The Smartest Kids in the World; Amanda Ripley - Essay Example

The Smartest Kids in the World; Amanda Ripley affiliation To spot a world education on of the things one should do is watch the kids One thing that affects the education outcome of students is the education policy that is applied in the schools. Program on International Student Assessment (PISA), as an education policy, was done on fifteen year olds so as to determine their ability when it came to applying their basic knowledge on math, science and language in solving the day to day problems. The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMS) is another education policy that mainly focuses on less work problems and more on the subject specific knowledge and the skills that the school teaches the student during the learning process. Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study is a policy that does not concern whether the student can be able to apply their scientific and mathematical knowledge in the real life situation while Program on International Student Assessment has no concern in either measuring the student’s skill needed to succeed in their college education nor to engage in technical professions. Therefore, schools use both policies in their education system as they complement each other and will improve the educational outcome in schools (Ripley, 2013). According to Ripley (2013) Korea, Finland and Poland employ PISE as the education policy in their schools and this kind of system is seen as the reason behind their production of some of the best students in the world. This system brings out the argument that, tracking students, that is placing the kids in gifted classes at an early age so that they can be able to know what exactly their career holds for them, tends to diminish the learning process in schools boosting inequality to places where it was implemented. It is said when this kind of education system is applied, the students who were in the higher performing classes began to think of themselves as less gifted hence lowering their self esteem while surprisingly those in the lower performing classes in this kind of education policy developed a positive mentality about themselves in turn building on their self esteem. This can be view as, when student were placed in the same classes with the other students who had the same performance level as them, whatever the level was, they developed the perspective that that they were not special in any way after all with the lower achieving students ending up being stigmatized while the higher ones, the presence of similar capable peers brought a sober effect on them. In the United States according to Ripley, has a system that divides their children according to their ability while at the same time teaching different content to their most advanced track. This grouping of students according to their performance brought about some of the most powerful positive impact in the education literature of the United States. This later on led to students who had widely diverse educational experience. However, United States is seen to have consistently failed in their education system when it comes to the means in which they used to select and training their teaches. It seems that there were no barriers put in place in their education careers as much as they were placed in their layering sector hence lowering the standards of their education system. American schools are described to be relatively easy to get into as well as getting a degree from them (Ripley, 2013). However, teachers in high- scoring countries mentioned earlier on tend to engage their student into rigorous class activity as well as assignments while getting full support from parents, heads of schools as well as students for demanding work as compared to the United States. In the book Smartest Kids in the World, as student in Korea by the name Eric, had so much expectation when it came to their education system. He expected that everyone in class will be attentive concentrating on what the teacher taught in their sociology class but it ended up being the opposite as attention was minimal and about a third of the class is said to be asleep. This led Eric to have a corrosive perception about their education instead of being inspired by it. Although, it can be said the kids slept in class because of the exhaustion they had. Every weekday, the students spent more than twelve hours in class and in general two months more than the kids in Minnesota. From Ripley’s book, we see that she put so much trust in the PISA system of education as the best measure for creativity as well as critical thinking among student in schools where as it is seen as a controversial issue among the experts as it is seen to measure how much the students know. However, she emphasizes that what we really need in our education system is a serious culture in schools, a culture that will bring interest while at the same time improving the education outcome (Ripley, 2013).. Just Girls; Margaret Finders Introduction According to Finders (1997) during adolescence age, the teenage girl tries to explore and test her new limit on their personal and social surrounding. Because of Finders’ experience with this age group of girls , she goes ahead to make visible tactics rules that shape a girls social role in particular social circle as she undergoes these stage in her life. This stage involves leaving the childhood behavior and turning into adult behavior taking up new roles and identities. With all this in mind Finders questions the student centered pedagogy myths on girl’s development as well as challenging the myths on adolescence. Myths of students centered pedagogy Agree School empower the girl child so that they can be able to be able to take risk as with the vast knowledge they acquire in school help them to think critically while making decision and taking the best alternative in risk taking. A student negotiation pedagogy which can also be seen as rhetorical mentality pedagogy so as to facilitate the student attains their individual perspective about the question by thinking about it. More research on how pedagogy can get into social –group that only account to particular literacy practices so as to enable the students to get the best from the group while at the same time being diverse (Finders, 1997). Learning of the most suitable literate manners plays an important responsibility in complex social negotiation as it build on their knowledge on being better communicators. Disagree Student’s choices are liberated from sociopolitical twist and consequences as they have no control what happens in their sociopolitical environment therefore their choices will not have any effects. Intention does not need govern response is not true because the student are free to do what they feel but have an option of doing the right thin at the right time. Classroom as safe havens is not justifiable as the student can face self-esteem issues from the peers which can have a negative impact. Myths of adolescence Agree Adolescent is worldwide and homogeneous identity because it is a stage of passage and everyone goes through it. It is an inherently ‘’negative’’ stage of growth depending on the environment through which the girl child is raised upon, the stage might have great impact to the reaction and choices the girl child takes. It is an age of trial and error because the girl child is learn and undergoing changes which might prompt them to experiment on new ideas without proper consultation. Disagree It necessitate having to learn context and rule of the environment is not true because the girl child by then is mature enough to know what the right thing to do is. Equip them to take on and generate within the environment is not ascertainable as the girl child is taught to be productive starting from an early age and not when they reach the adolescent stage. It is in opposition to adult culture is not true because through the stage the girl child learn how to interact with the adult and is also seen to have matured into an adult when they get to the adolescent stage.. Finders, M. J. (1997). Just Girls: Hidden Literacies and Life in Junior High. Teachers College Press, 1234 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027 (cloth: ISBN-0-8077-3561-2; paper: ISBN-0-8077-3560-4, $17.95; NCTE stock number 25387).. References Ripley, A. (2013). The smartest kids in the world: And how they got that way. Simon and Schuster. Read More