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The anti-Tiger Mother approach

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k1w1
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The anti-Tiger Mother approach

Post by k1w1 » Tue, 12 Apr 2011 4:31 am

We've been hearing for a ridiculously long time that rote learning and exam-based curricula are not where it's at for "real learning", but Finland just proved it...

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... id=fbshare

Fascinating stuff.

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Post by Mary Hatch Bailey » Tue, 12 Apr 2011 5:28 am

Thanks for posting this k1w1. Of course there is no one right way to teach children. What this article proves is that you don't have to crush the spirit out of a child to gain results.

All the articles that came out last week claiming vindication for Amy Chua because her daughter had been accepted to Yale & Harvard totally missed the point.

Getting their child into Yale shouldn't be any parent's goal. Raising smart, happy, kind children should be.

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Post by earthfriendly » Tue, 12 Apr 2011 8:30 am

"Finland has a number of smart ideas about how to teach kids while letting them be kids. For instance, one teacher ideally stays with a class from first grade through sixth grade."

I was looking for something like this for my kids. The closest I can find was the Waldorf school in the bay area. Expensive and heard that it can be a bit cultish . I also believe in the benefits of mixed age classroom.

One point I disagree with the article is lumping Japan and Korea together. It is very different. Japanese education is holistic and focus on nurturing the whole child. Students are involved in many field trips to experience nature, temples and life outside the classroom. There is heavy emphasis on team work, lifting the weaker member and sharing. Not competition. I can't post the link from Asiaone but there was an interesting article on Japanese system.

Some parents take the time to discover who their kids are and help them become that person. Others think that kids should be told what to do and order them around, have to score A's, attend prestigious college and pick the "approved" career. I don't like to be dictated to and will never do that to my own kids. I need the freedom to explore and be the person I want to be. I want to live my life on my own terms. And in the same breath, I should afford my kids the same too.

There is no one size fits all. One should really take the time to learn about their kids. For my older daughter, it has to be fun and inspiring. There was one page of her homeword that's meant to be a read-a-lot. She was livid and refused to read it as she realized it was a boring passage. On one hand she needs to complete the assignment but on the other, I don't believe in perpetuating that learning is hard, drillish and boring. Learning should be fun and mind-opening and educators can always improve on the exisisting system and make academics engaging for kids.

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Post by Mary Hatch Bailey » Tue, 12 Apr 2011 9:29 am

earthfriendly wrote: The closest I can find was the Waldorf school in the bay area. Expensive and heard that it can be a bit cultish . I also believe in the benefits of mixed age classroom.
My niece and nephew were in a Bay area Waldorf school ~ extremely cultish (TV will rot your brain, only beeswax crayons, ridiculous rules around food, etc...) They also missed profound learning disabilities in my niece. They're not all bad though, quite the contrary the basic tenants are quite sound for some kids and families ~ I love the idea of a mixed age classroom too.

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Post by earthfriendly » Thu, 14 Apr 2011 10:59 am

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fre ... -education

"Seven Sins of Our System of Forced Education
Forced education interferes with children's abilities to educate themselves. "

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Post by earthfriendly » Thu, 14 Apr 2011 11:07 am

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42575752/ns/nightly_news

"Too little sleep can harm young brains. "

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Post by ksl » Thu, 14 Apr 2011 7:13 pm

earthfriendly wrote:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42575752/ns/nightly_news

"Too little sleep can harm young brains. "
Too much sleep can harm you!
http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/gu ... ersleeping

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Post by BigSis » Fri, 15 Apr 2011 10:38 am

Mary Hatch Bailey wrote:
Getting their child into Yale shouldn't be any parent's goal. Raising smart, happy, kind children should be.
Very true.

I like the approach that Finland seem to have. Some Danish friends of mine that used to live here told me that it's similar there and they also have the same teacher all the way through their schooling. On one hand that sounds like a good thing, but I'm not sure how it would work if there was a teacher or child that didn't get on with one another.......that's a long time to have to suffer someone you didn't like.

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