gryphea

WE went to a meeting lasy year about how the schools wil teach the new maths curriculem. It was headed by the CBE lady in charge of maths. She proudly told us maths was no longer a right answer sport. I asked if she could tell that to the CRA.

Oink

My opinion on lower mainland schools with the odd district as an exception, is that they all do a fairly decent, although not outstanding, job and one school and district is not that much different than the rest. Consequently, its pointless asking which school is the best as it doesn't matter that much as they're all very similar in quality. The majority of teachers that I've met are professional, well educated/trained and conscientious, the problem lies with the overarching ethos of conservative mediocrity.

iaink

In a class of 30 there can only be one winner. Why put the other 29 down?


A schools job is to encourage and enable all the kids to reach their full potential and to do the best they can. Only one will be top, but as long as all the others reach their potential then its doing its job.

Kids have plenty of time before they become adults and have to face adult realities. Let them be kids, in time they will figure out the other stuff anyway. There is no need to hurry them into pidgeon holes as winners and losers.

Besides there are plenty of sporting and extra curricular activities where its perfectly clear that the aim is to win. But the aim of these sports and activities is as much to teach kids to try their best, have respect for others and to learn to win and loose with equal good grace as it is to win at all costs. That is really what life is about.

Oink

No the opposite, as its like fishing with dynamite here.

iaink

If you dont think the average canadian parent is up for encouraging their kid to win, then you need to spend more time at your local arena!

Monique_in_Canada

I didn't read it as a personal at all....it was a question asking a general question.....I think its child abuse having kids and doing nothing with them...I was a child of RAF parentage.....I moved schools almost yearly up and down the UK.....lived in Scotland, Wales and all over most of England....moved to Gibraltar when I was 10 for 2 years.....i think its character building...imagine if I hadn't been to all those places, I wouldn't have progressed to "not the sharpest knife in the draw" status!!!!

Jingsamichty

Sadly, iaink, as usual, everything in Canada boils down to hockey in the end.

Oink

They do seem to favour competing in sports that nobody else in the world gives a toss about.

xxdb

" Let them be kids, in time they will figure out the other stuff anyway."

See I'm a little suspicious of that.

Here's the problem: If you *let them be kids* and don't push them then they could very well end up spending all their time playing x-box and not e.g. learn to read or add up.

Then when they hit 18 they will *still* be unable to read or add up and they will be a *lot* less likely to catch up later.

Oink

Then they'll end up on the dole and hanging around the back of the offy, drinking White Lighting, getting pregnant and not amounting to a hill of beans.

xxdb

Welcome to the Canadian dream!

I suspect that the "don't push them" thing prevalent in Canadian dreams is more so that the teachers don't have to deal with unruly children.

I find the teachers here much less into teaching and much more into teaching as a "career". In other words they are career-minded poltically correct idiots who have no interest in actually making sure your kids get an education and just want a quiet life and the nice long vacations and the steady paycheque.

You get that back home too of course in lots of places but in the two schools my boys were at (in Glasgow of all places) the teachers were just brilliant compared to the teachers here.

Oink

I have to disagree with this assertion. I have met lots and taught lots of Canadian teachers and the vast majority of them are professional, hard working, passionate, well-educated and really want the best for the children they teach and in the most part they're not hampered by the shackles of class consciousness. As individuals, I'd stack them up against any teachers in the world. The problem I find here is systemic and lies with the larger national spirit and viewpoint.

xxdb

Well in my experience my kids have been through the ringer in the Calgary system and we have only run across one school out of six with teachers who give a ****. In fact we had to take the school district to the tribunal before they picked up the ball and stopped acting like ********. My experience is not made up, it's fact. We have to agree to disagree I'm afraid.

iaink

By "let them be kids" I mean let them explore things and develop without too much pressure to perform, to just do things for the fun of it. You are an adult with other responsibilities for a long time. If they like something then they will do it to death anyway. Its a balancing act, exposing them to as many different things as you can and watching to see what it is that makes them tick, while trying to protect them from more negative influences.

I should point out Im not talking about teens here, by the time they are teens they should be pretty aware that some are going to do better than others in life.

You can let your kids be kids without an Xbox. In fact given the violence in the average Xbox game I suspect they will be kids longer without one. My kids spend far more time at the piano then playing Wii. I guess Im lucky. In fact I know I am.

iaink

We have found some teachers to be going through the motions, and others pulling up stumps to get the best out of all their kids. I dont think you can make generalisations. Also it depends on the school culture to some extent. In 4 years our kids school has been through 3 principals, some better than others. Kid A got all A's this time around, but despite that we are shifting schools in the fall, fed up of hitting our head against the administrative wall.