The article has been automatically translated into English by Google Translate from Russian and has not been edited.

Monologue of the mother who took her daughter to study in the USA

'29.06.2018'

Source: Elizaveta Kutis, mel.fm

 

Muscovite Elizaveta Kutis is a doctor who studied medicine at RUDN University. Now he continues to work in medicine, lives in Los Angeles. “The school can change parents too. Believe me, this is a fact, ”she writes in the author's column in the magazine mel.fm.

Фото: Depositphotos

Every year, before September 1, I weep ... We live in a seismically dangerous zone, and sometimes children are taken hostage (which happens in different parts of the world), at our school we, parents, are obliged to bring a small box for a child there every year in case of emergency. There are advised to put a family photo and dry rations. But, of course, I always cry over the letter that you should write to your child, who was hypothetically alone, and who should support him in moments of fear and despair.

All this planning and playing even the most terrible scenarios is very important: this is how we can prepare for the right actions in an extreme situation. For this, I am very grateful to my school.

And if they tell me that everything comes from a family (culture and upbringing), I reply that this is not quite so. School can change parents. Believe it is a fact.

We moved to Los Angeles in 2013 year. Daughter Vasilisa was five years old, and she went to the kindergarden, an analogue of the Russian “nulevka”. This was our first acquaintance with the American school. Now, having “cooked” in this for several years, I, perhaps, are ready to formulate some of the most important differences of the American education system and attitude towards children.

According to my observations, the tone of the whole team is set by the striving of teachers and school administrations to balance between deeply personal attitudes towards each student and at the same time actively immersing him in the general system of moral and ethical values, into society. It sounds trite, but it works!

Let me give an example: in the first lessons at the beginning of a new school year, each teacher records how much the student has progressed. For example, over the three summer months the reading speed increased from 20 to 40 words per minute.

The assessment takes place personally and extremely delicately, and the results are displayed in a letter to the parents and the subsequent personal conversation.

Thus, children from an early age learn an extremely important thing: people around you should treat you and your “self” with respect.

On the other hand, teachers and parents successfully cultivate in children a responsive healthy sense of duty and sensitivity to other people. Moreover, Vasilisa does it in a completely ordinary way: she can simply tell me when going to the supermarket that it is necessary to purchase canned food and flour for the poor, and at home to put off old sneakers to take them to the next collection of clothes to school.

Among other things, the school takes on another very difficult task. In the current event lesson, the teacher tells the children about the latest news (from the presidential election to the tornado) and explains what happened. Every time after the next such lesson I learn from Vasilisa a lot of new things.

Фото: Depositphotos

As elsewhere in the world, the United States has a system of ranking educational institutions by prestige, level of education and its value. Everyone knows this, and I cannot tell you anything fundamentally new. With the admission procedure, everything is the same.

Curiously, the educational system gives parents a wonderful tool for finding and choosing a school - national ranking

It is formed as follows: at the end of the year, each student from 1 to 11 class passes the final exam. The points received by the children go to the total score, which is displayed in the overall rating. For private and municipal schools, this is a guarantee of increasing the profitability / volume of subsidies, and for teachers - high pay (salaries range from 85 to 100 thousand dollars).

First grade

I was very pleased to see the beautiful, well-groomed women who met us on 1 September at the parents' meeting. They introduced themselves, told how many years they had worked in school, that they have their own children and they imagine how difficult it is sometimes to make homework. Therefore, we were offered to play a "bad and good" policeman.

Parents can allow children not to do homework, but warn you that you will have to do this at recess when all children usually have fun. And you will not believe, it really works.

The “public spanking” method is a taboo for both children and their parents.

For one-time or even regular delays, no one will even painfully reprimand children in front of the whole class, and parents will receive a short e-mail notification that they need to go to school and write a paper about the reason for the delay. And the conflict is settled.

The practice of parental meetings has given way to a mobile application, where you can remotely ask any question and find out everything you need.

Parents are happy to share their professional knowledge and abilities with the whole class. Let me give you my favorite episode as an example: the father of one of the guys works for VANS (the brand that produces the legendary sneakers), and he gave all students of the class a promotional code, according to which the guys designed a custom design absolutely free and got a pair of shoes in the finished form. We only paid for home delivery.

Lessons and workload

From Moscow friends, I regularly hear the mournful tale of "circles and extra classes." Write down, say, a child in a circle, even if the notorious "sewing and sewing", and immediately there is a series of forced troubles and worries. Hire a nanny to take from school and transport to a mug, pay for a mug, and then sit over a tired child while he does his homework in five subjects.

Fortunately, the system works differently in the States. From the first class we took a good pace and signed up for sections that work in the school itself. You do not need to go to different parts of the city to pick up the child from the voyage to take him to an additional language. Weekly schedule without daily lessons looks like this:

  • Swimming - 4 times per week;
  • Chinese - 2 times per week;
  • Spanish - 2 times per week;
  • Music, art and yoga - on Mondays.

From the age of five children are taught printing. Children at speed are trying to find the right letter or number on the keyboard. From the first grade, children are taught how to work with useful applications, and with their help they make research projects, presentations and books! From the third grade, they learn to play various musical instruments, which frees parents from having to take children to music school. During classes in science lab, schoolchildren master biology, chemistry and physics in the most charming way: they grow butterflies and ducklings, plant fruits and vegetables in the schoolyard, dissect fish and study their anatomy. And in a lively corner, you can take any animals for a weekend (fish, lizard, hamster or turtle), however, the recording on especially popular animals, for example, a hamster, is filled three months in advance.

The school has a corner of meditation - a secluded place with a fountain and a small bench that is immersed in greenery.

As part of the course, according to their task as close as possible to the Russian OBZH, teachers explain to the wards how to properly dispose of the waste, how to behave during an earthquake, and so on.

Фото: Depositphotos

Did you have a librarian at school? Such a strange-looking woman — either drinking heavily, or crazy. Why pay a salary to a person who 90% of their time does not do anything. And if he works a lot, he still gets paid 10 000 rubles per month. This is silly - especially in the era of high technology.

In American schools, unfortunate librarians have given way to a database, where a virtual card is attached to each student, and each book is equipped with a barcode. The system of volunteer duty twice a year for each mother helps to maintain everything in order.

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