Our Education System

I saw this posted on Facebook, and it immediately made me think of what we discussed in our last class!!  It really makes me question the current education system and also the systems I have gone through growing up. 

My family and I moved to the US when I was in middle school.  I went through 8^th grade in the Japanese school system; I attended high school, college, and graduate school on the mainland; and after taking "a few years" off from taking classes, I have been continuing my education at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa.  Even just from the first couple of classes, it has already intrigued me and made me want to find out more about the differences between the education systems of Japan and the US.  Maybe a possible topic for the paper assignment?

When Dr. Collins talked about the forced-curve grading system, it reminded me that that was the grading system that was used when I was in middle school although, from my understanding, it is no longer the case in most schools in Japan.  It makes me wonder what kind of impact that type of grading system has had on my and the other students’ learning experiences, self-efficacy, motivation, etc. 

Another thing that resonated with me was from the reading, in which it talked about how some of the Asian societies value and encourage efforts vs. the American society places it's value more on talents and innate abilities.  Growing up, I was always told to work hard; I was taught that if I put efforts in and be persistent, I would be able to improve my skills, understand something that I didn’t before, or learn to perform at a high level.  As a child, I was not a fast learner per se, but as I was encourage to keep at it, I have gotten to be a decent student in middle school, in high school, and then in college.  If I or people around me had concluded early on that I did not have the innate abilities to do well academically, I probably have not gotten to be where I am now.  I am grateful to have been in the environment growing up in which the hard work was also valued, not only the talents and innate abilities one possesses.   

Grading and Learning

My apologies to all!  I posted this yesterday, but I accidentally deleted it so I am posting it again...  I don't know much about blogging and blogger.com so I may need your help as we go... (Thanks to Megan for helping me change my background picture!)

First class sure was very interesting!  I did note except to be given a choice as to how we would be graded.  My first reaction was, “oh I am not sure about that…!”, but as I thought about it more and listened to others’ arguments for and against either of the options, I started to lean towards favoring the group grade.  Like everyone else, I want a good grade, and it seems riskier for a grade to hinge on the performances of a group of people, however, I thought the opportunity like this would not come often (or would not ever come again) that I wanted to be able to see what the learning experiences would be like for a class without an individual grade.

 

While the discussion was going on, I remembered the time when Dr. Museus asked last semester, who in the class did not really like group projects, and I was one of more than half of the class who raised their hands.  He mentioned how we all have to be able to work in groups in whatever field in which we choose to be.  I typically do work well with others, and I enjoy it, however, I do not really care to do so for class when a grade is involved so I was not all that thrilled about having to write two group projects for that class.  I was fortunate, though, to have good group members.  We complimented each other’s strengths well, and personally, I felt that I was able to learn much from the other members.  I appreciate the different perspectives and unique writing styles they brought to the table, and I was able to gain much from the group experiences that I would not have otherwise.

Having that said, I look forward to more of such learning experiences from this class!  I can tell already that everyone in the class has much to bring to the class.  Although I was worried about the grade at the beginning, I have a sense that as we focus on the learning, the grade will follow, rather than the other way around.  I look forward to experiencing the process and all that we are going to gain from each other through this class and having chosen a group grade option.  Lastly, I was appreciative of Megan who suggested the majority vote and her explanations for not voting for the group grade.  I understand where she was coming from, and I respect her for standing her ground on this matter.