Her Lao
2014-12-28 03:06:35 UTC
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/12/24/372885008/teacher-wins-150-000-prize-and-donates-it-all-to-her-school
The "secret" to a successful student starts young. You can not wait until they're in middle or high school, to teach them or make them learn, or to interest them in the art of learning.
If kids don't learn from 1st to around the 5th grade, chances of them doing well, much less succeeding, in upper middle school and in high school, are very much reduced.
The foundational years, IN EDUCATION, are between the FIRST and FOURTH grades.
While there are always exceptions, and someone could be total stone-headed and then learn quickly in middle school years, and then go on to excel in high school and college..... for around 98% or so of students, if they have a good foundation in reading, writing, and introductory basic mathematics, the CHANCES of them continuing to do well and to build up on knowledge necessary in high school and college... those chances are very high...
Opposite corollary is equally valid:
If they have "a bad experience," or can't learn, for all kinds of reasons (bad teacher and/or bad teaching; poor parenting skills; no parents or support at home; etc) between FIRST and FOURTH GRADES, then chances of them struggling through and hating middle and high school years, are extremely good and high...
This is why societies who value education, value students AND TEACHERS at the very early grades. If you look at most of the NORTHERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES who do very well in education, even though they don't spend 15 hours a day in school, like the Chinese and South Koreans and Japanese do, is that they invest heavily in early grade school years; they pay teachers like they pay doctors and other educated people.
When you pay grade school teachers well, you WILL ATTRACT many thousands of applications for only a few dozen positions. That means you could choose ONLY THE VERY BEST and MOST innovative teachers to hire. And that means MOST of them will go on to do well and will choose to stay on teaching children.
Blaming teachers and blaming students, AND NOT PUTTING RESOURCES INTO EARLY EDUCATION, will never get you anywhere.
The "secret" to a successful student starts young. You can not wait until they're in middle or high school, to teach them or make them learn, or to interest them in the art of learning.
If kids don't learn from 1st to around the 5th grade, chances of them doing well, much less succeeding, in upper middle school and in high school, are very much reduced.
The foundational years, IN EDUCATION, are between the FIRST and FOURTH grades.
While there are always exceptions, and someone could be total stone-headed and then learn quickly in middle school years, and then go on to excel in high school and college..... for around 98% or so of students, if they have a good foundation in reading, writing, and introductory basic mathematics, the CHANCES of them continuing to do well and to build up on knowledge necessary in high school and college... those chances are very high...
Opposite corollary is equally valid:
If they have "a bad experience," or can't learn, for all kinds of reasons (bad teacher and/or bad teaching; poor parenting skills; no parents or support at home; etc) between FIRST and FOURTH GRADES, then chances of them struggling through and hating middle and high school years, are extremely good and high...
This is why societies who value education, value students AND TEACHERS at the very early grades. If you look at most of the NORTHERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES who do very well in education, even though they don't spend 15 hours a day in school, like the Chinese and South Koreans and Japanese do, is that they invest heavily in early grade school years; they pay teachers like they pay doctors and other educated people.
When you pay grade school teachers well, you WILL ATTRACT many thousands of applications for only a few dozen positions. That means you could choose ONLY THE VERY BEST and MOST innovative teachers to hire. And that means MOST of them will go on to do well and will choose to stay on teaching children.
Blaming teachers and blaming students, AND NOT PUTTING RESOURCES INTO EARLY EDUCATION, will never get you anywhere.