[etni] Fwd: students who don't get 4 point bagrut will never succeed!

From: ETNI list <etni.list@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Etni <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2010 06:47:57 +0300
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: byk <byk@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: students who don't get 4 point bagrut will never succeed!

Why do we continue to believe that getting a 4 point bagrut in English
is the be all and end all of success?

I know many students who got miserable grades in bagrut, and only 3
point English, and who eventually got to college or university and did
very well for themselves.   Quite apart from those who didn't bother
to study, but are doing much much better financially than we are, and
whose children have all the advantages that we can't afford to give
ours.

Nathan, you are quite right that Ethiopian immigrants frequently don't
have the background for the unseens.  Nor do many Israeli born
students.  But surely that is part of what education is about;
students can be taught.  It just has to be done earlier, and don't
hurry over the basics.  A good foundation will mean that students can
progress faster later on.

Years ago, in a development town I taught in, I was given a 10th grade
class of non- readers - well, actually, they knew most of the
alphabet!. We started with the basics, and at first progressed very
slowly, but they became so enthusiastic about finally understanding
what they were learning that they made tremendous efforts and even
insisted that they do their exams according to the honour system which
was used in my school in England.  This involved much brain washing
about how 40% which you have obtained all by yourself, is something to
be really proud of.  By the end of the year they were able to tackle
an unseen from the 3 point bagrut, which was harder then.  True, I
gave them 2 hours to do it, but they sat their in silence, struggling
with their dictionaries (Passport), and they all did very well.

I did one other thing with that class, and  it is something I continue
to do with all my students - every week they have to read an article
from the Friday newspaper in Hebrew, and report on it in Hebrew, in
writing.  The article has to be serious, about things that influence
the world we live in.  Sometimes i give them a subject to read up on
or find something about in the paper;global warming, for example.

True, this class had only 16  students, but then many weak classes are
relatively small.

There is life after school, and the 4 point bagrut isn't everything.
Being really able to read and understand an article at a 3 point level
is more important than teaching 'tricks' to get he answer right.

Jennifer Byk
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[etni] Fwd: students who don't get 4 point bagrut will never succeed!

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