[etni] תשובה: [etni] down memory lane

From: paula orenstein <paulao@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: teitel_j@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:30:56 +0200
Since we all are into remembering i have to say that  until the age of 12 I 
have received my education in former Soviet Union. The system was very 
appreciative of the oppressed in USA and they encouraged us to read Mark Twain 
stories - this was when i was seven years old. there was not a living soul in 
former USSR who was not familiar with Tom Soyer or Huck.  And Jane Austen and 
Charlotte Bronte were also popular. So I have to say that I read Jane Eyre 
before i turned 10. And this without even metionning Russian lit which (with 
all due respect to English and American lit. and there is a great respect since 
i do possess an Israeli MA from BGU in english and 
american lit ) is quite extensive and influential in its own right
enough to mention names like Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Bulgakov. PUshkin, 
MArshak, Babel, and MIchail Bachtin  What I wanted to say that as a child i 
couldn't imagine myself going to bed without a book in an anticipation to find 
out how it is going to end. So the problem is that we are different and not 
that  the times have changed. we do not have enough time to stop and read a 
book and enjoy the sentences, to really slow down and enjoy the images that are 
provoked and evoked in us by the written word
I am sure that many things were not so perfect in the  ed. system of USSR - to 
put it mildly but the fact that you had to answer the question of the librarian 
 about the book you were about to return before she could let you have a new 
one of your choice. .... in short reading and enjoying and not the "fancy" 
literary terminology is what HOTs or whatever you want to name it is all 
about/. The joy in reading is what our pupils are missing and if we can teach 
them that -- then the books (the right ones) will do the rest.
----- הודעה מקורית -----
מאת: טיטלבאום טובה <teitel_j@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
תאריך: יום ד', ספטמבר 30, 2009 13:57
נושא: [etni] down memory lane
אל: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

> I feel slightly uncomfortable reading other people's positive 
> memories of their schooldays. I remember my school days with great 
> affection but
> my memories of Australian schools of the 50s are slightly 
> different. We had no homework in primary school. Teachers were 
> expected to teach what the pupil had to know within the framework 
> of the school day. (This was still true in the 60s when I became a 
> teacher. If you gave homework it showed you were doing a poor job 
> of teaching). We started getting homework from 7th grade and up 
> and NO we did not do book reports. We had tests and exams and 
> thrice a year report cards and mid term summing up of our 
> progress. There was no "moed B" and if you failed you felt your 
> world collapsing. The pressure to succeed was fierce Those of us 
> who survived the system and went on to tertiary studies were the 
> problem -free achievers. Most kids did not do Matric. You only had 
> to pass in four subjects. English was compulsory but the other 
> subjects had to be studied in depth and I do mean in depth. There 
> were no further entrance exams to universities and colleges. It 
> was presumed if you survived the
>  rigours of high school including the matric demands you were 
> prepared for tertiary studies. There was absolutely no leeway for 
> L.D pupils They dropped out of school by the 9th grade and became 
> hugely successful businessmen. Check the list of the 100 
> wealthiest people in the community. You would be surprised to find 
> how many of them had dropped out of school including some from my 
> class. So was the system better than what we have today? No I 
> don't think so. It left many highly intelligent people feeling 
> frustrated, excluded  and inferior.
> Tova T.
> ----------------------------------------------- 
> ** Etni homepage - http://www.etni.org 
>   or - http://www.etni.org.il **
> ** for help - ask@xxxxxxxx **
> ** to post to this list - etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx **
> -----------------------------------------------
> 
> 
----------------------------------------------- 
** Etni homepage - http://www.etni.org 
   or - http://www.etni.org.il **
** for help - ask@xxxxxxxx **
** to post to this list - etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx **
-----------------------------------------------
[etni] תשובה: [etni] down memory lane

Other related posts:
