Random Quote
It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.
---- Franklin D. Roosevelt
I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.
---- Albert Einstein
The least of learning is done in the classrooms
---- Thomas Merton
Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.
---- Abigail Adams (1744 - 1818)
it's probably not a good idea to underestimate my ability to make an ass out of myself—just when I seem to have it under control, I'll turn around and surprise you.
---- Tenser said the Tensor
This may be the most interesting blog theme I've ever seen. http://eflgeek.com/index.php Definitely in my top 5 at least.
---- Steve Dembo
Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation.
---- Author Unknown
Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation.
---- Kin Hubbard
Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
---- Malcom Forbes
As soon as I buy the moose head, I have to go pick up some KY jelly.
---- Mary Roninette Kowal
If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.
---- Doug Larson
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
---- Albert Einstein
To have another language is to possess a second soul.
---- Charlemagne
Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.
---- Arnold Lobel
America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week.
---- Evan Esar
As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life - so I became a scientist. This is like becoming an archbishop so you can meet girls.
---- M. Cartmill
Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted.
---- Fred Allen
"It was on my fifth birthday that Papa put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Remember, my son, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.'"
---- Sam Levenson
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
---- Lily Tomlin
Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater.
---- Gail Godwin
Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.
---- Robert Frost
Those who know nothing of foreign languages, knows nothing of their own.”
---- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749 -1832)
The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.
---- George Orwell
We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything.
---- Thomas A. Edison
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
---- Mitch Hedberg
Private Tutors
Scott Sommers wrote about “What are the Characteristics of Asian Education?” a couple of days ago, but due to illness and ISP problems I have not been able to comment. The article that Scott comments on is from the Globe and Mail titled: Parents call in tutors when A is not enough. Scott spent a large amount of time disussing diffusion of different education ideals as well as the convergence, on the surface, of “asian” and “western” education as it pertains to the percieved need for after school tutorials.
The main issue I think here is with the quality of education provided. In yesterdays Globe and Mail there is a response to the original article.
it’s no wonder there is skyrocketing enrolment with private tutors, especially for the enrichment programs. The basic curriculum has been watered down to accommodate the lowest common denominator, instead of trying to challenge students.
The complaints in Korea while not the same as in Canada are have the same message. Parents are not happy with the quality of education at public institutions. In Korea the hogwan, or after school institute, is ubiquitious, and offers classes in everything. Most hogwans specialize in preparing students for the university exam, others specialize in teaching a foreign language (usually English) with or without native speakers.
This situation has been ongoing for the last ten to fifteen years in Korea and possibly longer with no end in site. The government has tried implementing several laws restricting hogwans and other extra-curricular businesses to no avail. For the most part, in Korea, the people have given up hope for public education. I hope that Canada can fix this situation before it turns as bad as it is in Korea.
Scott wrote 32 words on Sunday Mar 21, 2004 at 11:13 PM
Ironically, government response to this problem is to try and control the competition, rather than improve the quality of the education that they provide. If schools worked, there would be no problem.
Sean. wrote 81 words on Sunday Mar 21, 2004 at 11:44 PM
Scott I agree 100%. Interestingly this week after not having taught privates for over three years (quit due to worries about deportation and leaving my wife & daughter here) I just got offered the highest paying private i have heard of. 100,000 won per hour.
I turned it down, though the woman in question couldn’t believe it, nor could my wife. She thought the money was worth it. No chance until I have the MA complete and even then probably not.