Primary schools in the United Kingdom aren’t something we know much — okay, anything — about. The youngest British people we know well either only blow bubbles at this point, or don’t tend to talk to us much, preferring to hide behind their parents and/or iPods. Friends who attended primary school here mainly remember having to memorize long stanzas of poetry and not much else. However, T. did teach school in the States, and D. had done a bit of teaching as well, so, when we saw the piece in the Guardian about the changes drafted for elementary schools in the UK, we were automatically interested.
The Ministry of Education apparently hired some bloke to overhaul the school system for the younger students, and along with subtracting studies of WWII and the Victorians from their social studies/history units, he’s adding Twitter and Wikipedia. As a matter of fact, the direct quote is, “Children to leave primary school familiar with blogging, podcasts, Wikipedia and Twitter as sources of information and forms of communication.”
Set your brain on stunned.
Let’s be clear: we’re not British, and we’re not parents, and we don’t really mind/care when British kids study the Victorians. And obviously, they’re still going to get an historical overview and WWII in detail during their high school years; no one is going to utterly ignore the organization and continued agitation of the neo-Nazis, the attempted genocide of a nation, the contribution of Churchill, nor the beginning of the modern UN, etc., etc., right?
We suppose podcasts and Twitter have the distinction of being not solely massive time-sucking black holes, but being sort of a cyberspace pub where people can connect and communicate… albeit in a fragmented, psychotic fashion. But… Wikipedia?! Seriously? An online collection of factoids that anyone can edit as a “source of information”!??”
American students are taught a certain way because — and you learn this in education classes at University — Henry Ford perfected the art of the assembly line, and each year, the student is allegedly taught something that they will need to make them a Good Little Worker later in life. Allegedly, by the 8th grade, the American student would have had enough basic education to drop out of school and hold down a job, if necessary. Nowadays, there’s still tons of repetition, but the idea of simply handing a kid the skills to work is out, and as trends in education go, kids are supposed to be handed the skills to enable them to be a UN ambassador, a rock star, and the president of Harvard all at once. What would mastering Wikipedia enable you to do? Orchestrate, chronicle, and edit your fifteen minutes of fame?
Education is generally considered to be flawed in both our countries — either pushing a kid too hard, or not pushing hard enough — but it would be interesting to discover the reaction of a group of parents in the States on hearing that their third grader would need to master Wikipedia before moving on to fourth.
The lives of British secondary school teachers may have just gotten a bit more complicated…
– D & T
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I think it’s great that teachers would be familiarizing students with certain sites, as long as they stress what a reputable source is beforehand! Wikipedia is a quick starting point for an inquiry (don’t faint- we use it quite often in my public library.) I’m sure the schools won’t be teaching them to cite from that source! Or I hope so…:/
Hope is a wonderful thing.
I was shocked when I read this – it’s amazing how much education has changed since I was in school (which wasn’t all that long ago).
As a Brit, a parent and a teacher, I too am stunned.No wonder there is no time int he curriculum to ensure that people are literate and numerate…
Oh for heaven’s sake that is crazy! I’m a stickler for correct spelling and all I can see is a bunch of kids typing “gn, hagd, ppl, etc.” when they create a resume. Twitter belongs at home not in the schools. What’s next Facebook 101?
Ah…how I’m daily reminded how utterly ill prepared our kids are for the ‘real world’ coming from the educational systems in place here in the states.
I’m sure some kids somewhere are learning things…like, for instance, oh…maybe HOW TO READ!
I’m saddened and frustrated…should it be reassuring that I’m not alone? That adults working with kids all over the world are dealing with the same problems???
Thanks for sharing!
: )
Sorry if this is a bit behind, but I’d like to mention that, at the bottom of the article, there is an amendment which states that the Twitter, blogs etc module is for England only.
That still means it affects most kids in the UK, but Scotland has a separate education system, so the reforms mentioned are for England, and perhaps Wales.
Also, to be fair, a well-written Wikipedia article is as good an introduction to a subject as a Primary school pupil is likely to need. Not keen on the Twitter/blogs etc, but then it doesn’t really apply here anyway….
That’s not to say that the Scottish system isn’t flawed either (my mother is a faculty head in a secondary school, so I hear all about it)….