Thursday, June 17, 2010

The perfect school

In the movie Matilda the Trunchbull says, "My idea of the perfect school is one in which there are no children at all."

We all have ideas about what schools should be like. Hopefully most people do not share the same ideas as the Trunchbull. Based on my own experience growing up it seems to me that public schools are only really good for the "average" student. Any student who is above or below average is going to start to slip through the cracks of the system unless they are lucky enough to get a teacher who takes their jobs so seriously that they go above and beyond the curriculum to make sure every one of their students succeeds.

My own experience as an above average student, was an unpleasant one. I was used as a crutch for the below average students a lot of the time and not given the things I needed to succeed. I surfed through highschool with a ton of half-hearted A's and B's and graduated grade 12 with absolutely no direction and no study skills. University was more interesting but I was more interested in learning stuff not taught in highschool than in picking a direction of study in the first couple years. When I finally picked a direction I had to cram all the necessary components into one year so I could get into the program of my choice the next year. It was a painful experience, but a worthwhile one. I realized what I wanted to do was make sure no one else got put in my situation. I am currently entering into teacher certification in the fall with the eventual goal of opening my own school in which I will target the individual student rather than the "average" student. The idea is that no student will fall into the cracks of a broken system.

I am very interested in Waldorf and Montessori schools as well as other private and public schools with similar philosophies. I hope to incorporate some of their principles into my eventual school.

What ideas do you have about schools? What do you like about them? What do you think needs to be improved? What do you think of home-schooling? I am interested in your ideas!

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