My son Sam just completed a music video for his IB Film Studies class. He invites his audience to consider all the academic and co-curricular work students put into applying to our top US universities. I told Sam that a documentary covers this (i.e., Race to Nowhere), so he felt validated in his effort. We also spoke about expanding his video to cover the even greater academic pressures found in many other countries. The Washington Post recently ran articles on the after-school tutoring market in Korea and Hong Kong. During our years in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and in our travels, we met many young adults teaching in the English tutoring business who spoke of the overwhelming workloads that their students experienced.
I picked up today’s Washington Post to find an opinion piece on this topic written by the owner of a Hong Kong test prep tutoring service. It is a timely article as the world academic rankings were just published. The article “China’s Academic Obsession with Testing” is a worthwhile read as the author explains how her students’ lives are so managed, controlled, and focused on taking tests that they are not learning the fundamental skills needed to succeed.
This is old news that has been thoroughly covered in the blogosphere as we work to shift our schools to what we call the “21st-century skills” model. It is helpful to hear in the mainstream press from someone in the test preparation business to say how misguided so many nations and families are. One topic that the author doesn’t cover, though, is that even if tutors were able to help develop the skills of collaboration, communication, problem-solving, etc. that they are still taking away from the everyday learning that takes place after school when students socialize, participate in activities of their choice, have jobs and learn to manage their own lives.
Oh yes, definitely look to take three minutes to watch Sam’s video. 🙂