Chapter 12

I loved reading how different school are run all over the world. Most of us only attended school in America, where it can still be different from school to school. But compared to America school and others they are run completely different. Although literacy and math are valued everywhere, the curriculum varies and that can be seen in the international tests. Hong Kong, Singapore, and China/Taipei were the top three ranked in the international testing. None of those were honestly surprising to me, since today we have the stereotype that the Chinese/Asians are the smartest. I was really surprised to hear that some schools do not mandate physical activity. For example, most schools in Japan have swimming pools, while school in Africa virtually have none. The hidden curriculum varies even greater from nation to nation. Hidden curriculum is the unofficial, unstated, or implicit rules and priories that influence the academic curriculum and every other aspect of learning in school. Debating on a teachers gender, ethnicity, or academic background this can send the wrong message to a child that education is irrelevant. It just weird to see how some how some of our most important aspects are not important at all in others.