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EDUC 200 - SIGNATURE ASSSIGNMENT

Task 1. Big Picture Questions

Question 1 – Name 4 countries that have a great educational system. Based on what you learned in this course, what are 3
similarities that these countries have in common? In other words, what are some factors that have helped these countries to
excel in the area of education? 
Finland, South Korea, Japan and Poland are some countries with the greatest educational system. One factor that helps these
countries succeed are the standards they hold for their teachers. Teachers are expected to learn more and perform more when
it comes to their college education. Teachers, for the most part, are thought of as higher members of society. In America,
becoming a teacher isn’t considered to be a very good job. Another factor is the curriculum. Since the teachers are more
prepared and educated, they’re able to teach their students more effectively. They can dive deeper into subjects because they’re
able to understand them more themselves. The third factor for these countries succeeding is the societal viewpoint on
education. Parents are more supportive in most of those countries or they’re more involved with their student’s education. They
keep track of what their students are learning and they keep them on task or help them study.

Question 2 – Based on what you learned in this course, do you think the top performing countries are influencing other
countries? In other words, describe how the countries which are listed highest in terms of PISA scores are having an effect on
other countries? 
A majority of countries that’re on the top of the list are Asian countries. This makes me think of what we read about with South
Korea. There is a higher standard on their students to succeed. Parents are stricter on their students and many of the future jobs
depend on whether or not their children are succeeding in school. I think if other countries are genuinely researching these Asian
countries, then they can learn a few things about how they run their educational system. I also think they can learn what they
can change or do differently without completely changing how they do things. They can adapt what they’re currently doing when
it comes to teacher education, parental impact, curriculum and other components of a successful educational system. I think
they can also take inspiration from the types of materials the higher ranking countries are using. They can adapt their own
textbooks in order to fit new ways of learning and thinking. It’s more about how the system is organized than what is being
taught. It can be about the society’s views more so than how many standardized tests are being given.
 
 Question 3 – Do you think that countries who pay little or no attention to educating its citizens can/will have a negative
impact on the world in the future? Support your answer.  
Iceland has average, sometimes below average, PISA scores and they go down almost every year. Iceland’s teacher are
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considered to be lower class and they aren’t treated with much respect. Iceland puts emphasis on educating their students until
about age 16, then it’s up to whatever the students want to do. Their teachers don’t get paid very much, but also aren’t going
through any rigorous training to become a teacher. I think countries that pay little or no attention to actually educating its
citizen’s causes the country to take a lot of control over what the citizens are doing. The citizens might not know better when the
government tells them to something. They might not have enough education in order to make informed decisions about their
lives or their country. This can also cause a big discrepancy between higher class and lower class citizens. Those who can afford
education on their own terms while other people might not have access to any education.

Question 4 - How does education in other countries compare to the system of education in the U.S. from your observations?
America’s education seems to be geared towards helping the students succeed, whether or not it can help them long term or
not. Subjects are taught to pass exams and assessments more than being taught to learn for the rest of their lives. Students learn
to pass a test and then forget what they learned. Teachers also drill facts into their student’s heads, but don’t necessarily teach
for comprehension and to expand their knowledge. In other countries, such as the hagwog’s in Korea, they help students to
learn subjects in depth. The actual teacher in Korea aren’t teaching their students as much as the hagwogs are, but the students
are still learning more than what Americans are. Americans aren’t pushed very hard when it comes to their academics compared
to some of the top scoring countries. It doesn’t benefit students to be given answers to questions or to be handed a good grade
for minimum work. I do think it can be nice for teachers to care about their student’s mental health. From what I’ve experienced
and observed, teachers in America care a lot about their students’ wellbeing and they want them to feel pride in what they
accomplish. I think it’s good that they do this, but I don’t think students should be coddled or given the grade they want if they
didn’t deserve it. Students in Korea were stressed and didn’t live very happy lives, so I think that’s something Korea could do
differently and show a little compassion to their students.

Question 5 - Name some populations that are denied a good education? For example, we all know based on experiences in
this class that women and girls are denied a good education in parts of world (sadly). What are other groups of people that
are denied a good education?
Like this question says, girls have a hard time getting education in some area. South Sudan or Afghanistan and Chad don’t allow a
lot of their women and girls to seek any kind of education. In other countries, public school isn’t available like it is in America.
Parents have to pay for their children to attend school, which leaves out anyone who can’t afford it. This happens in places
around India which can lead to girls not going to school as well. It reaches further than just girls. Boys might not be able to
attend school because their families can’t afford it. Or families might only be able to send one son to school, leaving the other
sons out of getting an education. Economic status plays a major factor in some areas as to whether or not someone can gain an
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education. When not every citizen can be educated, it creates a lot of diversity and the educated people are given power over
the others. Governments might choose to do this on purpose in order to divide their citizens and make sure laws and obeyed.

Question 6 - Think about the things we discussed in this course – name some things you could now do differently in your
future classes because of the information learned in this course? In other words, we want you to be self-reflective (thinking
about your thinking) – tell us some things you could in your future class to make it better based on items we learned about
with regard to learning about educational systems around the world? It could things like helping diverse learners, or perhaps
being more aware about students who may live in more rural areas of your district and don’t have access to technology (these
are just some ideas I had).
In my future classroom I hope I can create a sense of community. It’s important to discuss and celebrate everyone’s different
backgrounds, but we should learn to respect each other’s differences. Economic backgrounds, cultural or religious backgrounds
are great learning tools for some lessons. I also want to make sure that everyone feels welcome in my classroom. I want I’m
students to think of my classroom as a safe space where they can come and feel like they belong. If students find a subject hard,
I don’t want to just give them the answer without them doing much work to understand it. I want my students to feel
comfortable enough to ask me questions, but I want them to know I’m going to make them work for the answer. I think this is
important for students’ long term memories. If they have to go through a process to come up with the answer then they might
remember the subject better. This could also help them remember things for their adult life. With this in mind, I want to try to
make tests that require greater thinking than the tests I was given in school. I don’t want them to learn a fact and then forget it
after a test. Hopefully I can come up with ways to relate the lesson to their lives and situations they might encounter after
school. This cam make lessons more fun. One thing I can do outside of my classroom is keep my education going. I could go to
college longer to get my master’s and my doctorate, but I also think taking workshops or other types of one off classes can help
me broaden my knowledge and help me teach more applicable things to my students.

(questions 7a through 7e) Let’s say that you are the ruler of your own country - think about some of the factors/conditions
that go into having a great educational system. And please have a little fun with these questions, too.

Question 7a - What would be the name of your very own country? What would be the name of the capital of your country?
Make something up! Have fun, be silly.
My country’s name is Snonia and the capital is Smisal.

Question 7b – What would the population be? Big or small? Come up with a number. Why would be the size that you choose?
Would you want over 1 billion people in your country? Would you want under 1 million? Tell us why.
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The population of Snonia is 200 million, just about 130 million people less than America. I chose this population because I think
America has a decent amount of people in order to support their education system. America has public education so I just took
inspiration from the amount of people here. I think it can also be better to have a larger population in order to have a lot of
support for the communities and a lot more funding. In the country I researched, Iceland, they didn’t have too much funding for
schools because of their smaller population and that can take a toll on curriculum. I didn’t choose to have 330 million like
America because I think that has big consequences for the environment of the country.

Question 7c - Do they have access to technology (very briefly tell us about technology in your country)?
The technology in Snonia is growing greatly every year. There are many scientists working to improve current technology and
technological enhancements come from Snonia more than anywhere else around the world. Many of Snonia’s youth dream of
becoming a scientist, engineer or teacher. Snonia is very driven by STEM programs and girls in these programs are common and
a normal occurrence.

Question 7d – Would your country be mostly rural? Urban? Suburban? A combination? Why?
Snonia is a combination of rural, urban and suburban. Their urban areas aren’t very big and mostly act as hubs for the
technology being invented. The citizens of Snonia, Snonians, take pride in their beautiful national parks and their forests. Just
because Snonia is the most technologically advanced country in the world doesn’t mean they don’t take care of the planet. In
between the urban and suburban areas are lush and vast rural areas. Even in rural areas, the education system is very high
quality and receive enough funding to have great educational supports. Those that choose to live in rural areas still have access
to free high quality education, but tend to go into farming jobs and jobs to help the environment. Many rural areas also house
engineers working to help the environment. The reasons Snonia is a combination of rural, urban and suburban areas is being of
the population. There are many Snonians, but they love to be outdoors in nature to play or to study. There has to be urban areas
in Snonia because the schools have to have technology. It’s easier to have areas with all of the enhancements taking place to
have access to enough power and supplies.

Question 7e- Come up with at least 4 more facts/factors that would have impact they have on your country’s educational
system. In other words, think about conditions/factors that have led to the creation of great educational systems around the
world. Now, what condition/factors would like to see in your very own country?
Snonains care greatly about each other and want to continue to have a country so rich in nature but also technological. One
reason that Snonians receive such great education is because the country has an understanding of what should be expected of
their students. They all know the importance of education and want their children to succeed in life, even if it’s not in Snonia.
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They have many knowledgeable adults from around the world that have come to Snonia to help create the education system.
Different inputs are taken into consideration and statistics are constantly being observed and compared in order to come up
with better curriculum or ways of teaching. Students play an active role in their education and can give opinions on how they
think their school is doing or if they feel like lessons are being taught just to teach them something and not to help them later in
life. Money isn’t an issue and schools around the country are able to get supplies they need and are able to hire quality teachers.
Teachers go through rigorous schooling in order to ensure they are able to teach the Snonian students. There is also a lot of field
experience given to future teachers. It’s important to show teachers how to be an effective teacher instead of sending them to
the dogs and hoping they’ll succeed. They’re given a lot of feedback about how they can improve and are taught many different
ways to teach a lesson in order to help the many types of learners they’ll have in their classrooms. Snonia puts their students
through a lot of hard schooling, but they also care about their mental health. Students are in school for 7 hours Monday through
Friday and can have tutoring if needed. Because all of the grades and teachers work together to build stepping stones for future
grades, students don’t fall behind very often and are actually taught things that will be applied later in their educational career. If
students don’t understand a subject, they can seek out tutoring, but again this isn’t very common because the stepping stones
for every grade is established well. Teachers are inspiring and this encourages students to be engaged in their lessons and take
pride of their work. Students are free to be themselves no matter where they come from. Students aren’t given much homework
because the teachers try to finish all of the work during class. The work teachers give their students to take home is used to
further their understanding of the lesson, not just repeat the lesson or to assess the student. Assessments are done a lot in the
classroom. If students do take home work, parents are well educated and can easily help their children. Stress isn’t avoided in
order to help their students, but it’s embraced and students are taught how to handle stress in a way that can help them
succeed. Stress doesn’t define the student, they can still enjoy life and not have to worry about school sometimes. Overall,
Snonians support each other but don’t give students good grades unless they truly deserve it. Testing is done for students to
graduate high school, but there isn’t a lot of extra preparation that needs to be done because the teachers have done their jobs
and taught the students what they need to know.

OPTIONAL – If you would like to draw an outline of country in Word (using tools found in Word), include some clipart and/or
freehand then insert that picture of your country and place it here, please do so. This is optional of course, but I love seeing
how creative students can get! Only do this if you have some free time.
Picture is on the next page 
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