and knowledge will your school focus on imparting to young minds? No holds barred!
DWP #9: Teach or educate?
and knowledge will your school focus on imparting to young minds? No holds barred!
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and knowledge will your school focus on imparting to young minds? No holds barred!
Daily Writing Prompts 
The first thing that came up in my mind, while reading this assignment, was that I want to give the young pupils more freedom.
Freedom is a broad concept, so I will explain my conception.
As a kid in high school, I was concentrated on everything instead of school (I think I can speak for a lot of people) As a 13-year-old you do not care about the Pythagorean theorem or which tense you need to use while talking about ‘something that happened in the past but is still important in the present’. I remember, I wanted to get to know my own strengths and weaknesses.
Since I got to this education, I am really impressed by the theory of the multi intelligence by Gardner (1983). This is something I want to implement in my lessons, as it teaches kids their strengths.
With using this theory as a base line in my education programme, in my opinion, I can teach children more. Not only the key elements of education, but also their place in the society and their talents which are very valuable in their surroundings.
While using this concept of education, you give children confidence. They are not misplaced in society because they cannot do Maths or read fast, no they are good in using music to express their feelings and nature elements to count to 100.
The current system in the Netherlands needs improvement, because we are still too focused on good results. Maybe we should focus on a healthy mindset first.
Martine Schrik – EN2C
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When I was in Highschool, I found it hard that no one was teaching you things you can use in real-life as you’re getting older. I mean, they never thought me what bills I had to pay when I became 18 and the things you have to arrange on that age. For me, it would have been better to learn that in an economic class or something! Now instead of learning important things, I know how to find the square root of 4, very helpful! I had to find out by myself what I had to arrange, because my parents thought it was good for me to do research about it. I can agree on that now, but my time was special in that period, haha!
I also think that teachers can become a bit better in understanding what someone in puberty goes trough. Most of my teachers had prejudices about the teenagers at school, and I don’t find that very professional. My school experience would have been better if teachers would have asked me where my behavior came from, so that I learned to talk about my problems.
As last, I think some schools have to dig deeper in the talents of many students! On the first school I went to, I felt like I was a robot. There was definitely no time to develop your talents beside your school subjects. So, you had to do everything you liked at home. My second school was already better in that. You could do your own thing, as long as the result completed the requirements.
So in conclusion, schools have to look deeper into a person than thinking about them as ‘just teenagers’, cause there are a lot of different personalities and not everyone is the same. I hope that more teachers will see that eventually.
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Sounds like your parents are better teachers than some of the ones you’ve had at school! I think that’s a great point, choosing to find out the reason behind the behavior instead of simply blaming it on the stereotypical teenager. Thanks for reminding me of the student’s point of view.
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A child’s mind is a beautiful things, it soaks up information from various sources in child’s vicinity and uses it to form the person that the child will become, if one ware to exploit this simple system, the product derived from it would greatly benefit the society as a whole. Indoctrination a process of instilling certain thoughts and ideals in someone else’s mind. While the idea may sound evil because of the real life history examples, one cannot deny its effectiveness. If men where to utilize this process in the youngest days of a child’s life, they could produce a being capable of following the most optimized path chosen especially for them. While this form of manipulation may help children with the pursuit of the chosen form of ideal, it will not however help in an everyday life, due to that the best course of action would be to teach the children that are already capable of performing simple tasks how to handle everyday problems. Children would be taught how to survive a day of stereotypical idea, this would be treated as a training for later in life. With both the path chosen for them set before their eyes and the skill with which they can lead a relatively normal life, the children would be fully set to integrate into society. The individual would take a back sit and the greater good would take the wheel, man and women alike would be taught how to benefit the society and fellow humans to the best of their ability, therefor raising the moral and introducing a sense of comradery between them. In this world of no free will the humanity would prosper for the concept of individual thinking would die out, one may call it immoral now, but that is only because one believes themselves to be the most important, by creating an education system that focuses on nurturing people into well oiled workers, the efficiency of the great machine would prosper immensely. From young the child would be raised to unquestionably follow the rules set for it by the society, the would be taught how to survive in an urban jungle and be encouraged to find new heights in the fields that they where chosen for. There be no place for imperfection, no place for feeling special or different, conformism at its purest form. This be a world where man had died and a new being breathed life into its lungs, one that isn’t bound by a single body, one that doesn’t need anything or care for anything other than the advancement of the hive. A perfect swarm of workers, a beast called the mankind. This be a system that creates that future and it all starts with learning, because that’s what humans do, from the moment they are born, they learn, adapt and overcome and if one is to put a system into that process, one can shape and form humanity as he desires, this be an example of one can do if one wishes for perfection but the system can create so much more, one just needs to find the will to push themselves past his morals, only then can he reach human control system.
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Your piece is both a unique, as compared to the other responses, description of an educational system and a wonderfully rebellious obverse of the prompt’s directions. Something must have gone right somewhere…
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This is a hard dilemma as I was quite satisfied with my high school education. The best programme I have followed was the IB programme mostly seen in International Schools. The curriculum ensured the students had a mixed package including; the basic subjects such as maths, languages and sciences but also community service, arts, and music.
I believe it is really important that all students get a basic understanding of skills that we need in life. It is essential that we are given information on each topic so that we can later own make a better choice for our future studies or careers. Students can’t decide whether they want to focus on math or science or art if they don’t know what each subject is about.
Another thing I liked in their curriculum was the community service hours. To be able to graduate, every student had to spend a certain amount of hours doing community service. I think this teaches the students that there is a bigger world out there rather than just their own. Students should not only focus on the money making of work but also the satisfaction you can get from helping others. Also, it gives them the opportunity to realize that this is also a path they can take. It teaches them modesty and gratefulness.
On the other hand, I believe high schools can focus more on the future study a student would like to follow. In the last two years we were allowed to choose subjects we wanted to keep following or drop, but this is not sufficient guidance I believe. I really struggled with choosing what I wanted to study. I wanted to follow science and anatomy but I was also interested in English. Yes we had tests and small talks with counselors to talk about optional studies but I was overwhelmed with choices. Of course some students already have it figured out but I believe schools should pay more attention to those who are lost in a sea of possibilities.
Furthermore, I personally really enjoy literature and believe it can help quite a lot with stress, anxiety or just for relaxation. A student can increase their creativity and fantasy, work on their vocabulary subconsciously and just enjoy a moment for themselves. There are so many genres and I believe every student must like to read about at least one of them.
There are so many more ideas that I will come up with as I experience the Dutch education more. Overall the one thing that stands out to me, for now, is that students need more guidance regarding their follow up study and prospect careers.
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I think you got it right on the mark: my daughter graduates this year and is very unsure which path to follow. As you experienced, it’s hard for her to find answers. That ‘mixed package’ sounds like a great way for students to get to know themselves better. Perhaps teaching students self-reflection (as you’ve done well here!) early on in life would be advantageous. How wonderful that you receive such pleasure from literature; I hope you keep up the writing.
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The first thing that came to my mind when reading todays prompt was making sure the students have an active participation in class. I want to make sure that they like the assignments that they get, but also that they see why they need to learn certain things.
When I was in high school this wasn’t explained to me or my classmates and because of this people started to complain, a lot. I think that when telling the students why they must have to learn something it might make them want to start working, without having to push them to much.
I really like the multiple intelligence by Gardner. It gives teacher the opportunity to connect to their students. Every student has their own interests and with the multiple intelligence we can make assignments that connect to those interests. This might motivate them to keep working, maybe it won’t even seem like work anymore but a fun activity that can be done in class.
Lastly, I would like to teach my students something about the world outside of school. They have to enter this world pretty soon and they need to be prepared. When I left high school, I had no clue what to do next, I would have liked a little bit more guidance and I think other students might also appreciate this.
I think our current system could use an upgrade; I would like the system to focus on the process of an assignment and not on the results.
Sabrina Spaan – VO Engels 2C
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Based on personal experience and that of my friends, there are more than a few subjects I can come up with that I believe should be taught in Dutch schools. The most pressing one being life skills’ a subject where you can learn how to pay taxes, make official appointments and have successful job interviews. These are such simple, everyday situations yet a surprising amount of high schoolers have no clue how to do them. It would make for more self-reliant and capable generations if these everyday tasks would be explained to pupils.
In addition to these life skills, a subject that I personally missed a lot was politics. This is barely discussed in Dutch education, yet many pupils find it really interesting. Aside from interest it is very beneficial for a student to know the basics of politics as it is bound to be very influential in his or her life later on.
I would also deem it fitting for politics to be combined with culture, as these are often intertwined. Pupils could learn about foreign traditions that impact the current political situation and current events in the world.
Another aspect missing from most Dutch schools are Advanced Placement classes, where Dutch students who excel at certain subjects can go. This is something I missed in particular as regular English classes were boring for the majority of the time. Cambridge, a course offered at my school that prepared students for Cambridge exams, was supposed to be a way out for bored students. It did not do this however, as Cambridge was more about preparing and getting familiar with the Cambridge standard than it was about the English language. I would love for advanced classes were bright students can go to be challenged again.
Lastly, I would want to add free choice courses to the curriculum. Similar to the options students are allowed to pick in college, I would want secondary school pupils to take courses in IT, theatre, literature, photography, mythology and business.
Juliet Wind, 1D
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Another very well-crafted and beautifully written piece. I can imagine Advanced English would have been just the place for you. Your piece is also nicely faceted, describing a system that ranges from personal growth and necessary life skills to knowledge of the world. It sounds like any of your future students looking for a challenge will have the right teacher!
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I am not sure where to start but if there is one thing that I do know for sure it is that change is due for secondary education. If I were to redesign it I’d first make sure that the government would spend more money on education so every class can have a teacher that can give them the attention they deserve. Not only would money go to secondary education, primary education needs a lot of money as well. At this rate children will miss out on so many things that when they’re old enough for secondary education we’ll have to spend more time on their early development. In my opinion the synergy should be seamless.
When looking at the curriculum I would also add some significant changes: If a student is good at something like English or Math I believe they should be able to:
Follow classes at higher years.
Do exams at higher levels.
Reduce the hours of the classes they excel in so they can focus more on the classes they struggle with.
Basically this boils down to rewarding hard work, there are plenty of children who are incredibly smart and talented but they’re being held back by our decades old school system. I think it is just straight up ridiculous that you have to go through 5 years of maths if you’re already good at it and could easily start in class 3. I think it’s just plain stupid that a vmbo student can’t do havo or vwo exams if he excels in English and can easily do a B2 or C1 exam. School should be a beautiful garden where young children have the freedom and the aid to grow to their fullest potential instead of a greenhouse where everyone has to grow at the same rate into the same form. Not just should they be able to grow to their fullest potential, there should also be space for them to get aid and help where that is needed.
Furthermore I am also in favor of turning all religious schools into public ones. Anyone should have the freedom to practice their religion but education is something the state does and state and religion should be separated. If parents want their children to be taught religious values they can send them to bible school on sunday or Quran school on Friday.
It worries me that institutions of knowledge are poisoned by religious beliefs. No school should teach children that being gay is wrong. No school should teach girls that they’re worth less than boys. No school should be teaching girls that they shouldn’t wear ‘improper’ clothing. No school should skip evolution theory just because it doesn’t align with their religion. Every school should teach from a basis of logic and rationality so children develop critical and analytic skills which are necessary in today’s world which is quite the opposite from what religion teaches you.
Furthermore, I also find it rather important for children to learn more about morals, sexual education, consent and body image. I also think it would be great if children were given more opportunities, got a talented writer in your class? Offer writing classes! Got children with an entrepreneurial drive? Get them in touch with business people and give them the opportunity to develop!
I solemnly believe that every child is capable of achieving greatness and can become a great contributing member of society. I already I am so proud of what they have achieved so far, this generation has by far the highest acceptance of lgbtq+ people, they understand the threat of climate change and are willing to do something about it, they’re smart and brilliant and deserve better.
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If I could redesign the high school system it would look a lot differently. I would let students enroll for classes they wanted that week. For example there would be a math one and math two each week in the schedule, they would have to enroll for both each week but can pick the time and day from the times it’s offered. You would have a set amount of hours you would need to make per class that you can schedule yourself by picking a schedule each week. If you know you’re not productive before ten AM you won’t need to go to class then because you can schedule it yourself.
For classes offered I would make changes too, home economics is an important class that should be taught to everyone and it should include things like cooking, doing taxes, etc. Math should be related to things you’ll actually use and need.
I would change the way tests are too, everything should be an open book test, it’s not like your boss is going to say ‘taxes are due but you’re not allowed to look at any of the financial papers, you’ll have to do it all from the top of your head!’. That’s not the way things work so I don’t think you should be tested like that either.
Samara Sahar 1b
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Your school sounds fabulously sensible! Your students would be much better prepared for real life. Watch out for run-on sentences. A period instead of a comma would help make the your good ideas you’re trying to convey more clear.
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The education system definitely needs an overhaul. First of all, I would bring back special education, so kids forced into regular education don’t fall by the wayside. Secondly, students should have more freedom in picking their own subjects and advancing to higher levels whenever they can. For example, if a student can study B2 or C1 English on their own, they should be able to. They should also be able to take exams on the level they decided to study (e.g. a havo student can take vwo exams) and their high school diploma should reflect that if they pass.
I would also scrap the math the average person doesn’t need as it is really demoralising when you’re learning something useless, you’re bad at it and it’s a mandatory subject at the same time. The same goes for optional languages like German or French, with more language options available. I don’t remember the name of the theory, but learning is like building blocks. If you do not have a proper foundation (basic math, which many children do poorly at), you can’t build a house. Therefore, I’d like to see basic math lessons drastically improved before we move on to algebra.
Last but not least, I’d want to implement carpentry, metalworking, textiles and other such classes. We did this at my Steiner school (Parcival College) and regardless of whether you were good or bad at it, it gave us an opportunity to relax and work with our hands while socialising instead of concentrating on theoretical subjects. It’s a great option for students who are less fond of PE. These classes have also taught me not to rush things and to make my hands perform imagery and actions I picture in my head, along with paying attention to detail. It’s also fun to take home something you made from scratch and show it to your parents, whether it be a small book storage, a scarf or even a hammer.
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