The Abc’S of Education: Euro-American Style: An Alternative Approach to Education
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About this ebook
Suzanne Zurilgen Strauss
Suzanne is a world traveler, who has experienced, observed, and been a participant in world-wide educational practices. Her concentration, however, has been on centralized Europe, especially Germany. Suzanne has a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.Ed. from the University of New Hampshire. She spent 22 years teaching in American high schools, and the year (98-99) in a German Gesamtschule (the “equivalent” of our high school), as a Fulbright Exchange Teacher. She spent a year as an U C Berkeley Education Abroad student at the University of Goettingen, Germany, and three other years living in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. She also taught on both the East and the West Coasts of the United States, from schools with 50 in a graduating class to 750, using programs such as: Tech Prep, Career Pathways, School to Career, and Communication 2000 (all basically different names for approximately the same school-to-work philosophy for the other-than-traditional-college-committed kid). She has piloted new programs, watched de-tracking derail, led seminars and workshops, spoke in conferences, written grants and received funds to do innovative and new programs. These “terrific” programs were designated by the federal or state government as being the latest, greatest “special projects”. Then watched them crash and burn because funds ran out. She has team taught, shuttled back and forth between two school sites, and taught abroad.
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The Abc’S of Education - Suzanne Zurilgen Strauss
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© 2012 by Suzanne Zurilgen Strauss. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
Published by AuthorHouse 08/13/2012
ISBN: 978-1-4670-6111-7 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4772-6630-4 (eBook)
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Contents
PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ACCLIMATION
GETTING MY FEET WET
ATTITUDES
EBB & FLOW
ADVANCED PLACEMENT
RIDING HIGH
AGRICULTURAL PROGRAM
SURF’S UP!
APPRENTICESHIPS
A TRICKLING STREAM TO THE MIGHTY OCEAN
BLOCK SCHEDULING
TIDE’S OUT
BUSINESSES
TIDE’S IN
BEMOCRACY = THE RIGHT TO BE
HIGH TIME, HIGH TIDE
CAREER PATHWAYS
APPROACHING THE SANDY SHORES OF LIFE
COUNSELORS
A LIFE PRESERVER?
CONFERENCES
BOTH BUOYS & GIRLS BENEFIT
COLLEGE PREP
A LIGHTHOUSE BEACON… BEAMING THE LIGHT ON SOME QUESTIONS
DAY WITH THE DANES
DIFFERENCES IN THE SOCIAL WHIRLPOOL
(A HUMOROUS LOOK)
EXCEPTIONAL KIDS
(EXCERPT FROM ARTICLE)
FINALS
SMOOTH SAILING OR A ROCKY LANDING
GETTING THE MOST OUT OF SCHOOL
STUDENT ESSAY
HIDDEN DIFFERENCES
HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH GERMANS
HOMEROOM TEACHERS
THE TRUE LIFE PRESERVERS
IDEAL SCHOOL:
CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’
IN GOOD COMPANY
FROM JIGSAW PUZZLE TO MERRY-GO-ROUND
JUST ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE
STUDENT ESSAY: BY MAI VANG
KINDS OF KIDS
FROM SURFERS TO SEASONED SAILORS
LIFE’S GATEWAY
MAINE SCHOOL: A MODEL
MIRRORS OF OUR LIFE
MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES
FROM BEACHCOMBERS TO CRUISE SHIP CAPTAINS
NEVER NEVER LAND OF EDUCATION
A FEW DAYS IN AUGUST & SEPTEMBER 2000
OTHER IDEAS OF CHANGE
PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT
MANEUVERING THROUGH ROUGH WATERS
REFORMS
THE CHURNING SEA
SENIOR FINALS
THE FINAL RACE
SENIOR SHIT DAY
SEX EDUCATION
WHAT’S BURIED IN THE SAND?
SCHOOL SUCKS
SPORTS
A RACE TO THE FINISH
STARTLING STATISTICS
TECH PREP
WEATHERING THE SURGING WAVES
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
VOCATIONAL TRAINING
GOING WITH THE FLOW
WE THE PEOPLE: A MELTING POT
WE ARE HMONG
XYZ’S OF EDUCATION
YOSEMITE PROJECT
MANNING THE SHIP TOGETHER
ZEBRAS ARE DIFFERENT TOO
WORKS CITED
PREFACE
My education all started the day I went to an interview for a teaching job. I was living on unemployment and making more money than the job was to pay. I had a Bachelor’s Degree from U.C. Berkeley, no teaching experience or certification, but I thought that teaching might be rather interesting. I had nothing to lose. I was a Toastmaster, so I didn’t fear the interview, which was before four other teachers and the principal. So, I marched in there, expecting to have a little fun since speaking in front of groups was my forte. The lady who was before me came out in tears. I was still undaunted. I confidently walked in, sat down, smiled at all of them and waited for the barrage of questions. Well, of course, the way a group interview works is for everyone to get their two cents’ worth in at my expense. When the teachers started to ask me what I would teach and how, I said I didn’t know because I had never taught before, nor did I have any prior classes in education. So, I turned the interview around and I began to interview them. What do you teach? What methods do you use? How do you deal with discipline? That was at 3:30 pm on a Thursday. At 5 pm that day, the principal called and asked if I wanted the job. He said come in on Friday and observe, pick up the textbooks, and then be ready to teach on Monday. However, the job was conditional.
In order to qualify to teach, I had to get my certification while I taught. This was a small New Hampshire mill town called Newmarket. I was to teach four classes for $4500.00 a year. I was in full agreement as I liked going to college and enjoyed learning. So, I started teaching school and taking classes the following Monday. However, nothing prepared me for the first detention I gave. The student stood up, took the detention, looked at it, stared at me, and gobbled up the slip of paper, right before my very eyes! I just stood there, wondering if all students ate their detentions. That was just the beginning of a trial by fire (literally and figuratively). It was later that year, that a student set fire to my room to protest my mean-spirited ways as a teacher. That began a search for the ideal education. My search is ongoing and this book is about my search for a way to reach kids and remain sane as a teacher.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step
, as Lao Tse, a Chinese philosopher once said. Just so, I began twenty-two years ago to chart the waters of my endless journey into the depths of the vast ocean of academia. I still hope to discover who I am and where I fit in, in this miasmic sea of education. I use the ocean as a motif for learning, for as vast as the sea is, so also are the different systems of education in America and elsewhere.
As part of this journey, I spent 22 years teaching in American high schools, and the year (98-99) in a German Gesamtschule (the equivalent
of our high school). I spent a year as an exchange student at a German university, and three other years living in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. I have a good understanding for the European educational system.
I have also taught on both the East and the West Coast, from schools with 50 in a graduating class to 750. I have used varied methods. Some examples are: Tech Prep, Career Pathways, School to Career, and Communication 2000 (all basically different names for approximately the same school-to-work philosophy for the other-than-traditional-college-committed kid). College prep and GATE (for advanced learners) were the other side of that coin. I have piloted new programs, watched de-tracking derail, led seminars and workshops, spoke in conferences, written grants and received funds to do innovative and new programs. These terrific
programs were designated by the federal or state government as being the latest, greatest special project
. Then watched them crash and burn because funds ran out. I have team taught, shuttled back and forth between two school sites, been shafted, shifted and set adrift on the shores of Education Never Never Land, and now I embark on yet another journey… to write about my experiences and try to make some sense of this confusion we call American education. With a European perspective, I will develop the best of both worlds, by outlining the best of both educational systems. To balance this rather serious subject, I will insert poetry to light the way to a different paradigm shift. What programs are better, how are they instituted, and where can they be rearranged to enhance the educational experience? That part of the study will presently unfold.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I will be eternally grateful to my husband, Martin, who has stood behind me in every endeavor I have ever attempted in my life. He is my rock, my biggest fan, my greatest supporter. Thank you, Schatz!
I would also like to thank Renate Schneider from Bruehl, Germany, who was also an English teacher in her own country, and helped me to keep the details accurate about the German school system. She proofread my manuscript twice for me and continues to be a great support. Thank you, Renate!
ACCLIMATION
GETTING MY FEET WET
Getting acclimated to a new teaching environment in a foreign country is not exactly like riding a gentle wave, especially when the tides are so strange. There are many considerations. The memories of the first few days/weeks arriving at my destination can be found in the APPENDIX (if you wish to travel with me on a step-by-step journey). Otherwise, these were some of my general observances.
The question always comes up… should a 50-year-old married woman, who has an excellent relationship with her husband, leave home for a whole year to pursue an old dream? The answer to that question lies in two things. How good of a marriage does she have and how flexible is she?
Number one, how good is her marriage. On the one hand, her relationship is so strong and so good that her husband agrees to an arrangement of a complete stranger living with him for a year, so she can fulfill her dream. He finds her dream to be so important that he wants her to be happy and sublimates his feelings for the sake of hers. She knows what a sacrifice it is and really appreciates the fact that he is so willing to let her take this step. On the other hand, the relationship is so good that being without her husband is extremely painful. Only she does not realize this until she is away from him for two months. Then she begins to cry and feel like she can’t control herself another minute without him. So, having a good marriage is a double-edged sword. There is so much trust that the spouse is willing to let her go away, yet the going away is painful due to the relationship’s fine nature. She had everything to gain professionally and everything to lose personally.
Number two: flexibility. Being a 50 year old woman, she is used to her husband, who takes care of her every need. He provides her with expensive Mercedes Benz’s, leaves 100 dollar bills on the dresser for her, maintains her cars, pays the bills, makes sure she has a cell phone and plenty of charge cards, a housekeeper, gardener, trips to Europe, new houses, and worries about every little aspect of her life. Suddenly, this middle-aged woman is on her own. She can no longer rely on someone else to do everything for her. She is forced to find a used car, pay all the bills, buy all the groceries, do her own cleaning, run her own errands, fix her own car and entertain herself. That’s a tall order for a 50-year-old happily married woman.
Getting used to a new environment at this age is like driving a two-ton truck down an L.A. freeway! It isn’t easy! Furthermore, it isn’t much fun. What happened to the carefree life of weekending at the beach? Every weekend going to Pacific Grove, Carmel, Monterey, walking the dog on the beach, taking in a new restaurant, shopping in some new funky shop, grabbing a bowl of chowder at our favorite chowder restaurant, taking a sunset drive, and breezing down to the water, lying open faced in the sun.
I gave it all up to be in a wet, cold, damp, dreary Northern German town with two mangy cats that pee in my bathroom and a neurotic dog that thinks I am one of his personal tormentors. Living with someone else’s droopy plants, and wigged out carpet and funky pictures and do-dads cluttering up the place. And what did I leave behind? Antique sideboards and elegant dressers, a canopied bed traded in for a waterbed, my lovely fainting couch for a hideabed, my crystal glasses for flea market crockery, my Benz for a antiquated VW, my furs and jewels for a loose sweater and jeans.
So, next time you think of leaving home, ask yourself how