Posted on 05/03/2005 4:03:02 AM PDT by CarrotAndStick
LONDON: Recent figures given out by the British government show that more and more South Asian kids, particularly those of Indian origin living in Britain are passing their General Certificate of Secondary Education examinations (GCSEs) with flying colours.
British students normally take these exams when they are 16 years old. Some students decide to leave school after these exams and find a job, but students wishing to go to university or obtain better jobs continue their education (A level or other exams). A level is Advanced level.
In the academic year 2003-2004, Pakistani children showed the greatest progress in educational terms, improving by almost four percentage points. That means that the proportion of Pakistani kids getting five or more A* to C grades in their GCSE exams went up from 41.5 percent to 45.2 percent.
The Bangladeshi pupil improvement was 2.9 percent, up to 48.4 percent and the Indian was 1.4 percent, up to an astonishing 66.6 percent.
Derek Twigg, Britain's Minister for Schools, welcomed the figures, saying that: "I am delighted by these positive results. It is a tribute to all the hard work put in by teachers, pupils and parents. It also shows that our strategies to tackle ... minority ethnic minority group under-achievement are working".
He was referring to schemes that were set up early in 2004 specifically aimed at improving the achievements of ethnic minority groups. But it isn't just a system put into place a year or so ago that has caused the improvements.
After all, take the example of Lampton School in Hounslow, west London: that is a multi - ethnic mixed comprehensive with a high proportion of Asian students. And this school has, over the past six years, seen its GCSE and equivalent results improve by an amazing 27 percent.
So, how does a school improve by so much? The head teacher is Sue John and she thinks she knows the answer: "There is a climate for learning here.
Students can continue to learn their own language and sit exams, and we encourage the involvement of parents and the local community. We also have course work catch-up classes and revision classes to help students improve their understanding".
What all this means of course, is that where there is co-operation and understanding, and, perhaps most importantly, a willingness on the part of the pupils to learn, then there are almost bound to be improvements in academic standards. Sadly, in too many British schools, some of those elements are missing, and standards therefore remain low.
But perhaps schools like Lampton can be an example to others, especially if governments continue to invest in additional support. And, as Derek Twigg also said, "The results are going in the right direction. But there must be no room for complacency; we must maintain this upward trend".
This reflects the failed policies of leftist education orthodoxy in Britain itself. East and South Asians have less exposures to "progressive" paradigm (whole language learning, fuzzy maths, etc) that is the current education orthodoxy and even if they face this, their parents at home won't allow their grades to suffer by forcing them to study harder on their own.
The same thing happens to schools in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and heck, the States as well.
"No child left behind" is fought by teachers because it requires accountability and effort.
Yes a lot of it is parents...I don't think society expects much of children if they don't want them having heavy bags,etc.
I believe if you go too far the other way it could be equally bad. There is an education system where children face detention (or at least recess/interval punishments) when they fail in the weekly dictation tests. An education system in which children fail miserably because exams look ridiculously difficult and too different/tricky from classroom assignments.
An education system in which a 4 year-old boy could cry at night in the arms of his mother that he couldn't finish all 3 homework his teacher had set that day. An education system in which a 7 year-old committed suicide just because he scored 30% in the latest test:
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_434786.html?menu=news.latestheadlines
I think the best way is to emphasise the basics in education, but never go to the extremes of traditional East Asian education.
I agree with you. A parent should use discernment. I didn't know they had fuzzy maths in other countries but apparently the American NEA disease is catching! LOL I like using the singapore math system. It's similar to what I was taught by my mom.
What the Singapore Maths system consists of is basically the British Maths curriculum in the 1950s before the 11+ reforms. I think it is still using the old GCE O-Level exams which is a harder version of the current GCSE Certificate exams for England's 5th Form students. But Hong Kong's current education system is still harder.
Advanced maths, a subject originally for the A+ students in England, became a standard subject for science-stream students in Singapore and HK. Learning differentiation at the age of 15 is too early and Pure Maths at 6/7th Form is harder than standard first year university Maths courses in many of the best universities around the world. Advanced Maths exam at HKCEE Level in Hong Kong (sat by HK's Form 5 students - to gain Form 6 entry) is even harder than Bursary Maths with Calculus exam in New Zealand! (sat by 7th Formers in NZ - this is a school leaver exam for university entrance)
I have this experience myself. I grew up in HK and spent Forms 1 and 2 in a secondary school school there. I was not too good at Maths at secondary level - exams were too hard and too tricky (homework asks you "Find the LCM of 60 and 45" while exams question looks like "If (a * b) is to find the HCF of a and b, and (c $ d) is to find the LCM of c and d, find (70 * 45) $ (6 $ 9)). Although I did well at primary school (aced the school) I failed a few times in Maths in HK's secondary level and at my best I could only get about 76%. Then I came to NZ and even in one of the most academic and traditional schools in NZ I still coasted Maths easily, and this trend continues even into today. I couldn't explain everything to the fact 3rd/4th Form Maths in NZ consists of lots of materials already covered in HK's Forms 1 and 2 curricula alone.
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