An Alberta elementary school is taking the concept of specialization to a completely new level. At R.J. Hawkey Elementary School, students heading into Grade 2 will be expected to select a "major" that defines the focus of their education for the next three years.
These majors include: the arts, sports, scientific inquiry and humanitarian/environment. Teachers are required to tailor the provincial curriculum to match these specialty areas. Thus, students in the humanitarian/ environment stream can expect to spend a lot of time in math calculating average recycling rates while sports stream students pore over team statistics.
The problem with this approach is it inevitably leads to a further erosion of academic standards. While it may sound exciting at first for students to have their personal interests reflected in every school subject throughout the day, the novelty will quickly wear off when reality sets in.
In order for students to become proficient in basic academic skills such as reading, writing and mathematics, they need to spend time specifically focused on these skills. Allowing students some flexibility in the books they read in class is one thing -- gearing their entire learning experience around a single theme is another. It is difficult to picture how this can be done without watering down academic standards...
The reality is that many, if not most, students learn best in a school environment where they receive focused academic instruction in the core academic subjects. In other words, let science be science and math be math.
The purpose of elementary and secondary education is to prepare students for the real world. Making them well-rounded individuals not only gives them a survey of skills necessary for life but also gives them time to develop a passion for something and a goal for the future. An eight year old's dream to be a hockey player might be dashed by an injury or swept aside to pursue a career in medicine as he turns eighteen. Why groom him for only one thing when he might not be able or- perhaps- willing to make a living out of it? Not only would this proposed 'majoring' limit the skills he could potentially develop, it could also veer him into a corner from which it would be difficult to escape. Peoples' attitudes, pursuits and passions change throughout life. Just like the eight year old would-be hockey player, a student at R. J. Hawkey Elementary School might just decide to chuck his environmental studies for something else. Where would he go from there? To another school that taught the basics- math, writing and reading. If only educational standards would rise so that a student would be prepared once he reaches post-secondary age. No student poised to enter university shood wright like dis, yo, lol (I'm not making this up- we've thrown writing skills in the dustbin, much to our eternal shame).
If we are insistent on having elementary school students 'major' in something, then let that be a private pursuit. What can the parents do to encourage a child to learn or develop a skill? There has been enough effort pushing kids into sports or toddler fashion shows so that the parents may vicariously live through their soon-to-be burned out offspring but what about other things? Learning a language, seeking out help for math, art classes, playing the piano- there should be a place for these things to be taught and it should be worth someone's while. Sending a child to such classes cost. A tax credit for these activities, for example, would be a boon to parents eager to expand their children's minds.
Restricting the focus on one thing is counter-productive. It is failing to provide students with what they need not only live but also in allowing them to set goals for themselves. Choosing a path may seem easy when you don't know what lies ahead. It is quite another to bottleneck a path for someone.
6 comments:
Why not jsut admit that they are trying to revive the caste system? Or that the way kids in the USSR were taken away to be given specific training for the remainder of their lives was unpopular, so we found a way for people to do it to themselves?
~Your Brother~
I can't believe anyone would think this was a good idea other than the ideological reasons you mentioned and, perhaps, laziness. A kid puttering in the garden is a lot less of a handful than a kid trying to understand math. Wait until that kid grows up and becomes effectively useless.
Students that age are not experienced enough to choose ANYTHING that is more long-term, or "big picture" than a yummy dessert. This is another bad decision made by Canadian schoolteachers/administrators who have always made plenty of gaffes. Kids that age can't weigh & assess their strengths and weaknesses; they can only think about what's fun and what's boring. They are, usually, incapable of reasoning that they ought to work on STRENGTHENING their weaknesses rather than avoiding them because they "aren't fun". All but the most precocious among them will fail to understand that they need a certain minimum of skills in ALL areas in order to be functional as an adult down the road.
All the talk of it becoming more competitive to gain admission to Teacher`s College that I`ve heard in the last 20 years seems to be nothing but hype. Either that, or nepotism and other types of non merit-based hiring have been pissing in the talent pool in the field. The things I see and hear from educators these days aren`t any better than the nonsense I saw and heard from the teachers born in the 40s and early 50s that I had as a young one. Some of them probably didn`t even have degrees given the time when they started.
My friend`s daughter, who is in Grade 4 showed us a certificate that was sent home from a teacher giving her recognition as `Hardest Working student in Conditioning class`. What the hell does that mean! Certificates are given for Excellence, or something comparable, not abstract, silly things unless we`re going to start giving them out for Nicest Perfume or something. Oh, that would harrassment; darn. Educators are RIGHT ON TOP of that already.I`m not even going to ask what Conditioning class is - don`t think I wanna know. Also heard about an 8th grader who was VOTED Valedictorian by her classmates. A Valedictorian is the person who the highest overall Grade Point Average in his year - NOTHING other than that.
Perhaps it`s schoolteachers in general, not just Canadian schoolteachers, lest it seem like I`m picking on them. They all seem to be the unimaginative, intolerant, weak-minded Herberts of the Eden episode of Star Trek. Please; if you`re going to try to be innovative and see outside the box, don`t leave your glasses IN the box when you do that.
HAROLD HECUBA
Indeed, Harold.
This is quite the comment. You should have applied for guest blogger!
First point, if kids could determine their strengths and weaknesses at their stage in life, they would already have jobs and be performing duties. The fact that they would rather play and have no idea where mum and dad get the money to buy their Wiis proves otherwise.
One is also forgetting that people are mutable. Ideas for future professions change, even at the university level. Without the wherewithal to move into another area, teachers who have adopted this early majoring program are condemning these kids to- as a commentator previously put it- a caste system. Once a farmer, always a farmer and the like.
It also gives some teachers the chance to be lazy. Why teach academics when one can root around in the soil which has no real mental effort to tax. I am not disparaging horticulturalists or farmers as I'm sure they are intelligent and hard-working people but only what was proposed in the article.
The greatest way to boost a student's self-esteem is to reward him for mastering a concept or acknowledging his hard efforts, not a pity ribbon.
From some of the teachers I've heard of, education has done them little good but because they have a foot in the door, real educators have t wait in the wings. Nice.
When I was a kid, playing with our "Wii"s meant something else entirely and was generally considerate inappropriate.
HAROLD HECUBA
I try to keep this site wholesome.
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