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rok_the-boat
Joined: 24 Jan 2004
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 Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 4:29 pm Post subject: |
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| We say maths in the UK. Wos spellin got ter do wi yer maths anyways? Un shunya say mathematics? |
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jaykimf
Joined: 24 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2005 1:38 am Post subject: |
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| dutchman wrote: |
| Corporal wrote: |
| Countdown to the moment when some dumbass posts: "I can't believe anyone would have a kid/bring their kid up/send their kid to school in Korea"... |
40+ students in classroom; inefficient use of classroom time; the assumption of the teachers that the required learning will take place in the hagwons; third world facilities
What's not to love about Korean schools? |
A couple of years ago I taught a small elementary school in the countryside. I went in once a week for about an hour and a half and taught all the students in all the grades at once--all 25 of them. From what I could see the teachers were very devoted to their students and quite competent. The facilities seemed just fine to me. Obviously the quality of individual schools and teachers can vary, but I think its safe to say that some public schools in Korea are better than (and in some cases much better than) some public schools in the U.S. |
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dutchman
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: My backyard
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| Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2005 2:29 am Post subject: |
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| jaykimf wrote: |
| dutchman wrote: |
| Corporal wrote: |
| Countdown to the moment when some dumbass posts: "I can't believe anyone would have a kid/bring their kid up/send their kid to school in Korea"... |
40+ students in classroom; inefficient use of classroom time; the assumption of the teachers that the required learning will take place in the hagwons; third world facilities
What's not to love about Korean schools? |
but I think its safe to say that some public schools in Korea are better than (and in some cases much better than) some public schools in the U.S. |
No argument. But I would never move to that kind of school district. I'm confident I can find a school district with better schools than the ones I've seen in Korea.
To be fair, the area I live in has experienced huge population growth in the last five years and the schools are straining to keep up with it.
We're choosing to send our kids to school in the US. If someone chooses to do so in Korea more power to him/her.
The thing that sealed the deal for me was a year or two ago with this whole mess with the US tank running over the two girls. One of my elementary school students came to class and loudly declared that he hates Americans. Why? His school teacher told the whole class that the soldiers ran over the girls and then backed over them again AND then later were seen standing on the side of the road laughing.
No need to expose my kids to that crap. |
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fidel
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Location: North Shore NZ
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| Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2005 3:10 am Post subject: |
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We are heading back home in a year or so for my son's education and my sanity. It's not that I don't trust Korea to give him a good education...well no I'm lying. I work in the high school system and to be honest from the schools I have worked at they don't provide quality education. Too much sleeping, lack of prep, corporal punishment, rigid rules, lack of facilities. Basically I can all honestly say the schools suck. But you say, Koreans achieve so well in international exams! It's not the schools that are teaching them but the after school academies. Unless your prepared to subject your child to 13 hours of study a day don't expect them to learn much at school.
As an aside, the pollution issue is also a major reason to move back home. I have no doubt that pollution related diseases contribute to thousands of deaths a year. The full effect has yet to be seen because of the relative short time that it has been blanketing Seoul and other major cities. I just have to look at the coating of dust (ie posons, chemicals and heavy metals) that coat my car everyday. Imagine that same filth going into your childs lungs and think about the long term effects! |
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Drakoi
Joined: 26 Sep 2003
Location: The World
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| Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2005 6:43 am Post subject: |
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| rok_the-boat wrote: |
| We say maths in the UK. Wos spellin got ter do wi yer maths anyways? Un shunya say mathematics? |
Oh for crying out loud, when will you brits learn how to speak english???
jk.
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Derrek
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2005 6:07 pm Post subject: |
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| fidel wrote: |
As an aside, the pollution issue is also a major reason to move back home. I have no doubt that pollution related diseases contribute to thousands of deaths a year. The full effect has yet to be seen because of the relative short time that it has been blanketing Seoul and other major cities. I just have to look at the coating of dust (ie posons, chemicals and heavy metals) that coat my car everyday. Imagine that same filth going into your childs lungs and think about the long term effects! |
I've been thinking about this a lot lately, just because of myself. I see the dust stains around the door where air blows through, and it makes me wonder what's happened to my lungs. |
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ersatzprofessor
Joined: 17 Apr 2003
Location: Same as it ever was ... Same as it ever WAS
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| Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2005 8:27 pm Post subject: |
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| rok_the-boat wrote: |
Hey, my kid's pre-school has been great.
They accepted him from age 2, he has loads of long-term friends, he is 100% fluent in Korean, he can now read and write Korean, they teach basic maths and he can do it, they have him do exercises etc etc. One thing he really likes is art - they make all kinds of things - often science related. FAR better than what he'd get in the UK and for about USD150 a month (think 1000, for a worse deal, in the UK - I know, his cousins go there). Hell, the bus even comes to our door to get and return him. In all, it is like a real school, but they do get to play a lot.
The first couple of years of elementary school are not too bad either, from what I hear. After that, I'll be taking him overseas - and something tells me he'll have had one helluva good start compared to his peers. |
Yeah, my son has had a really good experience with preschool here as well. He just graduated from kindergarten a couple of days ago and won the coveted "Lego King" award. He's starting Grade 1 next week in public school. We'll see how that goes, but first impressions are good anyway. |
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Tiberious aka Sparkles
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2005 8:48 pm Post subject: |
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The reason pre-schools are so dedicated to children's learning is because they have to compete with lots of other pre-schools for their cash. Better-educated kiddies equals more won. This does not hold true for elementary schools.
Sparkles*_* |
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Ody
Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Location: over here
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| Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2005 2:53 am Post subject: |
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our son��s kindergarten had native speakers teaching their English lessons. our boy was the best student (naturally) but then he was also one of the best at math and in (Chinese) calligraphy.
as for public schools, it's true that some are better than others. next week our boy will start 1st grade in a private school (luckily, his # was selected). however, we live in a neighborhood where the public school has a pretty good reputation so for us, it was a win-win situation. this was absolutely not the case in our neighborhood back "home" where our son would have been attending school with a mixed lot of children from the working and urban poor classes and where over crowded classrooms would have been the least of our worries. |
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Ody
Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Location: over here
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| Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2005 2:58 am Post subject: |
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| Tiberious aka Sparkles wrote: |
The reason pre-schools are so dedicated to children's learning is because they have to compete with lots of other pre-schools for their cash. Better-educated kiddies equals more won. This does not hold true for elementary schools.
Sparkles*_* |
so true.
you might be interested to know that back in NJ, we sent our son to nursary school for 230.00 a week. that's 4xs the price one pays for the best preschools here. |
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