Paradigm Shift

"We are here to add what we can to life, not to get what we can from life."

Sir William Osler,
physician and teacher

How Serious Are Korean Parents About Education

The following article gives a glimpse of how much Korean parents are willing to invest, and how much they are willing to sacrifice to ensure the best possible educational opportunities for their children.

Koreans' education spending defies downturn

The challenge for educators is to help parents, and not just Korean parents, to understand that education is more than just learning to speak English or just memorizing a list of facts. There are many facets to education and it is vital that we help students to develop in all areas: academic, physical, emotional, and spiritual. One should not be given priority over another because this will create an imbalance, and this imbalance may lead to destructive habits that can be very hard to break. Adding too much water to the soup can create a broth that contains very little nutritional value.

The school/home partnership is imperative in helping students to maintain a balanced lifestyle; one where they study hard, but they also take time out to participate in sports and play, as well as having opportunities to develop their EQ (emotional quotient) and their spiritual being. Leading a balanced lifestyle as a child/adolescent will lead to a balanced adult who is ready for life's challenges in the 21st century.

We're Off and Running

It certainly has been an action packed first two days. We have had a welcoming assembly for our MS students, we have gone through policies and procedures in the student planner, we have distributed locks and lockers, we have helped students to decipher their individual schedules, and we have held tech boot camp sessions for all MS students. The students certainly know that they are back at school.

In amongst all this I have had the opportunity to observe teachers taking the time to build relationships with students. This has happened in a variety of ways: ice breaker activities, sharing personal information and stories, group activities, and lots of faculty/student interactions as we pause to help each other find our way.

The teachers have been very open in sharing their stories with the students which has really helped the students to see that our teachers do have a human side; one that genuinely cares for the students and wants them to do their best. This is a great way to begin our and to ensure that our students feel valued, respected, and cared for. Establishing these relationships from the very beginning creates an atmosphere that is conducive to learning and ensures the development of the whole child.

What's it all about?

This coming academic year will be the second year that the GSIS MS has existed as its own division within GSIS, and the fourth year that GSIS has been serving students in Suwon. This is a great time for us to begin collecting and analyzing data that will assist us in our process of growth and improvement.

During the summer I enjoyed lots of quality reading time, both personal and professional, and I took this opportunity to study ASCD's Educational Leadership journal entitled, 'Data - Now What?' I was very interested in reading some research on how schools have been using data and what sorts of data is being collected. I believe that successful schools are more than just high test scores, however, educational data is offered referred to through this narrow lense.

I found it very refreshing to read Douglas B. Reeves's article, "Looking Deeper into the Data", at the end of which he states, "Similarly, student test-score data is only one piece of a complex puzzle. There are, after all, faces, names, and real lives behind the data." As I continued to read through and reflect on the articles in this journal there was a definite recurring theme, that gathering and analyzing data without asking why can actually be detrimental to the improvement process.

As we begin this year it is very important for us to remember that each day we are dealing with real people, real emotions, and real stories, all of which can impact test scores and other numbers that our data may show. We certainly need to make informed decisions based on the data, but we also need to ensure that we have investigated the stories, emotions, and the people behind the numbers so that we are using the whole picture to make these decisions. After all, the people are what it's all about.

Reference: Reeves, D. B. (2008) Looking Deeper Into the Data Educational Leadership, Vol 66, No 4, pp 89-90.