write a dialogue between you and your parents on the present education system
plzz make it fast
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Answer:
I have been working at Sands for twenty five years and have always resisted writing about what we do, believing that it may interfere with my ability to remain flexible to the changing interests and needs of the students. I was convinced that all that was essential to say about Sands could be written in a page. I still think that common sense, humour, a passion for teaching, endless patience and faith in the wisdom of people are all we really need to run good schools. It is also true that I still do not believe that we have found the best way to do this’ education thing’ and so I am loathe to suggest that there is a right or wrong way to be with children in a school setting.
However when I sat down to write a personal response to some of the proposals coming from our present Government, I realised that it may be useful for our present generation of parents to read about the ‘method behind the madness’, about the hundreds of hours of discussion and thought that has gone into creating a school with such a unique identity. Everything that one might experience at Sands, from the absence of uniform to the informality of class has a deep logic behind it. Sometimes it may be flawed and need challenging; at times it just does not work and at other times it appears to be the ideal way to educate teenagers.
As a result, I found myself considering some of the things that make us fundamentally different but also writing about topics that are common to all of us involved in raising and educating teenagers. The topics cover issues such as uniform, punishment, emotional intelligence, becoming a learner, whether teenage brains explain teenage behaviour, the value of home education and the first topic which is about the value of play, day dreaming and undirected time.
What I am hoping is that we can explore whether there are ways to be with teenagers that are creative and effective, prepare them appropriately for their futures and challenge the orthodoxy of present corporate thinking about education.
Sean
Play…
How valuable is play in our children’s lives? Is it the best and only way to learn? Is there an ideal balance between teacher-led and independent learning? Using some examples from my experiences at Sands I consider what is happening in schools in the light of Gove’s latest proposals to lengthen the school day and fill more of our children’s days with directed activities. Do we need to give our children time to just daydream?