Every year the Rhodes Trust awards 82 scholarships and 32 of those goes to Americans. The Rhodes scholarship is a prestigious one that it screens highly qualified applicants that attains exemplary scholastic achievements.

The highly competitive curriculum that most boarding schools offer is the key factor that contributes to the high percentage of scholarships granted to students who had prepared for college through boarding school education. Boarding schools promote an exclusive environment that caters to mold an individual to be ready for college life. With its highly demanding academic curriculum to its highly qualified professors who take part in the learning of students and the overall feel of independency of living away from home and making it on your own has greatly influenced boarding school graduates to their advantage. With this more parents are feeling that they have made the right decision in investing in a boarding school education even with its high price tag.

An important factor to consider as one of the qualification of the Rhodes scholarship is its requirement that an applicant should be truthful, courageous and has a moral force of character that is potential for leading his or her fellow students. Most boarding schools are equipped with the necessary trainings and workshops on instilling camaraderie, leadership and moral responsibility in its students. Aside from teaching academics they are immersed into the values of being responsible, independent, and reliable in their various extracurricular activities.

A graduate from The Hill School in Pennsylvania, who is a recipient of the 2010 Rhodes scholarship, attested that he owes much of what he has to his boarding school experience. Not only did it prepared him for the vast academic curriculum he will be facing in college but rather more of a preparation into the person he needs to become to survive college. The ability to be able to interact closely and work together with colleagues, teachers, staff and administrators and be able to adapt to different cultures, beliefs and values of everyone else without sacrificing individuality is the best lesson in life.

What is most concerning is that the professionals leaving France are included the best among the best in their fields. Most of them studied in the finest and prestigious schools and universities in France. Biologists, economists and scientists are found to obtain their masters and doctorate studies in US and never came back. When asked why they leave France to pursue their professional career in the US, most of them answered that they are motivated by the American system of education wherein there are larger universities boasting of richer and flexible curriculum and a wide range of specialization. Scientists are attracted to the United States’ concept of being competitive in the scientific approach and in research which the French are less focused on.

France’s educational system still lacks the richness and intensive approach to quality standards that compared of the US. The French government does not allocate enough funds to nurture the educational demands of both teachers and students thus preventing their local’s talents to proliferate and develop. This brings a barrier to their full potential as successful individuals in their own chosen fields of study. Additionally French professors who work in the US are paid more than what they get when they teach in France.

The window of opportunity has opened for French teacher at the start of the US – France Teachers in Training Exchange Program wherein American teachers are exchanged with French teachers to teach in poor communities. Teachers are given seminars of the each country’s culture, history and society and these teachers in turn impart this knowledge to their students. French students learn American language, culture and history through the American exchange teachers. This program enables learning of different cultures and promotes healthy social development between students from two different countries.

This program is implemented and supported by the ECA, the Fulbright Commission and the French Ministry of Education. With a funding of around $350,000 the program aims to enrich teachers of both country into teaching and learning about each others culture, people and history.

According to Higher Education in the Unites States – An Encyclopedia, a college or university education, also known as tertiary education, is chiefly designed to develop the technical skills of the student in preparation for the professional or working life, with the hope that it is in line with the degree earned.

Colleges and universities offer comprehensive body of knowledge from many disciplines. These can be acquired by taking up degree or non-degree courses. Degree courses entail a longer period of studying. These courses are mostly concentrated on theories in their contents and instructions.

Theories and different schools of thoughts included in their respective curriculums are taught to ensure the knowledge and the skills necessary in the real practice of the field are acquired.

On the other hand, non-degree courses mostly involve a shorter period of studying. These include direct teaching of practical and actual trainings from vocational and technical courses.
Actual trainings and on-the-job applications of theories are usually performed under these types of courses. The schools that offer these courses are equipped with the real tools and machineries the students are most likely to utilize in the real job scenario.

Not all colleges and universities offer these courses. Actually, colleges have more specific types of degrees offered while universities have broader and wider choices of courses.

Vocational courses are exclusively offered by vocational and technical schools. However, these schools may also be part of a university. College, on the other hand, is specific in its category of courses offered such as College of Law or College of Medicine, such as the American College of Physicians. It is immediately implicated that the courses offered are related to medicine or law only.

As defined in the New World encyclopedia, a university consists of different schools or colleges. A university may have school of arts and sciences, college of education, or school of business. Thus, the university offers more courses while a college has a particular category or group of disciplines offered.

In realizing one’s dreams and aspirations, it is critical that the person has a specific path chosen to achieve such goals. These paths are through training and education. Without this, the person can only rely on either just instinct or trial and error methods. These methods are not only ineffective and unscientific; they are also costly and may prove harmful to one’s future. Therefore, it is imperative that every person decides on which type of course to enroll from a specific college or university that he or she considers as the one that can provide the necessary tools in achieving their dream.

In a traditional setting active learning may bring some resistance to students who are used to just listen to their teachers. But with this kind of teaching method a student with a limited attention span will soon become bored and when this takes place learning is halted. Research shows that active learning is better than traditional way of teaching. It is best to explain the objectives before doing the exercises that initiates active learning to lower resistance and achieve best results. Active learning can be done in different settings-inside the classroom or outside and is applicable to all levels of students whether in primary or graduate school. Here are some examples of active learning techniques.

1. Think-Pair-Share activity. Students take some time to ponder on the previous lesson to be discussed later among one or two peers and lastly to share it in class. An overview of the topic should be given to the students so that they can somehow discuss it among themselves them misconceptions can be corrected when they discuss it in front of the class. This exercise is helpful to learners to determine and relate what they already know to others. A good preparation with detailed instructions is the key in making the discussion among their group fruitful and substantial.
2. Games. Crossword puzzles can be incorporated in review tests in order to check on understanding from lectures and lessons. It can be a group activity or individual review exam types.
3. Student debates. It can be formal or informal in nature. This gives the students an opportunity to take a stand on what they believe in, fostering analytical thinking and developing verbal communication skills when raising arguments towards the opposing parties. This builds confidence in a student.
4. Concept Mapping. Students will create visual graphs and representations of models, ideas and concepts and show their relationship with each other. This can be done as a group or individually. The student explains their model in front of the class and demonstrated the relationship of their model to other concepts and ideas.
5. Reaction to video. Watching a video clip is enjoyable for students to break the monotonous teacher lectures. This also enhances their visual creativity by seeing visual resources of the topics being studied at hand. It will be best to ask questions before showing the video presentation to give them an outline of things to look out for as they watch the video.

The reliability of standardized tests can be 100% reliable if the results are the same when taken twice. But for all tests there is what we call a measurement error. A measurement error is the variation of an individual’s score due to different testing conditions or the taker’s mental or overall state at the time the test was taken. Because of measurement error two individuals with different scores on a test today might get the same scores on the test given the following day.

Standardized tests cannot really measure difference between two individuals as they rarely cover different factors of an individual’s intellect furthermore a student’s overall academic excellence is not brought by just excellence in cognitive ability rather it is a combination of cognitive, analytical, creativity and skills. Students learn when they can actively extract meaning out of their actions then connecting this knowledge to something that they are trying to learn. Most standardized tests only concentrate on narrow skills and memorization on facts.

Listed below are the most common standardized achievement tests administered to students today.

Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)

A standardized test for college applicants published by the College Board, a non-profit organization in the United States is one of the most common tests high school students are preparing for.

American College Testing (ACT)

Is a standardized test for college admissions to screen applicants for higher education in the US produced by the ACT Inc. It is a multiple choice examinations covering subject areas in English, Math, Reading Comprehension and Science.

Standardized testing is faced with a lot of loop holes in fairly evaluating our student’s academic performance. A much better way to evaluate student achievement should be done by integrating teacher observation, student work and performance assessment. In these factors a student’s overall hard work is evaluated fairly. This is a good reference for companies that offer standardized tests so they can progress from the ancient testing method that we use today.

1. Logical – Children categorized with logical learning styles are mathematically inclined. They like solving math equations and enjoy working anything that involves numbers. They are particularly interested in how things work, how they came about and their reason for being. They are straightforward and very bright. In teaching students with a logical learning style one needs to be patient to answer their series of questions as they are very inquisitive. Teaching styles can involve the use of graphs and model objects to show the relationship and correlation of subjects will enhance their learning.
2. Linguistic – These children enjoys reading, writing and story telling. They have strong memory and can easily recall things told to them. Best way to teach these students is to encourage creativity by cultivating their interest in things that they see, hear and read. They will excel in competitions and creative writing.
3. Spatial – These kids are more of the visual kind. They like watching movies and day dreaming. They express themselves best in drawing pictures than by talking. They are very artistic but most of the time they have difficulty expressing it which is why you will need to promote creativity in extracting their ideas and opinions.
4. Musical – Kids who enjoy listening to music, playing instruments or singing are characterized by this group. Musical learners have great attention to details. They can transform abstract to a more concrete model. For a teaching style adept to these students the teacher can probably ask them to incorporate lessons in a song or rap them out. By encouraging their love of music you can tap into their skills and abilities.
5. Interpersonal – Students with interpersonal learning styles are often found in the company of friends. They can adapt easily into any situation as they have the qualities of understanding, patience and empathy. If taught well and guided properly students with an interpersonal learning style can become a great leader. The work well with a team and most likely become the leaders of such team or group.
6. Intrapersonal – These students like to work alone. Being independent is their main trait and by this they tend to be original and most of the time unique from everyone else. Try to integrate them into a group to facilitate collective learning and facilitate group participation.

For teachers these are challenging times like when Mrs. Kaufman, a teacher of 17 years at Seth Low Intermediate School in Brooklyn, learns first hand how to mediate between fist fights and cajole students whose self esteem has been dumped low by bullying or humiliation from other students. It takes a lot of courage and strength to be strong to withstand ridicule, pranks and other humiliating acts by middle school students on a daily basis. Unfortunately some teachers cannot bear the challenge and give up easily.

A significant rise in teacher attrition is happening in middle schools in the city. The main causes are student’s impulsive behavior, unpredictable bouts of anger and violence and poor academic performance.

Researchers in Philadelphia learned that 34.2 percent of newly hire middle school teachers quit after their first year. Most teachers who quit are highly qualified teachers on an academic level. They match the job description for teaching the middle school curriculum but they often lack the training in class management and adolescent psychology.

In an attempt to give middle school teachers an edge to handle the most difficult of students the New York State offers certification that focuses primarily on how to teach young adolescents effectively. Knowing techniques on how to adapt to them psychologically will help teachers to integrate teaching styles fit for their needs.

New teachers who are part of the program, Teach for America, are the common new recruits for middle school teaching. While most of them leave after their 2 years contract, a handful will stay and will be toughen by the experience. Most of them share that showing a stern face and strict implementation of the rules are less likely to work in middle school students. Instead if you will reach out and level with them they will begin to open up to you. But it usually a long painstaking process to make this achievable your patience will be tested and your emotions push over to the brink. Part of becoming a teacher for middle school is the ability to withstand cruel jokes, offensive remarks and spontaneous fits of anger.

At Ashmount Primary School in North London, student log on to the Internet and start their Math classes in different way than most traditional schools do. They learn math from their math professors all across the globe in India. Ashmount School is one of the few state schools in Europe that outsources teachers from other countries, mainly in India, through the BrightSpark Education.

BrightSpark Education trains professors in India to teach Math to their students online. They offer quality teaching as the London based company is the one who trains these Indian professors to teach online. The advantage of learning online is that the kid feels confident and in control of how he learns when he do it online. Studies have shown that students who utilize online learning in math develop twice the rate in national tests.

BrightSpark math teachers follow standard lesson plans but they are free to use their own structured teaching style online. Students are more enthusiastic in learning online because it gives them the feeling of exclusive teacher and student learning session that builds trust and fosters open communication which can facilitate effective learning.

But not all agrees to the benefits of online teaching as some believes that outsourcing online teachers is a risky step since they cannot empathize well with the student because of cultural difference and communication barrier with the use of just a headphone and a webcam. For some teachers they just feel threatened that they may lose their jobs to foreign teachers who teach online with a lower salary.

Parents are taking it in a more positive way especially towards online tutoring for their kids. It gives them the option to supplement what their kids learn in school and they can choose among different tutors online based on their qualifications and price per hour. Everything is recorded and documented so parents can review the effectiveness of an online teacher’s style. It will also give their child a peek into the window of the world exposing them to different cultures and values of other nations without leaving home.

Online teaching has its advantages and disadvantages but by trying it out both parents and students can experience the opportunity to see whether it will work for them or not. Whichever way it goes, it is still an opportunity that a student will definitely enjoy.

Character education supports the emotional, social and ethical development of students. It is initiated by the state in cooperation with schools, districts and educators to promote important values to students at an early age. Character education also known as civic education teaches students to be the best they are which can facilitate a positive behavior towards learning.

School is not just aimed for academic excellence it also gives importance to character development above all. Students that will potentially become leaders of nations and innovators of change will need to be grounded with the right values to be able to be successful individuals with dignity and honor.

The goal of delivering character education to students materialized into the creation of the Student Citizenship Act of 2001. In this legislation, it requires all local education agencies (LEAs) to teach character education to its students. The Student Citizenship Act of 2001 lists twelve traits to incorporate in teaching character education. These are good judgment, courage, kindness, integrity, respect, perseverance, responsibility, respect, self discipline, good citizenship, accountability for school safety, service to others and respect for school personnel.

Character education is essential to be integrated in children’s studies as they spend most of their time in school. Schools and other educational institutions should have the initiative to help promote students to become caring, and respectful to their peers, teachers and other school personnel. This will prevent the prevalence of school violence and troubled students. The emotional, social and moral development of an individual is equally important in education because this serves as the foundation for academic achievement.

Schools that implement character education such as CEP’s National Schools of Character show improved behavior, better social interaction, and increased academic performance. Various researches have been conducted to study the effects of character education in the academic performance of students and it reveals a significant results. The Oregon State University researchers discovered that the Positive Action program, teaching social and emotional skills plus character development to primary school students, improves test scores by as much as 10%. Other relevant key points showed marked improvement on state reading and math examinations. Student suspensions dropped by 70% and there were less absenteeism.

Character education does not have to be a class on its own rather it should be infused in every class. Methods of teaching character education are available for teachers and educators to utilize and implement with the school’s curriculum. Developing effective character education also needs an active participation from parents and student’s families. Character development is the primary responsibility of parents and by taking a step towards character education we are greatly helping them out. Any adult in the school can teach character education, not just teachers and professors. School personnel like bus drivers, cafeteria vendors and counselors can have a chance to teach good moral character by means of setting a good example.

Some blame the outrageous loads of home works given to students. The argument is that the students are overburdened with academic demands that are questionable of value. As a result, students become indifferent to studies due to exhaustion and stress. There is probably small truth in this claim. However, recent studies have denied these suggestions.

The latest Pew Research Centre poll has produced unprecedented results. Academic achievement is going down not because of enormous pressure and stress. It was due to low expectations.

This claim was supported by Stanford University lecturer Denise Clark Pope, who has researched and written about the effects of stress on students. Her research was conducted in the comfortable San Francisco Bay Area communities which proved that the reason of poor level of knowledge is due to the lack of challenge in the school environment; and not on the heavy workload that are exposed to students.

Thus, the problem becomes apparent that low academic proficiency is due to the search for causes that are based on ’how much’, rather than ‘what’ are students are asked to do.

This leads to identification of different contributors to low learning proficiency such as incorrect approach to assessments, incoherent assessment tasks, teachers’ and parents’ indifference. This list is rather long, unfortunately.

1. Not Knowing The Purpose

The core reason why so many high school students are uninterested is because they do not understand their studying routine. The truth is, there is a huge number of teachers that do not even bother explaining to their students the expected outcomes of the learning are, the reasons why they need to achieve these outcomes, and the method in which they will be assessed.

Now, students read stacks of books and do hundreds of paperwork, without having any idea of the initial purpose of all these tasks. They accomplish by command, which results in lack of interest, reluctance, and initiative to study.

2. Incorrect Approaches in Assessment

Another contributing factor to the lag in knowledge proficiency is the incorrect approach used in the assessment process. As a matter of fact, assessment is often intended by teachers as punishment or traps for the students, to catch them out. Grades seem to exist in order to show the students where they made an error on, rather than to give students reasonable opportunities for displaying their achievements of specific learning goals.

Needless to say, instead of making the students feel excited about the assessment of their hard work, it creates a fearful attitude towards assessment. This tends to make the students focus on getting a “pass” grade rather than focusing on what was learned. Education becomes more concentrated on grades rather than knowledge.

3. Incoherent Assessment Tasks

It is alarming that the common practice of majority of the teachers is to set a lot of time-consuming and unrelated tasks that demands for a great deal of work to be accomplished in the shortest time period.

As a result, this approach makes students use surface approaches, which is trivial. This involves seizing all the facts and memorizing them, without necessarily understanding them, as best as they can just in order to pass.

4. Lack of Personal Approach to Students

Due to the large classes of more than 20 children, many students don’t receive due attention from their teacher. As a result, students don’t feel cared about, become indifferent to studies, and lose faith in a brighter future. This is a problem of a great deal amount of students.

5. Parents’ Attitude

Unfortunately, parents also contribute to the problem of low interest of students in their studies. Many of the parents’ thinking are set towards the “performance orientation” which emphasizes grades rather than if whether or not their kid was able to master the material. On top of that, most parents are reluctant to help their children with home works for the fear of being unable to supply them with the correct answer, thus leads to losing the child’s respect.

However, these fears are baseless. This simply misleads their children into thinking that not giving them a helping hand mean indifference to their work.

It’s clear that children are wrongly geared towards the quantity of knowledge rather than quality. Educating students should be about be about challenging and engaging them. If radical steps aren’t taken in the soonest possible time, the situation is expected to aggravate some more.