Use this space to do a little thinking/writing about what you've seen so far in The Smartest Kids in the World documentary. You can write about wha tit seems to be saying about the purposes of school, the other themes of our class, its international perspective, or the film as a piece of education and/or popculture. You also could (but are not obligated to) react to this short, highly critical review in light of what you have seen so far.
Diamon Patterson:
ReplyDeleteThe documentary expressed how the educational system in the United States is structured to teach kids how to be controlled and complying. On the other hand, schools in international countries demonstrate trust in their students and allow them to be autonomous. Many of the students felt like they were just another statistic. In addition, some of the schools documented in the U.S. were probably in a low-economic area because the faculty had to teach more than one course.
One of the students in the documentary expressed that his high school's main focus is sports, so on Fridays it is not mandatory to go to school due to half of the student body being absent for competition purposes. The students interviewed felt like school is very repetitive and not taken serious enough in the United States. However, the students were challenged when attending international schools. They never experienced the level of freedom that the other countries allotted them because the U.S. did not build it into the curriculum.
Abbe Casey
ReplyDeleteI spent my walk home after class the other day really thinking about what we had watched so far in the documentary. I have thought a lot about being a teacher but watching things like this leave me torn because I would be joining into a failed system. The American education system is routed in control and discipline, while many other countries, that have the most successful students in the world, base their education system on autonomy and personal work ethic. Thinking back to my own education, I feel frustrated because I think I would have more goals and plans for my future right now if I had grown up learning like this and really getting to choose what I want to learn about rather than just memorizing notes and taking tests on basic curriculum. I really like what we have watched so far, and I am excited to see the rest and learn more about each country’s education system.
Rachel Ruble
ReplyDeleteWhen watching the documentary I was shocked to find out how low the United States places in math and sciences based on the PISA test. Thinking about how much better other countries do is very disappointing and leaves me wondering how different I would be if I went to school in a different country. I've heard over and over again that America is the "best country in the world" and "gives the most freedom", but if this was the case why aren't schools here as autonomous as the ones in the Netherlands or Switzerland? The documentary is really eye opening about the struggles of the American education system and I'm interested to see how the rest of the documentary goes.
Will Finnegan:
ReplyDeleteThe first part of the documentary really exposed how the American education system makes students feel trapped, like they can't reach their full potential. I thought it was interesting how when the students arrived at their new schools in other countries, they felt as if they had too much freedom and too little work, almost as if it were too good to be true. I can't imagine how challenging it was for some of the students to get to their new schools and not understand the languages being spoken. For example, Jaxon didn't understand a word the teachers or students were saying, so they had to speak English.
The documentary definitely made me see the difference in schooling between america and other places like Korea or Switzerland. I really got the sense of being overwhelmed by the new atmosphere and environment from the transfer students, regardless of how stress free or difficult the new environment was. In places like Switzerland, there's so much freedom to do whatever you feel like, there is little to no work, there is so much free time, it's almost like you're not even in school. When I was looking at the girl becoming frustrated with these things, I almost wanted to smack her, because I would love to have that sort of schooling system. Another thing she said that I didn't agree with was that America is definitely full of hardworkers. While I do think that is true to an extent, just because our schooling system has us do more unnecessary tests and assignments than schooling systems in other countries doesn't mean we are more hardworking. It just means we are busybodies.
ReplyDeleteThe documentary overall was a good invocative analysis of the major issues within the American education system. When the students talked about their personal experiences in school, I could relate a little. The American system offers little challenge to its students. It continuously proves to be a vicious cycle of memorization, testing, then forgetting the material later. The number of times I’ve heard, “I studied the night before.” or “ I just guessed.”, when referring to their performance on an exam is overwhelming. The documentary did a good job highlighting the roots of those exact phrases. However, I absolutely hated that they solely focused on the academic aspect of the education systems. When I think of education, I think of it as an umbrella. The wires that keep the integrity of the umbrella would be the social, economic, religious, and political components of a country. You can’t focus solely on academics without acknowledging these key components. They just barely touched on the topic with South Korea and the exams and social life of the students, and in Switzerland with the apprenticeships. This documentary is a great thought-provoking piece, that doesn't really offer a solid solution on how the American education system can be changed for the better.
ReplyDeleteThis documentary was very eye opening but simultaneously not shocking. I knew that the education system in the US fell behind in a lot of subjects but I didn't know how far behind we really were. The documentary mentioned how the US spends more funding for education than some of the schools that are ahead of us in Math and Science. That information was a red flag for me. Though funding in schools is an issue, it doesn't seem to be the main one. When they interviewed Amanda Ripley she talked about how students give the best insight on just how flawed the education system is and I definitely agree. The adults that make decisions about schools haven't experienced what students are going through today. I found it interesting how each student that went abroad had such different experiences. The experiences varied in education and lifestyle. I think a lot of the practices in those other countries could really turn our education around. When taking a look at their styles it seems like they have found simple solutions to the problems faced here. I don't understand quite how hard it would be to to implement those here. Bits and pieces from each country would really benefit school systems in the US but we would have to start reshaping the learning experience at very early levels. We could take the level of autonomy from Finland, the format of apprenticeships from Switzerland, the passion to learn from Korea, and removing the stigma behind repeating grades from the Netherlands would bring about major change.
ReplyDeleteThe documentary shed light on education in the U.S vs education in other top countries such as South Korea, Switzerland, and Finland. I was surprised at how low the U.S fared in comparison to these other countries. Americans look at school in such a bad light while in the other countries that were examined, the schools promoted active learning in such a way that kids genuinely enjoyed going to school and learning, even going as far as to showing up when the teacher wasn't in class. Incorporating the aspects of the education system of these other countries in America would certainly be beneficial. However, I do think that the documentary was a bit biased and that it failed to cover the cons of the education system of some of these other countries. For example, the documentary covered how in South Korea test scores were a determinant in future success or future failure. But they never highlighted how testing is so serious over there, that a lot of teenagers end up committing suicide over their test scores. - Phong Ngo
ReplyDeleteJake Bosak:
ReplyDeleteI appreciated the documentary because it was literally dissing the U.S. education system, rightfully so. The documentary reminded me of my prison-like high school life with the police around and teachers who are overwhelmed, sometimes having to assume coaching roles on top of their 9-5 teaching as well. I definitely recognized the unmotivated attitudes and disinterested students in school, but it was inspiring to see "the smartest kids in the world" leave their environment to immerse themselves in other countries (seemingly highly funded) schools. I didn't miss the fact that the American students who went abroad ended up in very affluent schools when their previous schools were understaffed and likely underfunded. Hence that the issue may largely be that there's unequal funding for education across the states. Just because the U.S. has a large economic market for sports shouldn't mean some schools miss Fridays so that students can leave to play sports because most of the teachers as well are coaches... not every student plays sports so they need people who can teach them other things they are interested in. I think a highlight of the documentary was seeing the free time that students in other countries get around the day as compared to American schools removing 30-minute recess in the 6th grade and not letting students outside for 7 hours a day(in America). Recess is removed from most middle schools in America, universally almost, which makes it a cultural problem in our society. Kids deserve their own time, especially after school, which in America is bombarded with homework and reading until high school students are going to bed at 2 am on a Tuesday. It's cool to see other schools in other counties do it all right and really support students in innovative ways, but it'd disappointing to know I was probably underserved in my own education in America.
Patrick Hirschfeld
ReplyDeleteI found the documentary somewhat interesting. I thought the differences in not only teaching methods but curricula too were interesting. I think the documentary presents these teaching methods in a vaccum without examining the culture too which you just cannot do. A lot of the cultures (such as the one in south korea) emphasize not only knowledge but also conformity. Both of these ideals are opposite to what americans tend to believe. There is a large cult of misinformation and proud ignorance in america. High stakes testing is also put into a positive light in korea which I disagree with. High stakes testing is determental not only to the mental health of students but also the overall learning too. I think the documentary brings up room for improvement and a sense of hope but it highlights some improvements that we shouldnt make either
Catherine Fishburne
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I truly enjoyed watching this documentary. I learned so much about schooling in other countries and how it differs from here in America. For me, I was especially interested because I am a senior elementary education major who will likely be teaching elementary schoolers in America. It is important for me to watch documentaries like this so I can do better for my students. The first thing that caught my attention was just how much difference there is between the United States and the other countries (South Korea, Finland, Sweden). I was also shocked to learn about where the U.S. places in testing in comparison to other countries. I feel that the U.S. has always prided themselves on their academics and schooling, but this documentary reaffirmed that we are far from #1. I was also interested to learn that students in the U.S. and South Korea study the same amount of time outside of school, yet South Korea ranks noticeably higher than the United States. In Finland at the age of 14, you can choose if you want to continue perusing school or if you want to begin an apprenticeship/job. I love that idea. However, I cannot imagine my 14-year-old brother having to choose a career path at this age. He just seems way too young to make such a serious decision like that! Lastly, this documentary really pointed out how people in the United States look down on people who do not attend college and go straight into the workforce. Other countries have the majority of their students head into the workforce, and it is working well for them. I remember when I was a junior and senior in high school, when I would talk to adults, it was always "where are you applying for college?" and never asking what my plans were after college. It was just assumed that I was taking the college route. Like I said in beginning, I had a difficult time watching this documentary as a future teacher because it reminds me of all the challenges I will face, but it also reaffirmed why I wanted to go into this career in the first place.
From what I had seen so far in the documentary it was really eye-opening for me to see how low the US scored on the PISA test. I knew that the American school system wasn't perfect but I didn't expect us to be so low. I really wished the US invested in our education because seeing how much work I put in high school and getting things done, but in South Korea they put about the same amount and effort as American Students do but their education is more enriching then what we learn here. Seeing other countries letting their students be more independent and choose their studies makes me think what if America learned from them would I be IN college or would I really consider my options, because America makes it seem college is the way to go but in Switzerland they do apprenticeship which is seen as an equal to college and not lower, while in America anything that isn't college isn't viewed as something that is going to make you successful.
ReplyDeleteIn this documentary it shows the different perspective about education in different countries. the education shown in the documentary is way different than in America, for example the teachers have more trust in the students and give them more independence. Education is really valued more than in America I would say because the students had different rules and had more say in their education. In one of the countries is wasn't necessary to go to high school, so the students who did go wanted to be there unlike here in America you obligated to. The purpose of school for those different countries was not only to learn the material but to implement it in their daily lives and not make school feel like a place to hate.
ReplyDeleteI missed the first part of the documentary and I am really upset about that because what I did see of the documentary I really enjoyed. I went back and read the review and its main point of the article was that a lot of the good main points of the documentary got lost. I saw a bit of this when I was watching in class I found myself wanting more information on topics such as getting paid for going to college and as the review mentions this was a theme in itself. I just would like to say that if America put in half of the effort that other countries do into education that our education system would be so much better. Other countries give their students agency and that was apparent throughout the film, in one of the countries, I believe it was Switzerland, kids could move freely and even leave campus for lunch. I think that if America became a little more lenient with giving students agency, trust and more free time, that we would see start to see improvements in all aspects of education.
ReplyDeletecindy
ReplyDeleteThe documentary seemed to be saying that education needs to be done differently in the United States because what the US is doing, is clearly NOT working. At all. For such a developed country, PISA scores are incredibly low. This documentary places heavy emphasis on the students and why schools should prpvide them with more choices on how to spend their time and how they want to be productive members of society.
So far in the documentary, The Smartest Kids in the World, the main claim seems to be that there is a problem at the core of the school system we have in place in the United States. The purpose was to observe students who are studying abroad and give us a firsthand comparison between other countries who rank higher in education and our public school systems. From an international perspective, we can immediately see a drastic change in terms of time consumed and mental health of the student. Another thing worth mentioning is the culture of these countries. For example, while Japan requires the most work to be done, it is highly expected of students in Japanese culture to always seek additional education in forms of tutoring, and most kids find this normal. While kids in the United States almost never do unless absolutely necessary.
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