In my five years here at Old Town High School I have had several exchange students who have enlightened me to where they have come from in terms of education. It never ceases to amaze me that many European countries have been allowing students to specialize for years. Students come here and are amazed by the limitless choices that we have for our students. I have been reading several articles and everything that I read applauds the US for our creativity and innovative thinking that our students are allowed.
The downside is always the same which is that our students are nowhere near as far along in math and sciences. Students from Germany tell me time and time again that chemistry is taught much earlier so that students have that background before they specialize. If we could increase our math and science ability we could integrate those sciences much earlier which would allow for students to gain more from their time in schools.
I am going to continue studying ways to help students to achieve more in their time here and ways to prepare them for their future. I want them to have the chance to be exposed to all the cool things that are out there for the future and most of all I want them to learn how to never stop learning.
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Hi Kelley. I have always wondered what students felt about being asked to specialize their learning by high school in Europe. I wondered whether it was a good thing or a bad thing to do. I switched my major three times in college....in college. I can't imagine if I had to choose in high school and then felt stuck in that track even though I realized another passion.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that we can borrow the idea of introducing math and science concepts earlier in our curriculum. We won't do this so that students have the information they need if they choose to specialize in that area, but so that students can be on par with other students internationally in their skills in math and science. Does this make sense? Would it work?