If you could design your education in exactly the way you want, how would you do that? Would you continue our idea of Gen Ed, of a bunch of general classes that make you a well-rounded person? Does it work? Or would you begin your college career in your major, taking only those courses that will help to make you an expert in the field of your choice?
I've thought about redesigning an elementary school so that the kindergarten teacher travels with the students to first, then second, and so on, all the way through 8th grade. I guess the only problem is if your kindergarten teacher stinks then your whole education is going to be ruined, right? But we would put controls in for that. If the teacher stinks, FIRE THE TEACHER. Hmm, novel idea, right? How would you redesign your education?
Castle of Juana la Loca
Medina del Campo, Espana
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Many people have tried to redesign education in order to improve the levels of learning in each grade level. For some reason there is always a problem with each style of education ( most likely because the parents who see there kids start to struggle begin to complain)
In my opinion we baby children when they enter their first years of learning. IT is understandable that we must make school fun and entertaining for the kindergardeners that have HUGE attention problems, but we never seem to put the idea that education may be free but it is something kids must not take lightly. When kids start to fail people begin to blame the teachers, or the conditions they learn under. The real problem is that students do not know that they must adjust to the learning setting around them. If we could present that idea to students when they are younger there will be less problems and less changes made to find a better way to educate kids in the U.S. Obviously there is always way we can improve teaching such as offering tutors to students for free, but don't you thing free public education is enough? If someone has a problem with their son or daughter in public schools thats fine let them pay to put their student in a private school or home school environment.
I think we are waisting are time trying to find out the best way schools should teach. The main mission of public schools is to teach students enough so they can manage in the working world. If students don't want to learn, let them waist free education, but don't let them take advantage of todays free money that our govt. gives out to people who can't afford to live in todays society.
In todays world if you want to learn and get a diploma then do it but as a whole we should not try to find a way to better the way we teach kids and play the blame game on teachers or learning styles. It is the same idea for college if you want to learn spend the money you have to in order to get a college diploma.
Also, really quick, does anybody else think that the way we teach students is not the problem why kids struggle to learn, but the true problem is the way the media portrays how life should be; full of drugs alcohol and bling. Being smart seems to be not cool while acting like Paris Hilton is cool? Just an idea...
I might not have enough experience to have a saying in this subject, since I have only tried one other country and school. But I will give my opinion from the narrow experiences that I have.I do strongly believe that the bureaucracy in this country is way to complex. Not only in the school, but in everything you do. Lets stay to the school now. When you enroll in an education in Sweden, there is nothing such as "choosing classes". The program is there and you do it, that's it! 95 percent of the time you tackle one subject at the time. There are usually the same hours in school, but less homework and much more advancement in the specific subject you are studying. The tests are very, very, much more complex. And you do soon realize that self-discipline is the keyword if you are going to succeed. The lectures that you have is made by specialists that are working in the specific field, so you can have lots of different professors during the quarter. For example if you are reading law, there might be a judge there preaching, or if you are reading chemistry there might be a researcher lecturing. If I was to compare the American university to the Swedish university, I would say that the American university is similar to the Swedish high school. Please do not take me wrong, I am not in any way trying to underestimate America. I am just saying my opinion, and I absolutely LOVE this country. In other topics I would have so many incredible good things to say about this wonderful country, that it is not even funny! It is a pleasure to be in your class. Thank you, Dr. Schmoll and students.
Best regards
Elin Hallnor
Hey Elin,
I took a minute to read your opinion about American Education compared to Sweden's Education, and I completely understand. My roommate is from England and feels the exact same way. America does have its strengths and weaknesses but so does every other country. I do have one question when it comes to schooling in Sweden. Do you feel that students in all grade levels have more of a want to learn and advance in schooling compared to students in America? And do you have any idea why that is if your answer is yes? Just out of curiosity. Thanks Elin.
Drey Hicks
I think it would be better to focus only on courses following your declared major. I'm not too sure what the real purpose of General Ed. is anyway because most of the GE courses taken in college are repeats of courses in high school. Right now, I'm fine with GE courses because I feel I am a little rusty in general education but the thought of two extra years for GE isn't that great. Wouldn't it be nice to start working in your skilled occupation with 2 or 3 years of education, instead of 4 to 10 years including GE. On this topic I'm really just back and fourth. I oppose but if it doesn't change, it wouldn't matter to me. Can't wait to graduate though...still got a while .. :)
The answer to this question is no. I think that students in Sweden are in a much earlier age forced to focus on a specific subjets. We choose our major when we apply for high school. So you can for example choose "Natural Sciences", like I did. Which includes all the subjects so that you are eligible for enrolling in any university program. Or you can for example choose nursing, but then your chooises are very narrow in getting into a university education. Also the University in Sweden is free, so the competition to get into any program are very very high. A lot of students do not get accepted. But my final point beeing, is that if you have too choose direction at an early stage, you might get more motivated. Also if you know that the competition of getting into college is high, you have to start studying hard at a very early age. Hope this was an ok answer to your question.
Best regards
Elin Hallnor
My ideal education would consist of removing General Education. I would be happy if we got rid of the General Education section. We should focus more on our majors and the other two years we could work or become interns in our major. It would allow us to have practical experience in the work environment and it can boost our resume. Taking a test to be accepted for a school is good enough in my opinion. Even reducing some General Education would be nice. We don't necessarily need classes like Statistics, do we? haha I'm not a fan of Math...
Goodness, you people are on to something here. I have come to some similar conclusions whilst comparing the American and Spanish systems of public education. The Spanish high school student has twelve major subject every year. If he or she fails the one test per year given in June (did you get that, one test per year) he or she has one chance to repeat the test and then, if still unsuccesful, has to repeat the whole year. Do that twice and you are off to a vocational school. The benefit of this is that the high schools are giving students a sound grounding in what we now call General Education. The college student then focusses wholly on his or her major area, or carerra, career. The downside to all of this is that such a system requires students to be ready in the 7th or 8th grade when the tests are given. Fail those and you are off to become a welder or an electrician--noble professions, but maybe you would have blossomed a bit later and done well in college also. Hence, the Euro system tends toward elitism. For such a large country(system), we send an extraordinary number of students to college.
Keep thinking. You people are stunningly brilliant!
Wow!!! That's a great idea. Ive always wanted to stick with my teacher when i was small because i would get attached to them. If i had the chance to change my education i would make school days shorter. I think parents miss a lot of their kids childhood because they're in school most of the day. They would start at 8:00am but would end at 1:00pm. Or some would start at 12:00pm and end at 5:00 it would be their choice.
I would keep the education system the way it is. kids aren't going to know what they wanna do when the get older. so teach them the basics until they are old enough to decide what they wanna do. i do like the idea of keeping the same teacher till 8th grade though.
I believe that students should take classes for there intended major right away. I think this because it would give the students more mastery and knowledge of the majors because they would be studying there majors courses for a longer time.
If i could design my own education, then i would have it to where in every single class a computer would be involved, because now a days the computer has become the new library. So instead of taking a trip to the library, which would take up time, you just use the computer. When it comes time for college, i would have it to where you start off taking courses that deal with your ideal major, instead of learning all the general education that we have already learned in grades K through 12
No one ever expected me to graduate from high school and go to college. I always dreamed of it and plan to make the best of the "college experience". I would rather take all the gen ed classes instead of jumping right into a major. I think taking all the gen ed classes help people build their skills and give them a better insight on whatever they plan to do. Its like a build up to the big thing it prepares you for whats to come
i could would should have a lot to say on this subject, but i want too then dont!!! but i do think its funny, if you K teacher stinks, then school for you the rest of your life stinks...its sometimes like that, if "english" teachers werent so boring all the time english would be more fun...cough cough, not you dr schmolll!!! but i do agree if one stinks then you have the first impression of someone before you get the real first impression...
ok ill comment education...i think gen ed is alright...i think maybe 1 year is enough since we've been doing it all our lives, otherwise i dont see how 2 years can get me a degree in nursing, when its someones life that is in my hands...i dont see how that fits but i do think we need to revise a lot in our "education system"
I think that in college, you shouldn't have to take Gen Ed classes. If you go to middle school and high school, then once you get to college you should know what you want to do. If you don't know then you should have the option of taking Gen Ed classes, but since we are paying so much for college we should be able to focus on only our major if we want. Just my opinion though!
My personal belief is that people who don't care for school should'nt have to go to school past Junior High. First of all it's a waste of America's money to force students to go to school, especially the ones who just go to get in fights, don't appreciate school, are never there, or are going to drop out anyway. Thinking back to High School, it was always so annoying hearing students complain about how stupid it is that they are forced to be in school, or talk badly to there teachers, or who were "to cool for school." I'm just sitting there thinking..hmmm my tax dollars are going to your ungrateful, ignorant, pathetic little self. If people don't want to get an education for free they don't have to. Second of all I think Junior High students should have to take a test to make it into High School. So High School can be the real deal none of the sappy stuff, or general level classes there can be a focus on learning rather than attendance and rules. I know I sound a little ranty but I'm sure a few people agree with me High School could be more serious, or maybe they had a wonderful High School experience and disagree with me completely.
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