Education Exchange
Dear IF readers,
Welcome to our August month of Education here at International Family Magazine in Summer, 2009. We will kickoff our education projects for 2009 this month. As I am entering the classroom as an 8th grade teacher after years of training and substitute work, I will be getting some fresh perspective. I am interested in my students participating in an international exchange with ePALS in a classroom setting.
I also want to look at global education systems and what is comparable and different as far as curriculum, teaching methodology and achievement. The areas of interest will be reading, writing, vocational training and colleges, math, science and the arts.
I am also a parent of two boys in which one is entering his formal elementary years. Although I was schooled for the most part in private or parochial, my husband and I have chosen public education for our oldest son. We feel that in the elementary years, the teachers are more highly qualified in the public sphere. We wanted greater, trained facilitators for our son.
So another course of examination on a global level might be to ask the question: Public or private? Why? As always, I look forward to this area of family life and its stories and dialogue. We spend so much of our time getting our children ready to live independently and successfully and education is such a critical component of that goal.
Warmly,
Cat Wayland
Previous Ed Exchange Series:
Knowledge Beat – Schooling in Africa
College Bound: Q & A of college bound seniors in high school and their expectations