School's in for Autum. School's Out Forever.

 

Alice Cooper on the school board? Nah. That really would be too cool for school. But here are a few thoughts on what it might mean to be in school these days. This may go astray a bit. Forgive me.

 

My son's been a third grade student here for one week. He should be in fourth grade and, though he's happy to be on easy street, I'm very worried and disappointed with the way things are going so far.

 

We've just come home after spending the last two school years in Taiwan. Part of the reason we were there was to give him a chance to learn about that part of who he is--Taiwanese. It was important to me that he have some understanding of that side of himself. His father isn't in the picture until he looks in the mirror; then there are lots of questions that I felt would be better answered where they really all started.

 

Plus, it was important for me that he have a chance to learn some Mandarin--and he did. My son did a GREAT job of learning a language that he didn't speak a word of when we landed, and of learning subject material through that language. I'm very proud of him!

 

But he should be in fourth grade this year. After spending the last two years studying his tail off, he feels like he can almost sleep through school. He told me, in fact, after the second day of school that he thinks he'd be fine in sixth grade here. And he's right! I bet he really could do it.

 

When I took him to Taiwan, two years ago, he had just finished up with first grade here. In Taiwan, I chose to put him back into first grade again because he was going to have to study through a language he didn't speak. And in third grade, there's a big jump for Taiwanese students because they have to learn about 3-5 thousand characters that year. If they don't already have the spoken vocabulary for this, it's truly a daunting task! Even for kids who've never been outside Taiwan, third grade is a tough year.

 

So, I put him first again to give him time to catch up. I wasn't sure how long we'd be there, but I knew he needed a chance to learn to speak before he had to write.

 

He did very well. He brought home straight "A"s. But the school her wants him in third grade simply because he hasn't been to third grade.

 

Come on. Is anyone home? He hasn't been to second either, here. Second grade here and second grade in Taiwan aren't equal.

 

For one thing, in Taiwan first and second graders still only attend school for half days. Full day school days don't begin until third grade. Not that students don't study all day. Most study from sun up to sun down. After school, there are any number of cram schools for Taiwanese students to study in, and they do.

 

My son had 4 hours--that's FOUR hours--of homework every night in first and second grade in Taiwan. That was working with the Taiwanese tutor I hired to help him with his work because I couldn't read it. And that's NOT including any cram school hours, which I didn't think he needed on top of his regular school work.

 

These are only two simple examples of why it shouldn't mean anything to the local administration here that he's been to second grade, but not third. There are many other differences that I won't bother to type out. You get the idea.

 

He's learning math here in third grade that he learned in first grade there. All the books in his library are babyish books that he's too advanced for. He's reading on a 6.5 grade level for me. When he was studying in Taiwan, I didn't push spelling or writing in English, but I did encourage him to read as much as possible. I knew (I thought I knew) that as long as he had his reading skills, he'd do fine if we came back here.

 

So my child is now fully bilingual, and fully bi-literate, but the school here won't allow him to study in fourth grade.

 

Why? He brings home one worksheet for homework. This one worksheet has four questions. Stuff he learned two years ago. This is a total joke.

 

Why indeed. When he came back here and I asked them to put him in fourth grade, they insisted on testing him. They gave him a standardized test that they use for end of year promotion to fourth grade. But he'd never seen such a test before. He didn't fail, but he didn't do well enough to cause them to allow him to study in fourth grade. He only spent twenty minutes on his reading test--which most end of term third graders take in two hours. And he still didn't fail it. He just rushed through it.

 

He took longer to take his math test, but was confused by the questions and the vocabulary--most of which he knew only in Mandarin because he'd learned his math overseas. And yet he still passed that test, too. It was all format and unfamiliarity, plus a little boy's impatience with a silly test that he knew was too easy for him.

 

So what do I do? I'm a teacher myself and I take my own son's education very seriously. I'm quite frustrated with the local administration's tick-the-box approach to this, with no real concern for providing my son with the best education they could provide him with. But I have no money, at the moment, for private instruction, and to homeschool him, I'll have to have very flexible employment.

 

Really, the education system here is in more trouble than most people likely realize. Where’re the critical thinking skills evident in this situation? The child is not familiar with this testing procedure and format = he's not ready to promote. It doesn't matter if he knows the material or not, or if he has other knowledge that his peers don't, or if we're wasting his time by not giving him access to new knowledge.

 

If the administrators can't think more critically than this, the school's out forever, indeed. No point in thinking for yourself any longer at all. Just learn to be a box ticker. Ugh.