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• 1 2019-05-05T10:26:40-07:00 The Advantages of a British Primary School 11 Matt Hayes plain 2019-06-17T17:08:26-07:00 Matt Hayes 
  
              Education is essential in the development of a person. However education should expand further than just learning about basic school subjects but also about the idea of oneself and others as well. The American education system only focuses mainly on half of this concept which is teaching children basic school subjects like math or social studies. They only briefly discuss about other concepts like religious or culture diversity of the world and rarely have talks during school about mental health. While visiting the primary school in London, I noticed the school tried to focus on both concepts of education.
              The first thing I noticed about how the kids learn in the school was that they all would learn about each other and their different cultures and religions. The school is filled with many diverse children so it is important that they all are able to understand each other and their origins. The kids would start learning about the different religions and cultures as early as around year 2 and consistently do through the rest of their time in the primary school. Having the kids learn about the different religions and cultures is significant because it exposes them early to the diverse world that we live in and helps them accept different groups of people.
              I found it interesting the amount of Bangladesh people in the area surrounding the school but learning about how the end of the British imperial empire and colonization of other countries makes sense as to why the population of Bangladesh people increased. After World War Two, many immigrants from those countries once colonized by the British, came to London to help out with the labor shortages in the repairs of the city. The cause of the migration of immigrants to London would lead to many diverse communities forming over generations. Since there are many multi-ethic communities, the public schools, like the primary school we visited, would have many ethnic groups in the school. Since the schools have so many different groups of people, the importance of inclusion of different cultures is huge and the schools understand this so that is why I believe the students are constantly learning about the many cultures of the world.
              What I found to be the most impressive at the primary school was how they handle the students’ mental health and behavior issues. In the American education system, schools care more about punishing the kids’ behavior rather than trying to figure out why the kids are behaving poorly. American schools manage the kids behaviors by having a card behavior system. I remember in my elementary school, our card system went from green—which is where we wanted to be—yellow was a warning and once we got to red, we had to fill out a form to take to our parents explaining why we went to red. Besides students labeled as ADHD or other mental illnesses, that was as far as the school would go disciplinary wise. The difference at the primary school was that they would go a little more in-depth in their disciplinary system by having three colored zones on the kids emotional state—blue, green, or red. At the end of each day, the kids would place their names to the zone that they felt corresponded to them the most. The blue zone included depressed, tired, etc., the green zone was the goal, and the red zone included emotions like angry, irritated, etc. The executive headteacher told us that when a kid would be in either the red or the blue zone, they would make sure to do whatever they could to get them in the green zone. For kids in the blue zone, there are counseling services for the kids to talk about what is making them feel so down and see what solutions could be made. When it comes to kids in the red zone, the school has an interesting approach to get the kids back to the green zone: take them outside to the chicken pen behind the school. The executive headteacher explained that the reason why they do this is because having the kids watch the chickens or clean out the pen helps calm down the child since it distracts them from whatever they were angry or irritated about. I find this approach very unique because no one would think that taking care of a chicken pen, of all things, would actually help calm down a child.
              I believe that the American school system could learn a lot from Britain’s when it comes to the elementary/primary schools. What the British school system does better is having the kids educated on more than just basic subjects but also about culture and religious diversity at such an early age. The significance of having the kids learn about diversity early is that it shapes their world view to accept all kinds of groups of people completely different from their own. The British school system also has a better disciplinary system than America’s because they focus more on finding a solution to bad behavior rather than finding a punishment for it. 
• 1 2019-05-05T10:41:58-07:00 United States vs. Britain Education System 11 Emily Schwinghamer plain 2019-06-07T00:49:06-07:00

  Emily Schwinghamer
  
  
   

  During our month-long stay in London my favorite week had to have been the week we got to tour Eton College, Oxford University, as well as, visit with children at a lower income primary school. After spending time at each of these three institutions, it became very clear to me that schooling the United States is, in fact, very different from what you find in Britain. Both countries definitely have a very different idea when it comes to what’s important to learn while at school as well as how long you need to go to school for. There are certainly places the United States could learn from Britain and vice versa.
  
  

  When it comes to places where I think the United States could stand to learn something from Britain, when it comes to education, it would be mainly at the primary school level. During our visit at the primary school we got to speak with the principals about the curriculum being taught to the children and it was very inspiring to see how diversity was not only taught, but embraced at the school. The children are taught different religions, languages, and cultures in hopes of installing good moral compasses when it comes to inclusion. In the United States the only time you really receive any schooling about religion is if you pay to go to  private Catholic, Christain, Jewish school etc. As America is seemingly more divided than ever based off of things like race, gender, religion, etc. it would be extremely beneficial to install some of these practices into our school systems. Children are very impressionable and I believe it would make a large impact if kids were exposed to different cultures at an early age. Another thing that the primary school taught that I believe is extremely important is nutrition. In schools in the United States most kids have to take a health class of some sorts, but that really pales in comparison to how they are teaching Health and Nutrition in Britain. The primary school had a kitchen, garden, and even chickens to help teach the children about fueling your body properly. We got to stop in on a class in the kitchen and they were learning how to make things like fresh guacamole and smashed peas. It was really inspiring to see these kids learning, and even embracing, a healthy lifestyle. With the obesity problem in the United States it is more important now, than ever, to be helping our children learn how to live a healthier lifestyle.

  After learning about the college education system in Britain I think there are a couple places that there could be improvements made based off of the American system. These days, in the United States, most kids are expected to further their education, attend college, and earn a degree. This is good for the workforce because it makes things more competitive, which in turn raises the levels of expectations, pushing people to get better and better. In Britain it didn’t seem like it was really expected from anyone, except the upper class, to attend higher education past high school. I think it's important that the entire population has the chance to educate themselves to a higher level as it opens up a lot of opportunities in the future. Also in the United States the average college student changes their major 3 times before graduating and we learned that it is almost impossible to do that in Britain. Not being locked into a specific major gives students the opportunity to really find not only what they are good at, but also what they are passionate about and will love doing for the rest of their lives. I believe Britain should adopt this technique because it allows students to dip their toes in the water before jumping in to a specific field of study.

  The education systems in the United States and Britain are very different. Both push their students to achieve their goals and help set themselves up for their future, but the way they go about it is really pretty different. As with most things both systems could be improved by taking some pointers from each other and I believe as time moves on the gap between the two will become smaller and smaller.