Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Some Good, Old Fashioned Edumacation!

     The Belgian educational experience is definitely different than the one I grew up with in the US, for a few reasons. So here are some comparisons and contrasts:

-In the US, there are (usually) 3 tiers of education before you go to college. (Elementary School, Middle   School/Junior High, High School) In Belgium, there are 2. (Primary, which is ages 5-12, and Secondary, ages  12-18)

--(From here on out all of my points are in refering to secondary education in Belgium, as I have rather limited knowledge on primary)--

-Whereas in the US the teacher will generally remain in the same classroom throughout the day, with the students changing rooms instead, Both the students and teachers change classrooms here on a regular basis.
-Here schedules are arranged in more of a college format, rather than the "typical" (for me, atleast) same classes every other day or same classes every day.
-All classes here are full year, and the year is split into trimesters. (Sep. 1-Dec. 23, Jan. 9-Mar., Mar-Jun. 30)
-Only a few select classrooms here will have a computer or clock. No classrooms have phones. All grading and role-taking is done by hand
-You will rarely have a textbook for your classes. The only exception I know of is History, where you recieved a book with documents, maps, and so forth. Also, you will typically have a workbook for a language class.
-Education is very serious here. Students will pretty much always write in their planners, have all the supplies that they need, and have there homework done.
-Virtually every school in the country is linked with the Catholic faith. (I go to the Institute of St. Joseph) There are crucifixes in every room and virtually all students have a Religion course.
-(This also applies to society in general) Students dress more nicely here. You will never see a student arrive to school in there pajama pants, as is commonplace in the US. The casual dress here is closer to what we would consider formal.
-School is from 830-430 on Mon, Tue, Thur, and Fri, and from 830-12 on Wed.
-Students have an hour for lunch. (Quite long for me considering I typically have freetime during my 30 minute lunch in the US)
-Students have a little bit of say over their courses, but not nearly as much as in the US. Here you can choose different specialities (like Math, Language, or even Art if you go to a large school), but outside of that there isn't much wiggle room.
-Every student has a class of other students which they will have most of their courses with, save for some of the specialty courses.
-In most schools you will not find courses such as Cooking or Art, save for the first year. You will also never find a school sports team or a school music group.
-Instead of a Letter grading system, your grade here is a certain number out of twenty. (Ex: Mathematiques 14/20)
-Math and Science courses are a mix of the things we learn in seperate years in the US. (Geometry, Algebra, and Trigonometry/Calculus; Biology, Chemistry, Physics)
-In a language class here, you can expect to learn as much in 1 semester as an American student will learn in 2 years.
-There are no Honors/AP/IB courses, but the courses in general are more difficult.
-Gym is a required course for all the students.
-Parent/School communication is of major importance here. Whenever you take a test your parents have to sign saying they got the score, and they have to sign for a slew of other communications as well.

So that ended up being alot of contrasts with no likeness'. Oh well. There is the Belgian education in contast with the American one! I will hopefully be back later this week with an update on my life! Tantôt! (Later!)

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