Democratic Schools, where students decide everything they do at school
Jan 29th 2011 23:13
education
democratic
school
In the previous entry, I wrote that students' free will is important and they should have a right to decide what and when they learn.
I'm writing this entry as a response for some comments on it.
Some of you might think it doesn't work, but there are not a few reports which show it's working well.
There are several kinds of schools practicing this idea, one of which is called a 'democratic school.'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_education
At democratic schools, there are no specific subjects or curricula, and it is students who decide what, when and how they learn.
Another unique point is that they don't divide classes by students' age.
I think that to mix children with different ages is very effective in learning.
Children innately like to imitate others, so in such age-mixed classes, they can learn lots of things by seeing and imitating what the seniors are doing.
According to Mimsy Sadofsky, a founder of a famous democratic school in the US called 'Sudbury Valley School,' about 90% of the students go to colleges or higher education institutions after graduation.
I think it's a proof that free-will learning does work well.
Then, is the style of democratic schools always the best for any children?
I'll write about it next time since this entry is getting so long! :P
Thanks for reading!! ;-)
I'm writing this entry as a response for some comments on it.
Some of you might think it doesn't work, but there are not a few reports which show it's working well.
There are several kinds of schools practicing this idea, one of which is called a 'democratic school.'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_education
At democratic schools, there are no specific subjects or curricula, and it is students who decide what, when and how they learn.
Another unique point is that they don't divide classes by students' age.
I think that to mix children with different ages is very effective in learning.
Children innately like to imitate others, so in such age-mixed classes, they can learn lots of things by seeing and imitating what the seniors are doing.
According to Mimsy Sadofsky, a founder of a famous democratic school in the US called 'Sudbury Valley School,' about 90% of the students go to colleges or higher education institutions after graduation.
I think it's a proof that free-will learning does work well.
Then, is the style of democratic schools always the best for any children?
I'll write about it next time since this entry is getting so long! :P
Thanks for reading!! ;-)
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I'm writing this entry as a response to some comments (I received) on it.
Some of you might think it doesn't work, but there are not a few reports which show it's working well. (do you mean "many"?)
Another unique point is that they don't divide classes by the students' age.
I think that to mix children with different ages is very effective in learning. (...mixed-aged classes are...)
Children innately like to imitate others, so in such mixed-aged classes, they can learn lots of things by seeing and imitating what their seniors are doing.
Some of you might think it doesn't work, but there are a number of reports which show it's working well. -- In the context, I think this is what you meant. There are not a few is grammatically incorrect. You could either say, "there are many" or "there are only a few/ a handful of reports"
Of course, it's difficult to get a one size fits all method, but it's pretty good. Of course, many students would greatly benefit from a democratic school, and there should be a place for these students to go. But, I do feel that the majority students would be better taught in the current system.
As for mixed classes, surely a student who was less able would be more likely demotivated by students who were intellectually better than them. Also, what would an older student think to a student who was maybe 2 or 3 years younger, but in the same class and at the same educational level.
I'm not entirely convinced, but I can see the benefits inherent in such a system.
I agree that it's not always best for all the children. I think, however, the number of children who benefit from such a system would be more than those who don't.
I'll write more about this later. :-)
I'm guessing you ment "quite a few" (more than a few but fewer than a lot)
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quite_a_few
I wanted to say that the number of the report about it was not few. I feel it's more than 'a few' but fewer than 'quite a few'.
Sorry, it's really confusing! I think 'quite a few' would be fine here too.