competitive world but world wide standards are impossible when its almost impossible to set them in a same country, even the same city. We need to respect students styles of learning, the way they process information and the environment where they are growing up in. Government needs to understand that education in not only teaching math and spelling and maybe science. Educating a child is teaching them skills that will help them solve problems, be critical thinkers and also global citizens. Every child that we teach will develop a style, a need and a belief of what the world is and how they want to form part of it.
Working for an international school in Mexico City has also taught me the importance of giving children tools to enhance their learning experience. Unfortunately in Mexico, education, good education, costs, and even if Mexico has common curriculum standards for primary years in school (Secretaria de Educacion Publica), not every child has the opportunity to go to school and learn. In Mexico, most children will grow, abandon school, find a job that pays them little and live day by day.
As for me, the challenge I face in my class is to teach my children to be global citizens. To be humble enough to help others. To teach them values that will help them be prepared for a competitive world.
Mariana,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the importance of individual learning styles, I also believe that standardization isn't only impossible, but dangerous. Children must be able to count on teachers as their allies in defending their right to be creative individuals with different backgrounds.
I also agree that every child is different although I do believe that there must be minimum standards and requirements, when a national curriculum is stated the standards are low in general and people tend to think that these are enough. I like you comment on Mexico's education and lack of opportunities.
ReplyDeleteMariana, by reading your post I must say I do agree with your ideas about not being able to educate every student around the world, country, city, or even the school with a common curriculum. In my personal opinion, there SHOULD be base curriculum so that everyone is aiming to cover the same basic skills, however not focusing on those skills so as to "forget" about other important subjects and skills. Each student as you mention has his or her own learning style and trying to box everyone in a standard teaching method does not sound pedagogical at all. Same goes for other factors such as their culture, background, economical, social, etc. conditions. I also like how you mention that in the classroom you teach students to be humble and help others, because caring for the community and having respect and tolerance are all essential aspects of a global citizen.
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