If you could alter your education in any way...

[appianway]

You have some exceptionally talented teachers. You have others which aren't.

Personally, I think it's a problem with the school system, not the teachers themselves. You don't need teachers to be in the top 1% intellectually; you need them to have a profound understanding of the course and an ability to relay this to others. Passionate teachers are often turned away from schools because of the attitudes of students and the environment.

[kenhung123]

Intelligent teachers aren't good IMO. They tend to go through things very fast because personally, themselves, are fast learners and usually pick up things quickly and don't really bother with fine details.

[EvangelionZeta]

Intelligent teachers aren't good IMO. They tend to go through things very fast because personally, themselves, are fast learners and usually pick up things quickly and don't really bother with fine details.

If they're intelligent at teaching, they won't do that.  It can go both ways.

Anyway, I'd have done Latin from year 7->12.  Other than that, nothing really.

[the.watchman]

Intelligent teachers aren't good IMO. They tend to go through things very fast because personally, themselves, are fast learners and usually pick up things quickly and don't really bother with fine details.

If they're intelligent at teaching, they won't do that.  It can go both ways.

Anyway, I'd have done Latin from year 7->12.  Other than that, nothing really.

Lol, the rest of the latin cohort at my school did it from yr 7 onwards
I picked it up in the middle of yr 9 and, after doing some catch-up work, am doing well.
I reckon I remember most of the stuff better since I have learnt it more recently, particularly grammar
So that's one thing I wouldn't change

[IntoTheNewWorld]

I would've done Jap at a pro sat school instead of having fail classes at school, if somehow I could still guarantee my score.

[slothpomba]

Yeah, i dont think its a good idea to decided what you want to do early on.

I really believe that building the foundations are important and primary schools and lower secondary education should really focus and drill in hard on the fundamentals. There are kids in my sisters Year 4 grade who still know none of their timestables or understand them while the teachers carry on with drawing and painting. This will put you behind and theres the potential to be perpetually behind (maybe a big of an exaggeration but you see my fundamentals point right).

I think it would be good to offer a watered down version of Yr 11/ Yr 12 in the proceeding years sort of as a sampler and tell them thats what VCE will be like. I remember year 9/10 SOSE/ Humanities we were doing history and torts (law) and all that. I didnt realise that this kind of corresponded to VCE History and VCE Legals. If i had a chance to sample a little bit of all the VCE subjects i believe i would of made some different choices, you go in kind of blind based on a couple sentences of descriptions (well i did).

For example chemistry below year 11-12 was nothing like it is now, i honestly thought itd be like that but boy i was wrong ( i needed chem anyway, well i did at the time and changed career choices but i still need it so its all good).

Another example, biology, pre Yr 11-12 biology was pretty different as well. I didnt think i liked biology very much or would like it at all. I had 5 subjects on my subject selection sheet in year 10... i needed one more... so i just decided to fill it with whatever my mates were doing... it was a toss up between biology or geography... im lucky i chose biology.. i absolutely love the subject and i wouldnt of known this if i never made that random choice. Im lucky in that respect because the geography students get royally screwed over.

[TrueTears]

... what would you do?

less piano in early childhood and more maths

[kyzoo]

I think it would be good to offer a watered down version of Yr 11/ Yr 12 in the proceeding years sort of as a sampler and tell them thats what VCE will be like.

I liked the massive jump from Y10 to VCE, it was very motivating.

[slothpomba]

I was more aiming for a way for prospective year 11 students to have a better idea of what each course constitutes  and the beginning of year 11 was a terribad time for me.  [But i see your point]

[QuantumJG]

There really needs to be a change from teacher = school drop-out,
to teacher = educated / intelligent specialist

There are way too many teachers in schools these days in the dumb 'i-learnt-the-stuff-just-so-i-could-get-a-job' category

At school I rarely had teachers like that (e.g. My maths teacher had a BSc.Honours).

But the thing is that with the salary teachers get and the fact you aren't constantly learning new stuff in the field you teach, people who are specialists would rather become an academic, where you teach and do research.

 

[QuantumJG]

Also I want to add.

With English there should be a test on the basics after year 9 so the school can see where students are and offer resources to help get your skills up.

[*ryan777*]

Also I want to add.

With English there should be a test on the basics after year 9 so the school can see where students are and offer resources to help get your skills up.

should do this for all subjects
i went to a pretty shit school and, i admit i wasnt any better at being a student so quite a lot of my vce years were spent trying to self teach myself stuff i shuld have known from years ago

[GerrySly]

Also I want to add.

With English there should be a test on the basics after year 9 so the school can see where students are and offer resources to help get your skills up.

Isn't there already a test? NAPLAN or something?

Our school did tests but nothing was ever done about it cause it was bad for the students mindset or something. Segregating the good students from the bad students was not beneficial for anyone, "apparently".

[*ryan777*]

Also I want to add.

With English there should be a test on the basics after year 9 so the school can see where students are and offer resources to help get your skills up.

Isn't there already a test? NAPLAN or something?

Our school did tests but nothing was ever done about it cause it was bad for the students mindset or something. Segregating the good students from the bad students was not beneficial for anyone, "apparently".

you dont even have to segrigate ppl, just give out the test results (privatly of course) with a list of things u NEED to improve on if u intend to do well later on

[m@tty]

I would actually care rather than sleeping through classes. I would pursue learning earlier and better. And try and get the most out of all of my classes. So it was all my attitude. :\