Discussion between my colleagues and myself regarding my college class lead us into a comparison of American education and its expectations and European and Asian educational expectations. I work with two French and one Thai who are all PhD degreed. One of my French colleagues has taught at the junior college level here in Dallas. This was the theme of the discussion...
Why must everyone get an "A"??
Both French and Thai education systems from grade school through college are basically free. There are few expenses. They are also of very high quality. Consequently, not everyone gets A's. As a matter of fact, very few get A's. One of my French colleagues stated that if he had translated his French grades into an American system, it would be a C. Believe me, he is not a C individual!!
But this illustrates a point that has long since bothered me about our American education system. Not everyone is an A student...face it, it's the truth. That doesn't mean the non-A student isn't bright, it just means that it's not his/her thing. So why put A's at the level of mediocrity? A's should not be the average, A's should be on the far right of the bell curve.
Another interesting difference is the structure of the educational progression. For those people not scholarly minded, there are professional, respected trades school routes. These trade schools are of the utmost quality and, once accomplished, garner an excellent wage. True journeyman trades. So another route for those of us who like to do things with our hands.
And the major difference....Being a teacher in the European countries is a difficult to attain, respected, highly paid position. HHhmm....Teaching being treated as the demanding, highly important profession it is....What a concept.
It's too bad we can't learn from the global world we live in more readily.
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