photo by jumbledpile
by :: Anamaria
A while ago Cate and I came across a very interesting discussion thread on one of the on-line groups we belong to. We are grateful to Martina Rehm, who is originally from Germany, for allowing us to post her comments below.
The constant “praise” in the American school system (at least as I see it in my son’s school) surprised me after we relocated to the US from Germany. Although I try not to undermine the teaching methods the school decided on, my son (only 9 years old) sees and understands the “cultural difference” in the teaching approach. It takes a very confident 3rd grader to decide “against”some of the “reward methods”.
Let’s take the “Pizza Hut Book-it” competition every year. The children have to read a certain amount of pages in order to receive a free pizza. If they reach the class goal as well, they are invited for a pizza party in school. Do we really care more about HOW MANY PAGES the children read than WHAT they read?
My son’s friend explained to me that it is easy to reach the goal, you just read a book you already know from last year or listen to an audiobook or even cheat…. It does not seem to be important what they read, if it is a non fiction book the children might actually learn something from or if it is a comic. It also does not seem to matter if they read so fast that they don’t even remember what they read.
I can’t remember how many “Pizza Parties” or “Ice Cream Socials” my son’s school had last year for the children that reached a goal (reading, passing all spelling tests, running x. laps…..). Don’t get me wrong, I am all for rewards. But not too much. Hearing “good job” several times a day for average work makes it almost worthless.
First time I helped in school, one of the kids showed me their work (a very good friend of my son). I said that I liked the work but I believe that he could improve it by… Already the teacher took me aside to explain that we do not criticize the young children’s work.
Just like Marina, we are curious to hear what others think of the “praise/reward” methods in school systems around the world. In other words, how are students where you live praised and rewarded in school? How much and what kind of praise and rewards do you think are helpful? When do you think it becomes too much?
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{ 2 comments }
My children went to an International School in Dar es Salaam where about half of the teachers were American and I found the same approach there. I also taught in the school and although we had a mixed teaching pool in terms of nationality the school followed the British curriculum with IGCSEs at 16 and A levels at 18. My eldest son went to an American boarding school in Kenya and followed the American curriculum supplemented by some British qualifications. The two marking systems were so different that it was hard to see how the assessment could be compared at all. The American systems expects children to get an A all the time. Whereas in the British system a C is an acceptable pass grade. This was a constant source of discussion (and some heated disagreement) between the teachers and had to be constantly dealt with as new teachers arrived every couple of years.
I also found the American way of praising children a little over powering. Our friends would praise their children telling them that what they had done (whether in school or in other activities) was wonderful and excellent, when really their performance at many things was quite average. I felt it led to unrealistic expectations for the children who then felt they could do anything, when that was not really the case.
But this comparison also helped me realise that sometimes we as British people do not give adequate praise and do not remark on accomplishments as much as we probably should. So we tried to do more of that with our children but also to help them have realistic views of how good they where, when often there were others who were better and also those who were not so good.
My son went to school in Japan, USA(Atlanta) and Belgium from 3K up to 3rd grade ALL international schools. In the US people are used to speak in public with great confidence compared to Europeans especially French. I think the difference is that in American schools, kids from age 3 or 4 are doing “Show and Tell” , explaining to the rest of the class about a special topic they like. When I was a child, French teachers always gave negative comments and focused on mistakes, I think it is still the the same. Maybe Children in the USA are over praised from an international standard, but within the USA it works. People are more confident and optimistic than French in general and do not look back at failures. They also have a tendency to practice shameless self-promotion and often bragging about being the best. This attitude can be a problem for American sent abroad as expatriates because they can be perceived as arrogant and ethnocentric. Many studies in children and adults have shown that intrinsic rewards are more effective than external praise for people to learn new things or accomplish a task so that might be a problem. Today’s kids are on screens most of their free time and that might be a greater problem to learn how to socialize and deal with frustration than being over praised at school.
Anne Egros´s last blog ..Where Do You Belong An Expat Story
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