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I believe we are talking about "education" and not merely international schools vs local schools
My personal believe is that, education is a process and education is a basket of many ingredients. If a school can provide what one parent want, then it is a good school in the eyes of this parent. And because everyone expects differently from a school, there is no single school that can be qualified as "the best school" that makes everyone happy.
I chose an international primary school many years ago because I was only able to get what I wanted in international primary schools.
I believe that children should be inspired to learn on their own and should have the skills to learn on their own. Learning is a life long process and is not limited to those who are still in school. There is unlimited knowledge or information out there. If one has the skills to learn on his own, and he loves to learn, then basically he can acquire unlimited knowledge.
Unfortunately, it appeared to me back then (and it seems to still be the case) that local primary school education do not appreciate or encourage the curiosity of young people's mind. Their main focus in local Hong Kong style primary school education is the structured and rigid syllabus. Students are asked to study for what is inside the textbook or what is within the syllabus. Lots of time and effort has to be put in preparing for the tests and exams, because there are so many tests. In fact, most of the school hours are wasted to write the tests. The main pointer of whether you are a good student is the score you get. When you get 100 marks in tests or exams, you are a good students. If you ask too much questions or even challenge the teacher, you are a trouble maker. Things are so clear cut and students are so easily categorised to be either "good" or "bad".
Local primary education teaches children a predetermined "syllabus" of knowledge.
International schools primary education teaches children the skills to be learners.
In an international primary school, children are encouraged to be curious about everything. Teachers do not mind being asked about something that they themselves do not really know. Everyone is a learner, including teachers and parents.
Children get the skills they need to be learners. They learn to read so they can read any books they love, or any books that can provide answers to their curious minds. They learn how to search for answers, by looking for information in the relevant books in the library, by researching on the internet, by asking people around for answers, etc. They learn how to extract the information they need from amongst all the information they got. They learn how to present what they have learnt, as a written work, a drawing, a drama. They learn the basic math skills relatively slower, because they are expected to understand what they are doing, instead of being trained to be a walking calculators. Et cetera.
All these skills learnt would form the strong base for what they are going to encounter in secondary school, university, and beyond.
Of course, the above are my own views. What I think is good is probably not good in other people's eyes. I am sure a lot of local schools are really "good schools" according to many other people's needs. |
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