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The general quality of teaching is lower too. My perspective: French, cosy western suburb of Paris, 1GB fiber, computers. Children in excellent schools, with e

The general quality of teaching is lower too. My perspective: French, cosy western suburb of Paris, 1GB fiber, computers. Children in excellent schools, with excellent results. Comes COVID. After the first week where the French education was frantically trying to find a way for courses to be held (they bought in 2019 and earlier "platforms" that were supposed to provide "online teaching" and which failed so miserably that there should be some penal investigations), teachers started to find solutions themselves. Zoom, some French platforms, mail etc. When our president announced that schools were closed, you could hear a huge yell in all households (including mine) and I let the children celebrate a day or two. And then I ensured that they were working. I would say that the efficiency was about 1/3 of the one they had at school. They are very good pupils so this will not have any adverse effect - but for parents that cannot turn into all-knowing teachers in a day, this is very difficult. We saw plenty of children that simply stopped attending the courses. We also saw many teachers that simply stopped showing up. There is already (at least in France) a large gap in the ability of children to get a good education. Schools are at least trying to narrow it down. With COVID the efforts are vain and there could be huge repercussions for the children. This also goes the other way round. Last year "end of high-school exam" (baccalauréat) is said to have been given for free. This is not fair to other years, and the pupils that got it may be seen as "the nes that got it for free, so they are nto as good as the others". I am so happy that my children want to learn on their own and that I do not have to constantly be behind their backs, but this is partly (a big part) the result of the schools they go to, that instill this approach. Others may not be so happy.

noir_lord 6y ago
> cannot turn into all-knowing teachers in a day, this is very difficult. This is a key point, many parents simply can't teach material say 10 up because it's been 20-30 years since they did that material or they are not academically minded in the first place. My partner and I have split it between us as much as we can, I take the math, science and history, she takes English and the other subjects - that mostly works but that's because I am as many of us on here are a geek. I don't know that many of my friends would understand well enough to teach their kids.
- BrandoElFollito 6y ago
  I used to be a scientist, I have a PhD in physics. It did not help me much in life except now, when I realize how easy it is for me to teach my children science (I loved to teach in academia). I have no fear of not being able to answer their questions about math or physics, or about science in general. I am very, very lucky with this - some friends called me during the school lockdown to help them because they were completely overwhelmed. As you said their last contact with some of the topics was 30 years ago and they left them behind with relief. I also love history, so I had patrince to check what they learned in history. Geography was much harder :) My older son (high school) told me once that he cannot imagine how pupils that do not have really well educated parents can manage in this situation here everyone is basically on their own to learn.
  - noir_lord 6y ago
    In the case of my step-son I've also been stressing that you can teach yourself many of these things - not just giving him the answer but the tools to find the answer for himself. This has gotten him into space and half his non-school related youtube use has been to watch documentaries on space topics - I think learning that you can teach yourself is a crucial lesson that modern schools don't typically emphasise enough - our daily walks have gone from discussions about fortnite to discussions about exo-planets and what their surfaces might be like through to neutron stars and black holes - I'm incredibly proud of his progress, I knew he was bright (he kills it at maths) but I hadn't really realised how bright until I had to teach him. Next weekend I think we'll watch Interstellar since it covers many of the things he's been asking about and the visuals are engaging enough to hold the attention of a 10yo.
    - BrandoElFollito 6y ago
      Whoa, 10 yo and interested in exoplanets! Great boy and good job for supporting him. I watched with my children (the youngest one must have been around the age of yours) the movie Apollo 13 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13_(film)). I fast forwarded the first 1/3rd of the movie (the introduction and romantic part that was really boring IMHO) and started when the preparation actually started. They loved it, and I loved it too - mostly for the extraordinary capacities of these people to calculate/engineer such solutions on the fly in 1970. This is the second time I was watching it and was biting my nails up to the elbow again :) He could be interested, especially if you pause from time to time to explain what is going on.
908B64B197 6y ago
> When our president announced that schools were closed, you could hear a huge yell in all households (including mine) and I let the children celebrate a day or two. I love France. > This also goes the other way round. Last year "end of high-school exam" (baccalauréat) is said to have been given for free. This is not fair to other years, and the pupils that got it may be seen as "the nes that got it for free, so they are nto as good as the others". Does it really matter? If it's used to judge peers all mostly from the same year it doesn't matter too much one year was an outlier.
- BrandoElFollito 6y ago
  > Does it really matter? If it's used to judge peers all mostly from the same year it doesn't matter too much one year was an outlier. Right before COVID France went though a complete reorganization of the final high school exam. It was a mess when it was announced, and then an uber-mess when everything was changed. It was supposed to be a year of "testing" but it ended up being a year of free diploma. Teachers are ready to be much more stringent next near and the ones who will pass are already starting to protest. Universities also said that they would take that exam (the one last year) with less interest - despite having people who worked hard. Another thing is that the marks were supposed to be weighted by the final exam, so pupils were planning accordingly. Finally no more weight and the plans fell short. Anyway, it is a mass and will be for a few more years probably.

noir_lord 6y ago

> cannot turn into all-knowing teachers in a day, this is very difficult. This is a key point, many parents simply can't teach material say 10 up because it's been 20-30 years since they did that material or they are not academically minded in the first place. My partner and I have split it between us as much as we can, I take the math, science and history, she takes English and the other subjects - that mostly works but that's because I am as many of us on here are a geek. I don't know that many of my friends would understand well enough to teach their kids.

BrandoElFollito 6y ago
I used to be a scientist, I have a PhD in physics. It did not help me much in life except now, when I realize how easy it is for me to teach my children science (I loved to teach in academia). I have no fear of not being able to answer their questions about math or physics, or about science in general. I am very, very lucky with this - some friends called me during the school lockdown to help them because they were completely overwhelmed. As you said their last contact with some of the topics was 30 years ago and they left them behind with relief. I also love history, so I had patrince to check what they learned in history. Geography was much harder :) My older son (high school) told me once that he cannot imagine how pupils that do not have really well educated parents can manage in this situation here everyone is basically on their own to learn.
- noir_lord 6y ago
  In the case of my step-son I've also been stressing that you can teach yourself many of these things - not just giving him the answer but the tools to find the answer for himself. This has gotten him into space and half his non-school related youtube use has been to watch documentaries on space topics - I think learning that you can teach yourself is a crucial lesson that modern schools don't typically emphasise enough - our daily walks have gone from discussions about fortnite to discussions about exo-planets and what their surfaces might be like through to neutron stars and black holes - I'm incredibly proud of his progress, I knew he was bright (he kills it at maths) but I hadn't really realised how bright until I had to teach him. Next weekend I think we'll watch Interstellar since it covers many of the things he's been asking about and the visuals are engaging enough to hold the attention of a 10yo.
  - BrandoElFollito 6y ago
    Whoa, 10 yo and interested in exoplanets! Great boy and good job for supporting him. I watched with my children (the youngest one must have been around the age of yours) the movie Apollo 13 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13_(film)). I fast forwarded the first 1/3rd of the movie (the introduction and romantic part that was really boring IMHO) and started when the preparation actually started. They loved it, and I loved it too - mostly for the extraordinary capacities of these people to calculate/engineer such solutions on the fly in 1970. This is the second time I was watching it and was biting my nails up to the elbow again :) He could be interested, especially if you pause from time to time to explain what is going on.

908B64B197 6y ago

> When our president announced that schools were closed, you could hear a huge yell in all households (including mine) and I let the children celebrate a day or two. I love France. > This also goes the other way round. Last year "end of high-school exam" (baccalauréat) is said to have been given for free. This is not fair to other years, and the pupils that got it may be seen as "the nes that got it for free, so they are nto as good as the others". Does it really matter? If it's used to judge peers all mostly from the same year it doesn't matter too much one year was an outlier.

BrandoElFollito 6y ago
> Does it really matter? If it's used to judge peers all mostly from the same year it doesn't matter too much one year was an outlier. Right before COVID France went though a complete reorganization of the final high school exam. It was a mess when it was announced, and then an uber-mess when everything was changed. It was supposed to be a year of "testing" but it ended up being a year of free diploma. Teachers are ready to be much more stringent next near and the ones who will pass are already starting to protest. Universities also said that they would take that exam (the one last year) with less interest - despite having people who worked hard. Another thing is that the marks were supposed to be weighted by the final exam, so pupils were planning accordingly. Finally no more weight and the plans fell short. Anyway, it is a mass and will be for a few more years probably.