4 ms·

They are learning vocabulary and cramming other extremely "useful" stuff. In the process, they are wasting the best years of their youth, getting addicted to ca

by Rod 18y ago

They are learning vocabulary and cramming other extremely "useful" stuff. In the process, they are wasting the best years of their youth, getting addicted to caffeine, and losing any creativity they might still have left. Their parents should be sent to jail. This is no education, this is child abuse. They could try to adopt the fine things of other countries' educational systems, not the worst. Cram schools are intellectual concentration camps, nothing else. Poor kids.

tokenadult 18y ago
"Their parents should be sent to jail. This is no education, this is child abuse." Is that a troll or a seriously expressed opinion?
- DaniFong 18y ago
  I've heard a lot of this stuff on similar articles. It's hard to tell. Anyway, a lot of the people I know who went to Hunter seem fine, and I can't say the same about kids who went to more typical public schools, especially if they were nerdy, awkward, or queer.
- Rod 18y ago
  It was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but I am serious here. Please allow me to explain: I think it's great that parents care about their children's education, but a cramming school is potentially a soul-crushing experience. Instead of delegating their children's education to an obsolete "educational" system, parents should take a more active role. Maybe I am overreacting, but since I was brought up by hippie parents, I lived a childhood in which I could pursue my interests (be them LEGO, electronics, programming, or drawing) in absolute freedom. There was no pressure to get in the "big" schools, nor to take exams. The goal was learning and intellectual pursuit per se. Of course you are free to disagree, but I think cramming schools might be good for average kids with average drive and average creativity. I was a rather curious child, and my curiosity survived the "educational" system partly because I always had the freedom to pursue my intellectual interests free of interference.
  - tokenadult 18y ago
    After I asked you how serious you were, I looked up your recent comments. I see you and I see largely eye-to-eye on educational issues. I could tell you are not a current parent by your mentioning sending parents to jail--being a parent is HARD, and I don't second-guess most decisions by my fellow parents. Agreeing with you that opportunities for free exploration are important for children, I would simply point out that for some young people in New York City, getting into Hunter High School might allow more of those opportunities than staying in the default high school, and thus some learning English vocabulary by students who (as the article presents the situation) are in many cases first-generation immigrants who speak other languages at home might be time well spent. I'd let each family decide what is a good trade-off for their own children.
    - Rod 18y ago
      I am not a parent, and I do not advocate sending "parents to jail", of course. I realize now that I should have been more careful with the words I chose or, at least, indicate more clearly what I meant as a joke, and what I meant seriously. My mistake. Having said that, I would like to add that I went to high-school in Europe, so I don't know how bad or soul-crushing the default American high-school is. If it's like in the movies, then a cram school might not seem that bad an idea, after all. I read the NYTimes article, and it seems to me they're trying to "copy" a kind of school usually found in Asia. A friend of mine taught English in Japan for a few years, and his opinion on cram schools is very, very low. In particular, he witnessed that many students would simply burn out too young and lose any sort of curiosity and creativity they might have once had. I hope Hunter High School is not THAT kind of cram school. In the article, they mentioned that 11 year olds were skipping meals and drinking coffee to keep up with the demands, and I find that disturbing. First-generation immigrants would certainly find it useful to learn English vocabulary and the like, but what about the old-fashioned approach: here's a book, here's a dictionary. Read one, and check the words you don't know in the other. It worked for me. But then, many parents probably work long hours and simply lack the time to educate their children in a more old-fashioned way. Certainly, not all kids would be able to stay focused growing up and being educated in a rather unstructured environment as I did, but maybe there are other ways of creating learning opportunities for kids. A "hacker school" where kids would learn some programming, electronics and build some LEGO Mindstorms could be a great idea. Kids could chose projects they're genuinely interested in, and work with each other, thus developing social skills along the way. A sort of NYC Resistor version of Hunter HS. Would that be too irrealistic?

by Rod 18y ago

tokenadult 18y ago

"Their parents should be sent to jail. This is no education, this is child abuse." Is that a troll or a seriously expressed opinion?

DaniFong 18y ago
I've heard a lot of this stuff on similar articles. It's hard to tell. Anyway, a lot of the people I know who went to Hunter seem fine, and I can't say the same about kids who went to more typical public schools, especially if they were nerdy, awkward, or queer.
Rod 18y ago
It was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but I am serious here. Please allow me to explain: I think it's great that parents care about their children's education, but a cramming school is potentially a soul-crushing experience. Instead of delegating their children's education to an obsolete "educational" system, parents should take a more active role. Maybe I am overreacting, but since I was brought up by hippie parents, I lived a childhood in which I could pursue my interests (be them LEGO, electronics, programming, or drawing) in absolute freedom. There was no pressure to get in the "big" schools, nor to take exams. The goal was learning and intellectual pursuit per se. Of course you are free to disagree, but I think cramming schools might be good for average kids with average drive and average creativity. I was a rather curious child, and my curiosity survived the "educational" system partly because I always had the freedom to pursue my intellectual interests free of interference.
- tokenadult 18y ago
  After I asked you how serious you were, I looked up your recent comments. I see you and I see largely eye-to-eye on educational issues. I could tell you are not a current parent by your mentioning sending parents to jail--being a parent is HARD, and I don't second-guess most decisions by my fellow parents. Agreeing with you that opportunities for free exploration are important for children, I would simply point out that for some young people in New York City, getting into Hunter High School might allow more of those opportunities than staying in the default high school, and thus some learning English vocabulary by students who (as the article presents the situation) are in many cases first-generation immigrants who speak other languages at home might be time well spent. I'd let each family decide what is a good trade-off for their own children.
  - Rod 18y ago
    I am not a parent, and I do not advocate sending "parents to jail", of course. I realize now that I should have been more careful with the words I chose or, at least, indicate more clearly what I meant as a joke, and what I meant seriously. My mistake. Having said that, I would like to add that I went to high-school in Europe, so I don't know how bad or soul-crushing the default American high-school is. If it's like in the movies, then a cram school might not seem that bad an idea, after all. I read the NYTimes article, and it seems to me they're trying to "copy" a kind of school usually found in Asia. A friend of mine taught English in Japan for a few years, and his opinion on cram schools is very, very low. In particular, he witnessed that many students would simply burn out too young and lose any sort of curiosity and creativity they might have once had. I hope Hunter High School is not THAT kind of cram school. In the article, they mentioned that 11 year olds were skipping meals and drinking coffee to keep up with the demands, and I find that disturbing. First-generation immigrants would certainly find it useful to learn English vocabulary and the like, but what about the old-fashioned approach: here's a book, here's a dictionary. Read one, and check the words you don't know in the other. It worked for me. But then, many parents probably work long hours and simply lack the time to educate their children in a more old-fashioned way. Certainly, not all kids would be able to stay focused growing up and being educated in a rather unstructured environment as I did, but maybe there are other ways of creating learning opportunities for kids. A "hacker school" where kids would learn some programming, electronics and build some LEGO Mindstorms could be a great idea. Kids could chose projects they're genuinely interested in, and work with each other, thus developing social skills along the way. A sort of NYC Resistor version of Hunter HS. Would that be too irrealistic?