Schools' performance reflects culture

By DENNIS M. CLAUSEN

Determined to do Golden State the first state to raise the punishment facets of the No Child Left Behind Act, Gov. Matthew Arnold Schwarzenegger recently recommended further countenances for 97 school districts.That list, which includes Escondido Union School District and Fallbrook Union High School District, have generated considerable unfavorable judgment of our local schools and teachers. Yet there may be an even more than of import factor that finds school performance.

A survey quoted in the Southwest Educational Development Lab stated, "The civilization of (a) school reflects the local civilization in many ways. When schools seek to improve, a focusing on the values, beliefs, and norms of both the school and the environment outside the school is necessary."

Schools that are surrounded by a positive civilization of regard for instruction (including the media) generally succeed. Schools that are surrounded by an apathetic or negative local civilization usually fight or fail.Perhaps North County occupants can larn something from Norse civilizations where schools have got consistent records of superior achievement.I grew up in an country settled by Norse immigrants. They brought to the Middle West an Old World civilization that revered pedagogues and schools. I make not retrieve any of them blaming the instructors or schools for their children's inability to learn.To this day, my hometown newspaper have mostly supportive letters and columns regarding local schools. Norse immigrants created a civilization of regard for instruction that lends mightily to the success of these schools, which rank among the best in Minnesota.In the 1980s, I had pupils from respective Norse states who could not understand the negativity directed at American teachers. Finnish pupils explained that they were already superior readers when they entered school because their parents loved to read.North County schools are not as fortunate. They must make reading programmes to make something Finns make naturally with their parents.Walt Isabella Stewart Isabella Stewart Gardner addressed respective related to issues in a Feb. Twenty-Seven Capital Of Rhode Island Diary article: "Lessons From Finland: The Manner to Education Excellence." He said Finnish schools consistently put No. One in worldwide scientific discipline and mathematics competition."Not surprising, in a land where literacy and numeracy are considered virtues," Gardner adds, "teachers are revered."Finnish schools avoid the concern theoretical account in educational reform, he said. They eschew standardised curricula, preferring instead to give instructors considerable latitude to make lesson plans.They make not utilize national standardised diagnostic tests during the first nine years, and they make not rank or compare schools. They also have got a powerful instructors union, often cited as the perpetrator in our local schools. Yet Republic Of Republic Of Finland have got the best schools in the world.Most North County educational reforms have involved proposals that Finland have deemed counterproductive. Many North County observers have got targeted K-12 instructors as the major grounds why our schools are failing.I volition go forth it to readers to find whether North County's civilization supplies the support to assist our schools succeed.Escondido occupant Dennis M. Clausen is a independent editorialist for the North County Times. Remark at .