Reply to NYTimes: In South Korea, Questions About Cram Schools, Success and Happiness

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The thing I keep thinking over and over again is that I was foolish to have trusted my pretty nice public schools to teach math K-5.  They did a bad job though I don't blame teachers.  Our teachers did what they were told as best they could.  By which I mean showing all those model diagrams, encouraging math exploration with manipulatives,  doing small group differentiated instruction with all levels in one class, experimenting with math video games.

Drill and kill would have worked better.  I should have worked with my kids on IXL.  I don't think they would have liked Beast Academy or RSM.  I personally don't like Kumon.  Mine did Mathnasium in middle school and high school.  And it was okay but expensive.  And my older lacks math intuition.  Just like me.

So Asian/Asian-American parents make their kids do this stuff.  I just wish I had.  You don't need to go all the way to cram school to foster more comfort with elementary math.[/quote]

Our family has also been affected by subpar public education—even though we’re in a so-called “10-rated” school district. We only really realized it during COVID, when remote learning started. We switched to private school right away, and luckily our kids adapted quickly.

Ironically, I think that’s because they had about six years of very low academic pressure in elementary school, so they weren’t burned out at all. Quite the opposite—they were genuinely fascinated by the private school curriculum, which was more challenging and far more engaging for them.

Our kids have done well without ever attending a cram school.[/quote]

PP.  The private schools in my area aren't sufficiently better to warrant college-level tuitions.  I do envy some aspects of the traditional Catholic school system in our town but we are not Catholic and are ideologically out of step with the sponsoring parish.

I do think we have done a good job of providing experiential learning and supporting kids' interests (America does do a good job at this).  But rigor on the basics has been lacking.

Edtech is another big issue.

Amanda Ripley's older (2014) book "The Smartest Kids in the World" discusses that Americans overvalue the role of technology and computing in schools.  I agree with this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Ripley[/quote]

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