The role of school education and the ways of its improving according to the World experience.
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School education obviously is one of the most important time in life of any person. From school we learn sciences, learn sports and culture. But what is most important we learn from it to be a human, to know what is good and bad, to differentiate between what we have to do and what we want.
However no perfect school educational system exists, each system has its own straights and weaknesses. Many post-USSR people agree that Soviet school educational system was one of the best in the World, and many schools in CIS are still using those methods. But now new teachers replace old ones, and system is changing. New reforms of government, passage from 11 years education to 12 years school education, initiation of common national test (”ЕНТ”). But are we going right way, just by increasing the period of education and testing the knowledge?
Japanese miracle
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School education should always go up to date, it should tune under each new generation, but without loosing its primary purpose of upbringing a literate and fair man. In that purpose Kazakhstan can refer to Japanese practice. One of the most developed county in the world liable with its success to its own educational system. Kazakhstan has a lot to learn from the land of the rising sun. President of Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev during his last visit in Japan said: «During globalization for preservation of our property we should consider many things. Thereupon, for example, it is necessary to follow an example Japanese people who get dressed in a kimono, visit temples and thus create the newest innovations in the field of high technologies. In other words, self-stay preservation at all does not mean preservation».
In Japan education is traditionally more ethical neither scientific. The main purpose of school is to up-bring a literate person with healthy life interest and widespread knowledge. This aims of school education are constant since 1879 when a decree of emperor Meiji “The great principals of education” was proclaimed.
First of all the aim of school is to up-bring a child who will deeply realize himself as a man. Second, upbringing a child who will carry, create and develop a culture. Third aim is bringing up a child who will realize himself as a citizen of his fatherland. And forth, upbringing a moral, healthy, sporty and active man. Those aims can be perfectly used in every country of the world.
Sound mind in a Sound body
From the elementary school to high school more than 50% of all lessons are those which form the emotional part of person. The lessons like home-keeping, cooking, ecology, natural science, volunteering (caring for retired, cleaning) and other humanitarian classes. Also a special attention is given to a physical conditions of pupils. From the elementary school they are taught to acclimatization training. Japanese think that every child should stably stand cold and heat. Also kids are toughed to cleanliness in everything, in body, teeth, clothes and environment.
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Here we can add that Japanese people are the most long living nation in the world. And Kazakhs living less than Japanese for approximately 20 years.
During school breaks and on some lessons kids are playing many sport games, like touch, jumping rope, relay race. And teachers play those games too. In Japan teacher if one of the most respected profession. Teacher is always a symbol of morality and fairness, a friend and tutor in one face, a role model. That is why every Japanese very respectfully says “sensei” (teacher).
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Everyday the lessons in Japanese school starts with daily physical exercises, then pupils take a shower and come back to classes. During the lesson pupils actively take a part in discussions. And teacher will never raise a voice on them, even if pupils are wrong, this is an another tradition. On the tests the teacher doesn’t put any corrections except the result. Pupils must themselves find and correct their mistakes, because in this way they will more likely learn the material.
Often on lesson presents the parents, this is normal practice in Japan. At least three times in a year the school organizes the parents day. By the way, the research of New Hampshire University showed that child whose parents take a part in their education are studying better than other child.
On the big lunch break pupils are eating and cleaning school. Every pupil of school is taking a part is it. And once in month the general cleaning is organized in school where pupils are cleaning the windows. Those actions helps to up-bring a child who knows and appreciates the collective work, who loves cleanliness and who will never throw a trash on earth. Also cleaning school by pupils helps to save some budget, which could be used on other actions. In numbers this is about 30.000 tenge saved on cleaner payment.
The Japanese school educational system successfully exist for about 130 years, and we have a lot to learn from them to brightly look in future.
Open Source
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Open source movement gains momentum every year. More computer grammar people starting to use free open source products, because they are free, they have free license and they almost same as payed licensed programs. However the majority of people who use computers still don’t know what open source is, they even don’t know that there exists any other operational system except “Windows”.
And even among people who have heard about open source some say that they don’t want their child to work on free software. They think that open source product is something downscale, because it is free. So happened that in Kazakhstan open source is not popular. Many thinks that it is too difficult even without trying. It is important not to think that open source is something marginal and downscale.
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In many countries the government tried to implement open source in schools. Somewhere project was successful, somewhere not. On international exhibition “InfoCom 2008″ assistant of director of the center of IT researches and examination of academy of national economy of the Government of the Russian Federation Yevgenia Serbina said “However, the success in those cases was depended on education of teachers of knowledge of open source products, because if teacher doesn’t know the subject what can pupils expect from him?” And she stated her conclusion on table below.
School migration projects
| Country |
Mexico |
Estremadura
Spain
|
Bolzano
Italy
|
Volgograd
Russia
|
Jiangsu
China
|
| Years |
1998-2001 |
1998-present days |
2004-present days |
2004-2005 |
2005 |
| Aims |
Economy of budget |
Economy of budget
Overcoming of digital inequality
Development of IT industry
|
Economy of budget
Localization of OS
Technological independence |
Purchase of school computers |
Economy of budget
Increase of level of technocal experience
Development of IT industry
|
| Scale |
4500 schools |
40.000 computers |
72 schools |
150 schools |
140.000 computers |
| Education of teachers |
NO |
YES |
YES |
NO |
NO |
| Result |
Fail |
Success |
Success |
Fail |
Fail ? |
The other problem of open source wide-spreading is backwards migration. It is a process when people come back to payed license programs or even pirate license programs from open source programs, because of it seeming difficulty. But in perspective the open source have a good future. The open source products are free, and the price of recently used payed programs like Antivirus Kaspersky, Windows XP or Vista, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Office is equal or even more than price of powerful computer.
In Russia the attempts of implementing open source products have already started. “Till the end of 2009 on all schools’ computers will be installed the open source operating system” said Russian Minister of Communications Igor Shegolev on international exhibition “InfoCom 2008″.
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Some open source operational systems are specially made for educational institutions. They have special educational programs for math, chemistry, geography and other subjects. The most popular freely available educational system is Linux based “Edunubtu”. The promise of “Edubuntu” developers is that it always will be free, it will continue to develop and release new version every six month.
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Each year the school should pay for using the payed license products about 3500 tenge for one computer. Counting that one school have approximately at least 10 computers it is 35.000 tenge in one year from one school. In 2008-2009 study year functioning 7721 schools. It is about 2.702.235.000 tenge. And those money could go on pensions increase, help to invalids and other social needs. Or those money could go on increase of teachers salary. In Kazakhstan schools works near 300.000 teachers, and for them it could be an increase of salary by 9000 tenge.
In Japan schools on computers installed only open source operating system “Linux”, also the Germany, Australia, The Republic of South Africa , Brasilia, Nederlands, Sweden, China and other countries do so. Open source products in some ways are even better that their payed analogs and they allows to save budget money.
Duty
The school is one of the most important experience what we get in our life. We learn there, we grow up there, we change there. And the duty of school teacher is to help us morally, mentally and physically grow up and become a literate person who has a strong life basis. And the duty of government is to help teachers to be “sensei”.
References
Агентстве Республики Казахстан по статистике
http://www.stat.kz
Японское чудо
http://www.neonomad.kz/neonomadika/kultura/index.php?ELEMENT_ID=3454
До конца 2009 г. свободное ПО внедрят во всех российских школах
22.10.08, Ср, 17:10, Мск
http://cnews.ru/news/line/index.shtml?2008/10/22/324234
8-ая Международная Выставка-Форум “ИнфоКом 2008″
http://infocomtech.ru
Евгения Сербина рассуждает на тему свободного ПО
http://tyomma.ru/serbina-riw-2008/
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