So far Eagle Academy appears to be working out pretty well for Dmitry,
at least academically. The kids receive "packs" for each subject,
which are multipage sets of questions (multiple choice,
fill-in-the-blank, etc.) covering a limited amount of
information. Once they have one pack completed, they take a test
over it; if they pass the test they move on to the next pack.
The kids study manageable chunks of information rather than whole
chapters at a time, hoping to remember whatever the teacher decides to
include on the test. Let's face it, most of the students are at
Eagle Academy because they have a hard time digesting large amounts of
information at once, such as traditional middle and high schools
require.
A graduate from Eagle Academy isn't going to get accepted to Harvard no matter how well they score on the TAKS test, but by jingo, they'll have the basic knowledge one hopes a high school graduate possesses.
[sighing] And
when it comes to Dmitry, that works for us. He's not a born
scholar, and there's no point trying to force him to act like one,
which ISTM most schools do. I was what could charitably be called
an indifferent student myself, and it still gripes me to think of all
the wasted years spent boning up on subjects I didn't care diddly squat
about then, and don't now. Can't recall 98% of the stuff; I
mostly remembered it just long enough to answer the questions on an
exam, then happily never bothered my head about it ever again.
If there's a point to why we do this to each other, it's escaping me.
I wonder if countries like Russia don't have a better way, since
students take exams when they're 14, and what type of schooling they
receive after that is determined by their scores. If they do
well, they continue to a school with the assumption they'll go to
university later. If they don't, they (I think I'm correct on
this, but could be wrong) can either stop right there or attend a
school with a limited curriculum.
Our education philosophy forces all children into the same mold, never
mind what their interests are, or what they're actually likely to wind
up doing.
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