Friday, April 18, 2008

Well Trained Students


Here’s my 11th grade student’s schedule:
Six days a week, they study Physics, Mathematics, Discrete Geometry, English, Portuguese, French, Resistance of Materials, Construction Technology, Drafting, AutoCAD, Phys Ed and 8 hours of construction practical labs.

In my high school, we took four subjects per semester, one of which was usually a joke. The fact these kids are held to such a high standard… is impressive.

Four of 131 students last semester failed my class. Other teachers condemn me for being too easy on them. My argument is that they don’t need to be held back to get better, that you need to let them go and have them figure it out on their own. The fact is, they have few places to go if and when they do graduate. That’s where the improvement needs to be. It’s not that they need to understand discrete geometry as a 16-year-old kid, it’s that there’s no job market if the information does in fact get through.

All said and done though, for a country that has a pretty poor job market, Cape Verde is breeding exceptionally well-trained students.

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