Remember this is paid for up through post secondary.
There are paths back into other streams.
This system seems focused on education as a means for profit rather than education. This kind of focus on the material benefits of education results in a very mercenary view of the world.
Can say this for quite a few other countries with worse education outcomes.
I definitely agree that many countries’ approach to education creates mercenary thinking. I’m also saying that the education system presented in this article has that same kind of focus.
The article mentions Amelie who was told at 10 to join one track and as a result, spent the better part of a decade learning stuff she didn’t want to. I don’t doubt that she learned some stuff she found interesting and some stuff that makes for a well rounded person, but she was told to go looking in a certain direction by adults who judged her aptitude for labor at the age of 10.
I’m glad the system caught her and she eventually found a field she is interested in, but I would argue that the classification and systemic narrowing of education did Amelie more harm than good. Those textile and blacksmithing classes that Amelie was exposed to are an awesome opportunity for a student interested in those fields, but that really should be up to the student. They should be free to take those kinds of vocational training classes alongside more traditionally academic classes.
ÇSo did I, and we don’t have these tracks here. That’s just a reality of standardised education, you can’t serve the interests of everyone at the same time.
It’s a shame she didn’t have access to do what she wanted immediately, but she did have access eventually. That’s not harm.
You can try and make a plan to give every child what they want as soon as they want it, if you design a program like that and it has better outcomes I’m sure it would be implemented somewhere.
Despite what she describes as a turbulent journey through school, Amelie believes that without the flexibility to change path along the way she might have dropped out altogether.
Now aged 20, she hopes to pursue a career in education and is currently training to become a teaching assistant at a vocational college in The Hague, ROC Mondriaan.
Remember this is paid for up through post secondary.
There are paths back into other streams.
Can say this for quite a few other countries with worse education outcomes.
I definitely agree that many countries’ approach to education creates mercenary thinking. I’m also saying that the education system presented in this article has that same kind of focus.
The article mentions Amelie who was told at 10 to join one track and as a result, spent the better part of a decade learning stuff she didn’t want to. I don’t doubt that she learned some stuff she found interesting and some stuff that makes for a well rounded person, but she was told to go looking in a certain direction by adults who judged her aptitude for labor at the age of 10.
I’m glad the system caught her and she eventually found a field she is interested in, but I would argue that the classification and systemic narrowing of education did Amelie more harm than good. Those textile and blacksmithing classes that Amelie was exposed to are an awesome opportunity for a student interested in those fields, but that really should be up to the student. They should be free to take those kinds of vocational training classes alongside more traditionally academic classes.
ÇSo did I, and we don’t have these tracks here. That’s just a reality of standardised education, you can’t serve the interests of everyone at the same time.
It’s a shame she didn’t have access to do what she wanted immediately, but she did have access eventually. That’s not harm.
You can try and make a plan to give every child what they want as soon as they want it, if you design a program like that and it has better outcomes I’m sure it would be implemented somewhere.