Главная страница «Первого сентября»Главная страница журнала «Английский язык»Содержание №18/2004

YOUTH ENGLISH SECTION

 

Why I Envy American Students

The article by Kirill Kutyrev “Comparing Education” encouraged me to share my opinion about our school system. I’m in the 10th grade of a gymnasium. My parents value a good education greatly, so they sent my brother and me to the best school in the town. As a child, I was proud of my school; I loved all the teachers and the subjects. But now when I’m a senior pupil I think 17 subjects and 40(!) hours a week are too many. I doubt if it’s possible to make progress in all of these subjects.

As for me, I study in a class specializing in English. I’m good at English and I’d like to have a good command of the language. I enjoy studying English, but I can’t spend as much time as I wish on my favourite subject. I have to waste my time on physics, maths and chemistry, because they’re in our curriculum and I want to have good marks in them. They don’t come easy to me. I hate studying these subjects. I don’t think that we should learn them at all. We need some basic knowledge in these subjects. I’ve already learned to count and to do easy sums. I don’t understand why I must study a lot of complicated things which most of us will never need?

We’re not taught the things which could be helpful in our everyday life: our course of physics doesn’t teach us how to fix an iron or a camera, and our course of chemistry doesn’t give us knowledge how to clean a spot on a dress. And let’s take our course of literature. School literature seems boring to most pupils; they must make themselves read. When I spoke to my cousin, a guy of 20, he told me the following: “When I was at school I considered literature and reading very dull and boring, and I fell asleep during my lessons of literature. But now, three years after finishing school, I have begun to read, and found out that it’s a very interesting, exciting and fascinating process”.

But all these problems wouldn’t be so pressing if there were less homework. Every day, tired and exhausted, I come home from school, and what awaits me there? Of course, homework. I counted that if I did all my homework very thoroughly it would take about 5 hours! And what about the personal life of our poor pupils? Our teachers and doctors tell us to live a healthy way of life. What healthy way of life is possible if pupils have to study so much!? No rest, no walks; only stress and nerves.

I’m not an expert in the systems of education in other countries, but I know for sure that senior pupils in the USA can choose 4–5 main subjects to study, and, of course, they don’t have so much homework. Some people think that we’re lucky to have the longest summer holidays in the world. But I would prefer to have shorter holidays, and career studies.

Oscar Wilde once said: “Education is an admirable thing, but it’s well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.” This quotation is exactly for our education system, because we study a lot, but as a result we can’t use our knowledge practically.

Some of you may think that I’m a lazy bones and not hard-working enough; and you’ll be partly right. But this letter was written by an average pupil and there are a lot of us.

By Toma Ostapovich,
10th grade, Gymnasia No. 1, Pinsk, Belarus