This is kind of a continuation to my previous post. I said that education in the US is better because of its tehnology aspect; majority of the people are visual learners and it makes it much easier for them to learn from graphs, pictures, videos etc. than from plain text in the book.
When it comes to reading/watching movies for pleasure, I prefer books for the creativity side of it - you are the director of the movie that is palying in your head, and you can let your imagination run wild.
But when studying, because of the fact that we are better visual learners, I consider screening as more efficient because that way it will stick to our brain cells more effectively and it will make it easier to recall the information. And this is where the technology in the classrooms takes place - slideshows, projectors, TV monitors - it is all here to make the school easier and more enjoyable place :)
Friday, March 26, 2010
Education in the US: Are we falling behind?
Don't hate me for saying this, but yes, education in the US is definitely falling behind. As I don't have any other statistics, I will compare it to education in Serbia, because that is the only country that I am fully familiar with, but I do believe that it is the same case in most of the European countries.
First of all, when children start elementary school in Serbia at the age of 7 they are obligated to start learning English. The development of children's oral skills is the most proficient at the early age and for that reason many of them grow to be bilingual, even though English is not a spoken language in Serbia. Further on, at the age of 9, kids start learning their second foreing language, which depends on the school they attend. I understand that it is different when your native language is spoken by half the world's population it is easier not to be interested in learning foreign languages in contrast to be a native Serbian speaker, but nonetheless being bilingual expands your minds possibilities and, simply said, makes you smarter.
Second, high schools in Serbia are real institutions of education. I thought the same thing is here, but as I've heard so far from the people, it seems not to be the case. When I first got here and familiarized myself with general education courses, I couldn't help but make a comment - shouldn't this be what you learn in high school and then by the time you go to college you already have some kind of idea what you want to do with your life? Apparently not. Everyone's answers were: "But that is high school, you don't really study in high school."
Finally, this leads to having more gen eds than specialising in something that you really want to do in your life. The result is not being fully competent in doing it. The colleges in Serbia prepare you for four years for your future profession. After two years of studying Spanish at a college in Serbia I came here with enough classes for my Spanish major and, I have to admit, I really don't feel like I am capable of being a Spanish teacher.
So, why coming here then?
Good question. As much as I think that the education system in Serbia is way more developed at an intellectual level, it still lacks the technology that the modern world demands. As for myself, I came here to improve my skills in English and Spanish, because there is no school that can teach me that as the real life experience.
As for the other people from Serbia, I regret to say this, but they come here because they find it easier to study here in English then in their home country in their native language. I belive this is the answer to the question in my title.
First of all, when children start elementary school in Serbia at the age of 7 they are obligated to start learning English. The development of children's oral skills is the most proficient at the early age and for that reason many of them grow to be bilingual, even though English is not a spoken language in Serbia. Further on, at the age of 9, kids start learning their second foreing language, which depends on the school they attend. I understand that it is different when your native language is spoken by half the world's population it is easier not to be interested in learning foreign languages in contrast to be a native Serbian speaker, but nonetheless being bilingual expands your minds possibilities and, simply said, makes you smarter.
Second, high schools in Serbia are real institutions of education. I thought the same thing is here, but as I've heard so far from the people, it seems not to be the case. When I first got here and familiarized myself with general education courses, I couldn't help but make a comment - shouldn't this be what you learn in high school and then by the time you go to college you already have some kind of idea what you want to do with your life? Apparently not. Everyone's answers were: "But that is high school, you don't really study in high school."
Finally, this leads to having more gen eds than specialising in something that you really want to do in your life. The result is not being fully competent in doing it. The colleges in Serbia prepare you for four years for your future profession. After two years of studying Spanish at a college in Serbia I came here with enough classes for my Spanish major and, I have to admit, I really don't feel like I am capable of being a Spanish teacher.
So, why coming here then?
Good question. As much as I think that the education system in Serbia is way more developed at an intellectual level, it still lacks the technology that the modern world demands. As for myself, I came here to improve my skills in English and Spanish, because there is no school that can teach me that as the real life experience.
As for the other people from Serbia, I regret to say this, but they come here because they find it easier to study here in English then in their home country in their native language. I belive this is the answer to the question in my title.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
My thoughts on plagiarism
I know I've been referrencing urbandictionary.com a lot, but I always find interesting the definitions people write for some things :)
Here is one interesting about plagiarism that pretty much sums it all:
Plagiarism
What people who either can't write or are too lazy do whenever a paper is due. Any usage of someone else's writing as one's own is plagiarism, no matter how cleverly disguised (or not) it is.
Last weekend, during Associated College Press Conference in Phoenix, where we represented NEIU with the Independent, I attended a workshop called "Can we use that?" Not until then had I really considered plagiarism and copyright that important, but when I think that somebody else could use my work and not credit me for it, I like the idea of plagiarism less and less.
I am certain that I won't do it just as much I wouldn't like that somebody else plagiarizes my work.
The way I've learned so far to avoid plagiarism is to try to find as many sources as possible and then by pretty much reading the same thing written in different forms, you get an idea of what you would write, and by mixing all those sources in your head you are less likely to say it in somebody's exact words.
I also attended a lecture last semester at campus which gave us some ideas on how to avoid plagiarism. The lecture pretty much proved that I, and I believe most of the students, make a mistake when underlining the important sentences in our source texts, because that is the easiest way (unwillingly) to plagiarize. The lecturers suggestion was to read the sentence, look away from it, and then without looking back to try to sum it up - you weren't looking at the text long enough to remember the exact same words, so the result will most probably be our own.
Well, if there is anyone reading this blog, I hope these techniques help you with your further papers!
Here is one interesting about plagiarism that pretty much sums it all:
Plagiarism
What people who either can't write or are too lazy do whenever a paper is due. Any usage of someone else's writing as one's own is plagiarism, no matter how cleverly disguised (or not) it is.
Last weekend, during Associated College Press Conference in Phoenix, where we represented NEIU with the Independent, I attended a workshop called "Can we use that?" Not until then had I really considered plagiarism and copyright that important, but when I think that somebody else could use my work and not credit me for it, I like the idea of plagiarism less and less.
I am certain that I won't do it just as much I wouldn't like that somebody else plagiarizes my work.
The way I've learned so far to avoid plagiarism is to try to find as many sources as possible and then by pretty much reading the same thing written in different forms, you get an idea of what you would write, and by mixing all those sources in your head you are less likely to say it in somebody's exact words.
I also attended a lecture last semester at campus which gave us some ideas on how to avoid plagiarism. The lecture pretty much proved that I, and I believe most of the students, make a mistake when underlining the important sentences in our source texts, because that is the easiest way (unwillingly) to plagiarize. The lecturers suggestion was to read the sentence, look away from it, and then without looking back to try to sum it up - you weren't looking at the text long enough to remember the exact same words, so the result will most probably be our own.
Well, if there is anyone reading this blog, I hope these techniques help you with your further papers!
Is there a difference between racism and classism?
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, racism is "a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race"
In simple words, it is a hatred of one person by another just because of skin color, language or customs. Throughout the history it has influenced slavery, wars, and politics of many countries.
Classism is at the same time different and the same. Dictionaries define it as "prejudice or discrimination based on class", which distinguishes the two, but if we go back to Steele's essay "On Being Black and Middle Class" we come to see that black people in the USA are often victims of classism, which draws a conclusion that racism and classism could be considered a same thing.
However, I think that we could apply this conclusion only to the United States, where rasism has been a major issue since the colonial era. In the countries where race diversity is not that common, classism play a completely separate role from racial discrimination.
In simple words, it is a hatred of one person by another just because of skin color, language or customs. Throughout the history it has influenced slavery, wars, and politics of many countries.
Classism is at the same time different and the same. Dictionaries define it as "prejudice or discrimination based on class", which distinguishes the two, but if we go back to Steele's essay "On Being Black and Middle Class" we come to see that black people in the USA are often victims of classism, which draws a conclusion that racism and classism could be considered a same thing.
However, I think that we could apply this conclusion only to the United States, where rasism has been a major issue since the colonial era. In the countries where race diversity is not that common, classism play a completely separate role from racial discrimination.
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