School is half education and half babysitting. The problem is that schools aren't aware of that, and they try to cram too much learning/work into a day at school. Kids just don't have the attention span. College isn't taught this way. Colleges realize that even young adults can't handle 40 hours a week of continual instruction, why do we do this kids can?
I think the reason, is that we're always behind other countries trying to "catch up"--50 years ago it was the Soviets, 20 years ago the Japanese, now it's the "global workforce".
In our frantic rush to compete with everyone else we end up forcing an overambitious curriculum on kids. How much time can kids really spend learning everyday? A few hours at the most?
I have a friend who teaches 1st grade, she knows kids at that age can't spend time on focused learning for more than 20 or 30 minutes, but the school districts forces here to teach in 1 to 2 hour blocks and spend almost 6 hours out of the day instructing
(they get 15 minutes, no more, of recess; 30 minutes lunch, many times in silence because the lunchroom gets too loud; and on some days 45 minutes of focused PE).
What 6 or 7 year old can possibly sit still and study for 5 or 6 hours each day?
I think the reason, is that we're always behind other countries trying to "catch up"--50 years ago it was the Soviets, 20 years ago the Japanese, now it's the "global workforce".
In our frantic rush to compete with everyone else we end up forcing an overambitious curriculum on kids. How much time can kids really spend learning everyday? A few hours at the most?
I have a friend who teaches 1st grade, she knows kids at that age can't spend time on focused learning for more than 20 or 30 minutes, but the school districts forces here to teach in 1 to 2 hour blocks and spend almost 6 hours out of the day instructing
(they get 15 minutes, no more, of recess; 30 minutes lunch, many times in silence because the lunchroom gets too loud; and on some days 45 minutes of focused PE).
What 6 or 7 year old can possibly sit still and study for 5 or 6 hours each day?