Education in the Muggle World

Education in the Muggle world

Hopefully I don’t make you depressed with this task, but education is, of course, very important. Since the new school year has just started – in England – it’s a good time for you to get your brain back into that learning mode!

Your task is to write about two systems of education: your own country’s (or state) and another country’s, not forgetting to mention where you come from!

You should draw your findings together with a conclusion, comparing the two systems, and saying which one you think is best.

Your maximum word countage (yeah, yeah, it’s not a word…) should be no more than 700 words, and no less than 300.

The maximum number of points available is 100.

Don’t forget to cite your sources!

I live in America and I am a true Jersey Girl. I thought I would do this because noone else would. In my town, we have 4 elementry schools and one town highschool, but there is also a charter high school you can apply for. My town is a train town. The train tracks pretty much divide the town into sections, East and West. On each side of the tracks there are two elementry schools. One goes from grades K-5 and the other grades K-8. If you go to a K-5 school (like I did) you have to transfer schools once you reach 6th grade to the K-8 school where they have a seperate wing they run as a middle school. Then at 8th grade, all the schools dump into the high school or you can apply for a private high school or charter school.

In Africa, education is very different. They teach boys and girls seperatly because all they were taught was how to take the place of there fathers and grandfathers once they were adults. For example boys were taught rituals and ceramonies. Then the European colonolism took place and children were taught more like people in Britain and in the United States. However there is still low participation and African Universitys are suffering because professors are leaving to go to other places for better pay.

I think that American education is better, obviously for its more organized and stable. But I also believe that once countries step in to help, African edication will flourish.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Africa

Muggle Education

In the United States education varies from state to state. It even has great variations within each state. I live in California, and that is what I am most familiar with.
Here, on must start school with first grade. The average age of that is six; however, most people start public education in kindergarten at the age of five. Many kids go to pre-school before that, but that almost always has to be paid for and is quite expensive.
Now, there is private school and public school. Private school charges tuition that the parents must pay for. They are really not regulated by the government. Public schools are funded by the government through taxes. They are completely regulated.
Here most kids go to public school. It goes from kindergarten to twelfth grade in most districts. Those are the grades that most people attend. The average graduation age is either eighteen or seventeen depending on the birth month of the student. It is illegal to drop out of school in this state unless you pass a test. Most people don't enforce this law, though, and around one-third of students do not graduate.
It is difficult to talk about the type of education one receives because it varies so greatly from school to school. In public school, religion is not allowed to be taught, and evolution is required to be taught.
Education in Thailand is quite different. Students usually start school at the age of two or three. Not as many people finish school there as do here, either.
Also, it is much more regulated in Thailand. The government has a lot more say in the school system. Every student in Thailand is required to be in scouts, and they have scout activities every week. The government used to regulate hair length, but now each individual school can set a requirement.
Religion is taught in Thai schools. Most of the people in Thailand are Buddhist, and that is taught to the students. If a student wants to be educated in a different religious persuasion, he must go to a private school.
Thai students wear uniforms, and this is also true in universities.

I think that the best education system would be a merger between the two. The American system is good with incorporating creativity, but it doesn't do to well with actual education. The Thai system teaches most subjects extremely well, but until recently it has ignored things such as the arts. I do believe that the Thai system puts too much pressure on the kids, and the American system doesn't put enough pressure on them. One thing that we definitely need to take from the Thai education system is respect for teachers. In Thailand they are respected, and here students don't even know what that is. So, I really think that a great system would be a happy medium between these two.

I don't have any sources to cite because I have known all of this for years. I am a nerd and like to learn this, so I don't know where I got it from.

I live in the state of Vermont in the United States. Here, we have three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school. There are two K-2 schools that are divided into the 'village' outward to one direction, and the rest goes to the other. By third grade, the students all attend a 3-5 elementary school between the two others. after fifth grade, the students are moved on the middle school (6-8 grades) which is about 400 ft from the 3-5 grades school. Once you have graduated from 8th grade, you move on to the high school (9-12 grades) which is across the street. in all of these schools, you take the normal classes, english, history, math, science, pe, but there are also other choices, such as art, band, chorus, foreign language, etc.

In France, and other parts of Europe, the students education is much more important to them than it is here in the US. They go through the same grades, but they have a different schedule. Here, we go to school mon-fri, there they attend mon, tues, thurs, fri, for a full day and 1/2 days on wed and sat, as well as attending longer at night (even though they have a longer lunch period). they also are able to put more time into their work (by high school) than American students are. Most american students in high school have a job so that they will have money to spend on cars, etc. but the french students receive money from family and such on new years to provide for the year and all their jobs are small on the side (aka not certain hours every week). They also don't have to pay to attend college because the government completely pays for them as long as they have passed the BAC test.

i would soooooooo prefer to go to school in france. i think that studies are important and spending more time on them instead of working is great. i speak from experience. i also think that their school schedule is a great idea, i mean, taking two hours for lunch, then staying til 4 instead of 2 is a good idea, it would give students a break during the day, then they can also learn everything they need to! the part about not having to pay for college is also great... i mean, the one i wanna go to is $47000 a year! If i lived in france i wouldn't have to pay that, or find a way to just so that i could attend the school of choice.

The school system in Arizona is very expecting. Schools usually run in this order- Elementary [Grades K-6, although recently my old elementary school has taken up Pre-K.], Middle School [typically grades (6)7-8(9) Some middle schools teach 6th and 9th too, though not many.], and High School [Grades 9-12]. You then graduate from High school, and have a choice to go to college or not. In my school, if you fail a class a semester, you do not take summer school, but simply repeat that topic next semester/year (If you fail Topics 1 math first semester, you take it again second semester, rather than moving up to Topics 2). Most schools in my area are public and Pin-Ed. Homework is assigned almost nightly, though mainly 2-3 nights a week.

Schools in Scotland are quite different. Scotland differs from other education in the United Kingdom, teaching a bigger range of subjects to students, while Ireland, Wales, Etc. focus on a smaller range. Universities in Scotland have courses that generally last a year longer than the other parts of the United Kingdom. The order of grade levels in Scotland are as follows:

Nursery school 3 - 5 Reception
Primary 1 4 - 6 Year 1
Primary 2 5 - 7 Year 2
Primary 3 6 - 8 Year 3
Primary 4 7 - 9 Year 4
Primary 5 8 - 10 Year 5
Primary 6 9 - 11 Year 6
Primary 7 10 - 12 Year 7
Secondary 1 (First Year) 11 - 13 Year 8
Secondary 2 (Second Year) 12 - 14 Year 9
Secondary 3 (Third Year) 13 - 15 Year 10
Secondary 4 (Fourth Year) 14 - 16 Year 11
Secondary 5 (Fifth Year) 15 - 17 Year 12
Lower Sixth
Secondary 6 (Sixth Year) 16 - 18 Year 13
Upper Sixth

While school in Scotland seems quite interesting, I would rather stick to the school I'm at now. It seems that Scotland sets high standards for their schooling, and I would rather not be under alot of stress. I like starting school at the age of five, rather than three, but Scotland education would be a good experience for any hard worker.

Site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Scotland#School_years

Muggle Education in Maryland, USA
In Maryland, (or at least my county) public schools have 3 main levels, Elementary School, Middle School, and High School. There are 6 sub-levels in Elementary School: Kindergarten, First Grade, Second Grade, Third Grade, Fourth Grade, and Fifth Grade. These grades (levels) are generally much easier than Middle and High school grades. Unless you go to a private school for Kindergarten then switch into public (like I did) then children in Kindergarten are around 5-6 years old, learn letters, colors, shapes, and most often have a “nap time”. Above that is first grade. First graders normally start learning basic math, such as addition and subtraction, and no longer have a “nap time”. Elementary school grades (and Middle and High school) all generally have an increase in difficulty like this. Also, in my county, children learn cursive (script) writing in third grade, around ages 8-9.

Middle School in my county contains only three grades, Sixth grade, Seventh Grade, and Eighth grade. Just like Elementary Schools, the grades get more and more difficult as the children in them get older. The jump from Elementary to Middle school is normally a big step, and can be very intimidating to students. The actual step isn’t very tuff at all; this precaution is mostly influenced by television. Many television programs that students in this age group watch, show the characters going from Elementary to Middle school. These shows normally over exaggerate a lot. In my county Middle school is also known for the students having to dissect various parts of animals including a sheep’s eye.

High school is the last main section of public school. It contains grades Nine, Ten, Eleven, and Twelve. In High School, students take the SAT’S or Standardized Test for College Admission. The scores for this test are very important and necessary for getting into college. Different colleges require different SAT scores.


Muggle Education in Argentina
Argentinean education has an interesting past. Argentina used to have no stable education system. It wasn’t until 1868 with President Domingo Faustino Sarmiento that Argentina had its first organized education system. Sarmiento started this because he wanted to bring Argentina up to date with other developed countries. He built more schools and public library’s across the country and eventually doubled the number of students. In Argentina teacher’s day, which is September 11th, commemorates his death. Even though Argentina has had some problems education wise, it has 3 Nobel Prize winners: Luis Federico Leloir, Bernardo Houssay and César Milstein.

In Argentina education is divided into three stages. The first is called Basic General Education or EGB. This is made up of grades 1-9. EGB is then divided into three stages called cycles. EGB I has grades 1, 2 and 3, EGB II has grades 4, 5, and 6, and EGB III has grades 7, 8, and 9. After EGB students can choose to go to another school for about 2 or 3 years called a Polimodal. After this, students can choose to go to College. EGB is required for all students, although Polimodal and College are not.

Primary school is made up of the first two EGB stages, 1st-6th grade. Primary school used to include 7th grade, some had already switched to 8th and 9th as well. Some simply eliminated 7th grade completely.

Secondary school is called Polimodal, which means having multiple modes. It is called this because it allows students to choose an orientation. Most secondary schools contain 8th and 9th grade, although some have 7th grade as well. This enables them to keep the same EGB III classmates.

Most colleges in Argentina are free, although some are private, but normally only for the most affluent students. Like Polimodal, College is not required.

Comparison and Conclusion
Personally I prefer the Maryland educational system over the Argentinean system. I feel this way because: 1) I am more used to the Maryland system, 2) It seems easier to understand, and 3) The Argentinean systems seems to leave more gaps for drop outs. Even though I prefer the American way, the I do think Argentinean way has a very interesting history.



Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Argentina#Primary_education and my brain!

Your housepoints are as follows:


SLYTHERIN

OUTxxWITHxxAxxBANG: 50

RAVENCLAW

Tiima: 50

GRYFFINDOR

KatieBellaTrix: 45
WeasleyTwinsGirl: 42

HUFFLEPUFF

ukphoenix: 48