Importance of the K-12 Education System

K-12 education is an innovative education system. This area of education has a dominance over the conventional educational systems as it puts more weight on thinking and reaching own self-explanatory conclusions.

The way of teaching here is completely different and phenomenal. Teachers generally follow the tactic of asking students to work on a lot of assignments since it develops an intellectual, yet interesting learning habit. In reality, this method helps the students in revising what has been taught previously. In K-12 education system, all the students are given individual attention and hence they understand their subjects in a more practical way. The role of a teacher here is just to guide them in the right way and provide them with learning opportunities. What really happens is that, the individual discovers his own learning capacity and success depends on the thinking ability of the student.

The classroom activities might be similar to what is being practiced in a public school where students go and get their notes and submit records but the key difference is that her in K-12 classes, the students are encouraged to bring about their personal thoughts and visions. Students enroll themselves in different forums and educational clubs where they get to discuss many points for the same topic and get different views. The teachers here contribute so much as to turning every discussion into a positive note cooperating with the students.

K-12 education system has revolutionized the education system in India. Over the years, the level of education system and syllabus has greatly improved in time. The K-12 segment accounts for the lion's share of India's educational market. Students are provided with the ultimate learning opportunities. The school invests thousands of dollars in bringing the best infrastructures. It is also equally important that the student utilizes this system in best possible ways. He must always evaluate the available information to jump to a rational ending. This is the type of educational platform any student can experience in the K-12 program. Therefore, it is no surprise that this methodology is being introduced by most educational institutions in India.

The traditional learning styles have their own merits, but this new and innovative education strategy is superior in that. It helps the students work individualistically and find solutions on their own. This strategy makes students self-determining, reliable and indulgent. It also improves the relation between the teacher and students and brings a warm classroom atmosphere. Such a harmonious atmosphere can create masterminds who, in the long run, can become assets not only to the school but to the society as a whole.

Our Education System Must Change

Is the goal of our education system to prepare our children to enter the job market? Does our current system meet those goals? An argument can be made that our education system fails to meet these goals and changes are dearly needed.

Our education system has become outdated and too expensive. From the time a child enters kindergarten, the learning process is to get them ready for college. In reality only a small percentage of students will ever attend a college or university. However, our system is to force every student to learn curricula that is required for college entry. We do this in an effort to be fair, so that all students have the same opportunities. What this has really created is an unfair system that does not address the needs of the majority of our students.

Education must become tailored to the student's needs. All students must be taught basic reading, writing and math skills, which should be accomplished before they reach high school. By the time a student reaches high school they should be tested to determine a track for continued education. Unfortunately our education system has stigmatized any form of education that does not include college. This is where the system is unfair as most students would be better off attending a trade school rather than being forced to take classes they are not capable of learning. Students who are not academically inclined should be diverted to schools that teach them job skills. Aptitude tests should be used to determine a students natural abilities. The type of education a student receives should be based solely on testing.

In addition, our colleges and universities must also change. Even this education must become more like a trade school and be narrowly targeted to the career the student has elected. Students are graduating from colleges with degrees that do not prepare them for the job they will enter. Our college education system is so broad that it often takes five years to get a four-year degree. This is not necessary and entirely too costly for the student and the country. If a student attends college to become a doctor then teach them what they need to know to be a doctor. Broader areas of education that do not need to be learned to perform the job skill should not be required. Surely half of the currently required classes could be eliminated if our education system was more narrowly tailored to the area of profession chosen by the student. The broad system we currently employ leads to students being saddled with thousands of dollars of debt. This would seem to put the emphasis on funding schools rather than teaching students. Students would be better prepared for the work force if the education system concentrated on the education they needed rather than the broad area of learning we have now.

An example of waste in higher education is the requirement to learn a second language. Learning a second language is a worthy part of either lower or higher education. However, students are required to take two years of language courses and a large majority cannot speak the language at the end. If the goal is to teach a second language, then our school system is failing miserably. What should be adopted is one of the commercially available language software programs that teaches you to read and actually speak a language. If students were required to do this for one year, they would become proficient in speaking a second language and the goal would actually be met.

With the advent of the Internet the possibilities for teaching our students is endless. The need for brick and mortar schools will become obsolete. Parents will have more options than the current public school system. Schools, colleges and universities will have to adapt in order to exist. Preparing our students to enter the work force should be the goal. Parents can no longer afford the cost of tuition and it is criminal to saddle our students with thousands of dollars of debt before they even enter the work force.

Most job creation in this country is done by small businesses. A lot of very successful small business owners do not have college degrees and don't consider having one to be a great asset to them. Especially when the degree is not tailored to their business. If a college degree is going to be the student's highest achievement on their resume, shouldn't it be specific to the job they are seeking?

Change is coming whether our educators and government want it or not. We should embrace this change and make educating our children about preparing them for the job market.

Could You Benefit From This Education System?

The Benefits of Other Education Systems

Is the North American system of education a world model? Can they possibly learn and borrow from other countries and cultures to further improve their way of doing things?

While doing some unrelated research this past week, I came across some very interesting information that piqued my interest in the current state of affairs in North American education. The author of the report, Bill Costello, is a US educational researcher who believes that cultures should borrow the best practices from each other. He wanted to find out if the Taiwanese education system uses practices from which schools in the US could benefit.

I would add here that US schools could easily be expanded to cover most schools in North America. Having gone through the US education system myself and seeing my step-daughters now in the Canadian education system, for the purpose of this article I've concluded that the US/Canadian methods are very closely related, if not entirely similar.

Mr. Costello notes that the Taiwanese education system produces students with some of the highest test scores in the world in science and math. He goes on to support his case by citing the various international assessments used to obtain performance rankings in different disciplines of study, such as math, science and reading. The actual assessment results show that the Taiwanese education system produces overall performances significantly higher than the international average.

A Few Simple Changes to Greatly Benefit Our Education System

The most interesting part of Mr. Costello's report is that he admits there are too many factors involved to correctly pinpoint the reason(s) why the Taiwanese appear to lead the world in educational performance. However, he did make these observations and wonders - as I now do, and hope you will too - if the following six excellent practices just might have something to do with their superior rankings among global education systems. Here is a brief summary of what Mr. Costello observed:

• Nutrition: The Taiwanese serve veggies, rice, soup and meat as opposed to the high fat and sugar content processed food of their North American counterparts. Studies prove that good nutrition improves scholastic achievement.
• Activity Levels Increased: The Taiwanese incorporate more weekly physical education and daily recesses than do North Americans. In fact, the growing trend in North America is to cut required physical activity out altogether, making it an elective. Once again, independent studies show that an increase in regular exercise improves school performance results.
• Uniforms: With peer pressure being a large cause of negative influence in school, uniforms are proven to lower incidents of violence and theft. Children who feel safe and relaxed do far better than those who are constantly stressed and fearful. Uniforms are the norm in Taiwan, while only 15% of North American schools require them.
• Utilization of a more hands-on approach: While the majority of North American schools tend to limit learning from books and other multi-media, the Taiwanese lean more towards hands-on learning, preferring to use compasses and rulers rather than computers and calculators as one example. Hands-on learning leads to more direct application of learned skills, making the lessons that much more real and valuable to students.
• Multi-task learning: The Taiwanese try to show how things are related by teaching two or three disciplines at a time. For example, art meets science as students draw or construct models based on what they learn. Again, this allows students additional ways to apply what they know across multiple disciplines, making each area that much stronger.
• Instill personal responsibility: Taiwanese school systems do not employ janitors. Rather, cleanup is part of the daily regimen taken up by all students where they are assigned to clean the building, take care of trash and keep the school grounds clean and tidy. Academic performance improves as students become more responsible.

Not Perfect, But a Better Education System

While the Taiwanese education system is excellent, it's not perfect. For example, critics say it favors rote memorization over critical and creative thought, puts too much pressure on students to pass entrance exams and relies too much on buxibans - or cram schools - for educating students.

Nonetheless, North American education systems could improve by adopting some of the excellent practices used in Taiwanese schools.

While I like all of the observations, I absolutely love #6 as I see personal responsibility sorely lacking in our youth today. In North America we strive so hard to 'give our kids the life we wish we had' when we were growing up, we literally rob them of opportunities to grow, especially in the area of personal responsibility.

In my own home, it seems to be a never-ending task for Maggie and I to make sure the girls pick up after themselves. I'm all for having the students pick up after themselves in school. I see only benefits coming from this practice.

In any case, it's an interesting debate - can simple changes like adopting the best practices of other cultures' education systems actually improve our own childrens' learning capacity?