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Emily, my son is entering grade 8 next year with straight A's and grade 7 was his first school year outside of Ontario (fully public-school educated). Our school district here in the US is very highly rated.
Definitely do your homework on schools because there are ofcourse good and bad schools there, just as there are here, and I am sure in the Middle East, but don't assume that your son will get a weak education just because he is going to school in Canada.
I don't believe you will find an area of American concentration. What area of Toronto will you or your spouse be working? Are you willing to pay for private schooling?
We will soon be moving to Toronto and are undecided on the place to live. I would like to move to an area with American concentration - to feel at home. Could you please advice the place and the best school with American curriculum for my sophomore. You may reply to me privately if you wish at smithemily388@gmail.com. I would greatly appreciate your advice.
-Emily Smith-
American concentration in Toronto?As a new comer to the area you'd be hard pressed to discern the differences between a Canadian and an American in Toronto, is the term "American concentration" codespeak for a certain demographic?
As for the schooling? whats an American curriculum? More codespeak?
Not sure why you are relocating to Toronto but i get the feeling the city is never going to live up to your standards of Americanization, Wouldnt moving back to America be the better option?
As a parent one thing I find extremely concerning about putting my kids through the public education system is the power of the teachers' unions. I can't tell you how many people I have spoken with during my time at university and beyond who said their teachers were total slackers, had favorites and made it very clear who those were, refused to intervene when bullying occurred and actually participated in bullying against certain students, etc. My wife was called fat and told she would never graduate high school from her 4th grade teacher, and I've heard many other reports of kids being taunted by teachers. When parents speak up, they are told to put their kids in another school.
Now I went to many different schools in the US because we moved around so much. If the above example occurred at ANY of them, even the one that comes to mind that I would consider one of the worst, that teacher would instantly be severely reprimanded if not fired on the spot. Moreover, each example of bullying that was brought to the attention of school authorities was dealt with diligently and professionally.
Apparently things have gotten better here, and some schools have gotten tough on bullying. But what scares me is the lack of accountability for teachers (and administrators in fact) who do nothing to intervene, or even worse participate themselves in the taunting. And call me crazy but I think most school districts in the US understand the necessity to intervene, if for no other reason than because they're afraid of lawsuits. Here, that's not really a concern.
Too bad all teachers have to live under your poor description of them just because a few bad apples happen to be in a union.Perhaps teachers making minimum wage would do a better job?
Sure there are a few bad teachers but most are hard working people who enjoy teaching and inspiring new generations of kids.
I'm sure for every bad teacher out there theres 100 good ones.
US teachers have unions as well (I asked about this shortly after moving here because I learned that many schools nearby do not have central air and my comment was that I was suprised the union allowed that). I am not really pro-union, but as jambo said, there are good teachers and bad everywhere. We've always just tried to make sure to do our homework and ensure that our children go to a school with a good reputation, but that is, ofcourse, no guarantee either, since teachers move around and as principals and other support staff change so does the working atmosphere of the school, which also has an effect on the teachers attitudes and ability to do their job effectively.
Ontario has tough new anti-bullying laws that just were voted in. All the schools I went to (rural public schools in Ontario) never tolerated bullying at all. In fact, it was common for kids to be suspended for severe bullying.
This is only in oakville and not in the whole of Ontario. When I was sixth grade we had a different novel to do every month and a expected one page recount was requried to hand in at the end of each month. As for handwriting some schools teach it in grade 2 or grade 3. I learned it in grade 2 and then learning more in the thrid grade. It was optional then in fourth grade to use when writing. And this was a Toronto School.
I've posted this question already on education forum, but no one seems to know the answer there, so I've decided to post it here too if you don't mind.
After I've had an experience of dealing with the methods of education in US public schools, ( my son is in 7th grade by now,) I wonder if there are any people here who know what's the difference between the US and Canadian public schools in terms of quality of education.
Needless to say I was appalled by the level of teaching in US schools in academic sence, because it's nowhere close to the level of Soviet schools, that I was attending long time ago. I do see a big difference in METHODS of education that Russians applied comparably to US methods, where the text-books are missing from the first grade on. With the absence of texbooks DEFINITE standards of what needs to be achieved by students by the end of the year, the ultimate measure of progress are obviously absent as well (as far as parents are concerned.)
I know that education in public schools is better in Europe ( although some Brits told me that the quality of it is getting somewhat worse lately as well,) and I've heard that Canadian education in public schools is better then in US.
Does anyone know why exactly, and what's the major difference between Canadian and American public schools?
Is it the difference in methods of teaching? The standards? The requirements for diploma?
Any information would be appreciated, thanks in advance.
Canadian education is based on the European model. So it's organized completely differently, and more subjects are covered, it's more thorough, and more advanced. American students by comparison are a year behind European and Canadian students, and that's students from good American schools. American schools teach a single subject in a semester or a year (geometry, history, biology) whereas by the European/Canadian system, all subject (biology, chemistry, math, etc.) are taught as a continuum over several years. A wider variety of subjects is covered in the European system.
Canadian education is based on the European model. So it's organized completely differently, and more subjects are covered, it's more thorough, and more advanced. American students by comparison are a year behind European and Canadian students, and that's students from good American schools. American schools teach a single subject in a semester or a year (geometry, history, biology) whereas by the European/Canadian system, all subject (biology, chemistry, math, etc.) are taught as a continuum over several years. A wider variety of subjects is covered in the European system.
Education is managed at the State level, there is no "American" system. When we moved from Toronto to Miami during High School, we were right on par with our peers in Miami. No difference whatsoever. When we originally moved from the West Indies to Toronto though, we found ourselves considerably ahead of our classmates in Toronto. Most Caribbean children who have emigrated will tell you the exact same thing.
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