Education is different all over the world, and there’s a good reason
for it. First kids must be conditioned to get along in their own
societies, and deal with the important aspects and unique qualities of
the regions where they live. If you’re going to teach kids in rural
Honduras math and reading, you would want to put it into the context of
making bricks, building septic systems, making a dam, or building a
bridge. Do you see that point? If you are teaching on a Pacific island
you would want to teach the kids about fishing, farming, and typhoons
and things of that nature.
Yes, you’d also wish to teach those kids about technology and the Internet, and other important things, but you’d also want to keep it in the right context, so everyone knows the basics. All too often, we fail to understand the regional variations, and the needs for education to adapt to those things. Even in the United States most people don’t travel beyond 25 miles from where they were born. Now then, I would submit to you that most people should have basic education which deals with their locality first and foremost, and then move on from there.
In the United States, most of the kids who need transportation to school take a school bus. In other countries it may not be so easy to get to school, and there are a number of other ways that the students get there. In some places students write elephants to school, seriously it’s true. In some countries they take a canoe, and paddle their way to school. School is a lot different in other places. Everything about it is different, and therefore, it’s really hard to compare, and so maybe we should be careful when we start comparing test scores from kids in different countries, with different nationalities, different family lives, and different weather.
You see, not only are the education needs different, but everything else is different as well, right down to the modes of transportation the kids used to get to school in the first place, and the distances they must travel, and the seasonality aspects which close the schools from time to time. It cannot be a one-size-fits-all, and although we need standardization throughout the world and everyone needs to be able to read and write, and communicate online, they also must first understand how to get along in their local environment and become self-sufficient. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this on a philosophical basis.
Yes, you’d also wish to teach those kids about technology and the Internet, and other important things, but you’d also want to keep it in the right context, so everyone knows the basics. All too often, we fail to understand the regional variations, and the needs for education to adapt to those things. Even in the United States most people don’t travel beyond 25 miles from where they were born. Now then, I would submit to you that most people should have basic education which deals with their locality first and foremost, and then move on from there.
In the United States, most of the kids who need transportation to school take a school bus. In other countries it may not be so easy to get to school, and there are a number of other ways that the students get there. In some places students write elephants to school, seriously it’s true. In some countries they take a canoe, and paddle their way to school. School is a lot different in other places. Everything about it is different, and therefore, it’s really hard to compare, and so maybe we should be careful when we start comparing test scores from kids in different countries, with different nationalities, different family lives, and different weather.
You see, not only are the education needs different, but everything else is different as well, right down to the modes of transportation the kids used to get to school in the first place, and the distances they must travel, and the seasonality aspects which close the schools from time to time. It cannot be a one-size-fits-all, and although we need standardization throughout the world and everyone needs to be able to read and write, and communicate online, they also must first understand how to get along in their local environment and become self-sufficient. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this on a philosophical basis.
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