Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Education round-up in Guru's honor

Gurufrisbee is on mid-term break this week (as am I). He is away from his computer, so I'm doing his post today. In his honor, I've rounded up a few education posts that may spark some discussion.

UN condemns German school system - "the system was excluding children from poor families and immigrant backgrounds from the chance of a good education....Mr Munoz said the problems were caused by the structure of the education system, which usually selects children at the age of 10 to go to either a grammar school or a vocational one." Isn't it interesting how the most open societies get the most criticism? Imagine if the UN went into Saudi Arabia or Burma and took a look at their school system? I'm not defending the German system. It stinks and was great in 1930, but horrible for 2030. Just saying...

City academy criticised for 'exceptionally low' standards . Here in London we have charter schools, called academies, and they are revolutionary. For £2 million, anyone can open a school and run it with state money, but without the state bureaucracy. After one year, the academy at the center of this story didn't show much improvement, so the Department of Education slagged them off. Academies challenge the established quo, draw your own conclusions.

Faith schools broaden Religious Education teaching - "Faith schools are to teach pupils about other religions as well as their own, leaders of the major faiths have said." Here in the UK, 7,000 of the 22,000 state supported schools are run by religious organizations. Now, those school will have to teach about other religions. This is clearly aimed at Muslims schools and hoping to teach the next generation of Muslims tolerance and acceptance. What do you think? Should faith schools be required to teach about other faiths?

I hope I've done guru proud.

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