Quote:
Originally Posted by speakingtohe
I cannot say whether smaller classes are necessary as I have no children. From what I gather from people who do and children that I know, classrooms are overcrowded. My own memory tells me that they were when I went to school, both as a child and an adult.
So smaller classes or much bigger classrooms? Or both? Bound to be expensive.
And the system has been going on for quite a while without being totally broken, so it would require massive intervention by a higher power to change it I think. Even if a few schools use different techniques that are much more successful, they will be sneered at by others as being elitist, or hard to implement etc. etc. , but in my mind the real reason is expense and the fact that the system as it is is ingrained in the minds and habits of thousands of educators and officials who either are unable or unwilling to change, and fear that massive changes will put them out of a job. I do not blame them as they have for the most part just been doing what they were told to do as the majority of us do in our jobs  .
Helen |
What is an overcrowded class ? Here we often have 30 kids in one class. Many parents complain that it is way too much, but it was always this much and it used to work pretty well.
What I see all the time though is epic failure from some parents, who are more often than not not involved at all in the education of their kids and are expecting it to be done completely through school, and I am not talking only of the curricular activities, but of everything else: manners, morals, ethics, discipline and so on. And the last those parents will do is encourage their kids to read.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mike_bike_kite
It would be helpful if we compiled a list of books that kids really enjoy and organise it by age. I don't mean classics that they should read but books a kid might get totally absorbed by. I'm always a little stuck when my younger son comes to me looking for something new to read. It might also be worth saying if it's more likely to appeal to one sex rather than the other. This might make a useful "sticky" or could be done as a reference page somewhere (or perhaps it's already done?).
|
This is a very good idea !