Early birds and late bloomers ...
-
Philip Moon is a SE Valley high school and community college teacher and an Ahwatukee/Chandler community columnist.
German educational model: nicht sehr gut
01/02/2007 02:32:01
My brother just flew in from Germany. Having not seen each other for several years, we had a lot of catching up to do. And while we have had many interesting conversations, one has especially caught my attention: tracking in the German public schools.
The fact that the German public school system tracks students didnÂ’t catch my attention. I already knew that students in Germany were tracked into 1 of 3 tracks. What I didnÂ’t know is that this tracking starts when students finish 4th grade. I was stunned.
I was stunned because we are talking about 10 year-olds whose entire college and career aspirations are irreversibly determined when students are only 10 years-old.
I was equally stunned because student aptitude and student achievement ostensibly donÂ’t really matter. All that matters is the subjective whim of the 4th grade teacher. And so it is that students get pigeonholed for life solely upon the basis of teacher recommendations. Talk about subjective. Talk about scary.
Talk about stupid. Folks, we are talking about 10 year-olds whose entire futures are being decided by teachers playing God. This is wrong, and it doesnÂ’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why.
It’s wrong for the simple fact that not all students “bloom” by the end of the 4th grade. Some students need more time, as they are not yet fully cognitively developed so early.
I was one of those students. Had I been in Germany, I surely would have been denied the chance to attend traditional high school as well as college and university beyond. Had I been in Germany, I wouldÂ’ve been chopped down at the get-go, never allowed to be the late bloomer that I was. As such, had I been in Germany, I would never had the chance to earn 2 college degrees and thereby teach physics at both the high school and junior college levels.
Had I been in Germany, I would have been forced to become a realtor, truck driver, or the like because when I was in 4th grade, try as I might, I just couldn’t “get” mathematics and science.
Back in 4th grade (at Eisenhower Elementary School in Mesa)) I was a “C” student. I routinely earned C’s on just about everything. I did especially poor in mathematics and science. Why? It just didn’t make any sense to me. Try as I might, when it came to mathematics and science, I just didn’t “get it”. And so I got low grades.
I got low grades because I was a late-bloomer. It wasn’t until 9th grade that I started “getting it”. It was then that the proverbial light bulb suddenly went off. All of the sudden I finally understood algebra. All of a sudden I finally learned how to write. My grades suddenly shifted from C's to A’s & B’s.
Why the sudden change? Simple. It was during my freshman year that my brain came of age. Whereas before I was cognitively unable to meaningfully engage in abstract and analytical thought, during my 9th grade year I was finally able to start engaging in formal thinking. The change couldnÂ’t have been any more dramatic.
But as dramatic as it was, it was not unexpected. My brain just needed time to develop.
The young brain needs time to develop. Piaget was telling us this nearly a century ago. And so are todayÂ’s neurophysiologists. And anybody with half a brain knows this. ThatÂ’s why the typical 10 year-old cannot meaningfully engage in formal thought.
And thatÂ’s precisely why I am so grateful that I didnÂ’t grow up in Germany. Had I grown up in Germany, I wouldÂ’ve been summarily denied the chance to be all that I could be.
And thatÂ’s why the German system is so wrong: it arrogantly cuts down and casts aside late-bloomers.
And thatÂ’s why the American public school system must not look to Germany as the model of exemplary public education.
But if we must look to the German model, we must do so with the late-bloomer in mind.
Rather than tracking students at the end of 4th grade, we need to do so at the end of the 9th grade.
Likewise, we need to replace subjective teacher recommendations with objective rigorous criterion referenced achievement and aptitude tests.
If we do so, we can meaningfully reform public education in America at a time when such reform is urgently needed. -
I know it is overdone somehow but this article was interesting . It sort of gave me a self reflection of my life.
Thought it might be interesting to hear the views of those who felt that they could have benefited and those who felt that they were cast aside in the streaming system.
For those who felt they were cast aside - did you feel that you had talent but never been nurtured or encouraged to follow through it? -
if i had been allowed to do what i like maybe i would have done better and be in another discipline, maybe i would be out of the country, maybe........Originally posted by fymk:I know it is overdone somehow but this article was interesting . It sort of gave me a self reflection of my life.
Thought it might be interesting to hear the views of those who felt that they could have benefited and those who felt that they were cast aside in the streaming system.
For those who felt they were cast aside - did you feel that you had talent but never been nurtured or encouraged to follow through it? -
Just out of curiosity..Originally posted by hisoka:if i had been allowed to do what i like maybe i would have done better and be in another discipline, maybe i would be out of the country, maybe........
What would you have to like to be doing? -
well billionaire investor sounds goodOriginally posted by fymk:Just out of curiosity..
What would you have to like to be doing?
-
haha don't we all like thatOriginally posted by hisoka:well billionaire investor sounds good 
-
age is mere numerical discourse of intellectual value... it merely states, in this instance, that the early bird catches its worm but did not reveal where the the pooor bird got the stomach ache after (how many of us actually realised that what we were conditioned to pursue isn't what we really wanted...) ... in any case, nobody remembers who the washing machine inventor is but loads of manufacturers boasts of their own brand sale figures...
-
An interesting read, fymk. perhaps i can share something on streaming and social engineering of people's career:Originally posted by fymk:I know it is overdone somehow but this article was interesting . It sort of gave me a self reflection of my life.
Thought it might be interesting to hear the views of those who felt that they could have benefited and those who felt that they were cast aside in the streaming system.
For those who felt they were cast aside - did you feel that you had talent but never been nurtured or encouraged to follow through it?
i'm one of those who hated math and science, and to compound things, i learnt to read later. but i loved languages and history. but back then, everyone said that ur worth is measured by your math and sc grade. so i had to take physics and A math. (Yux)
in sec school, i failed maths and sc all the time until i worked on it like mad. 2 hrs of compulsory math a day until i got As for O levels, then 2 weeks after the O levels, i forgot everything i rigourously practiced.
fortunately, i managed to beat the streaming borderline....by sheer hard work, not by any interest or inclination. if not i would end up sidelined.
when i went to U, i did E Lang and history, my passions, which then were frowned upon as useles subjects compared to engineering. anyway, i did relatively well without studying much because i loved what i did. this was the only time in my entire student life i got into the top 10%...guess i'm also a late bloomer; plus i got to choose what i like to do.
ended up similar to most of my engineering friends anyway - as teachers. i chose what i loved to do, they had no choice. one of them even told me that no way he could survive in engineering with the influx of Indians and Chinese engineers. and since he could not relocate with a baby in hand, he could only teach.
not only streaming, but social engineering on education also plays a part i guess...it saddens me to hear the same thing repeated by my students' parents. one girl frm my class drew beautifully and had her own fashion design portfolio but her parents said, ' forget about your passion. focus on math and science, get into science stream so u can become an engineer.'
you shoulc just see the look on her face... -
other than streaming for 10 year olds were relied on their teachers.. the guy was ranting. not much info on the german education model.
-
Do IQ test loh simple and easy haha
-
It is more of his opinion as a late bloomer in the right systemOriginally posted by Ito_^:other than streaming for 10 year olds were relied on their teachers.. the guy was ranting. not much info on the german education model. rather than the wrong one. -
i was very lucky....
during psle (i dunno how i managed to get my grades... when i couldn understand more than half the questions that came out )
i was very late.... my brain started functioning when i was in sec 4
i was really very lucky