While studying an assigment for my English as a Second Language teaching certification a question came up that got me to thinking. The question basically asked the student to name and tell 3 teachers who had an influence on our life and why. My answer was my first grade teacher and a couple of other teachers later on in my schooling. The second part had to do with what age group would I like to teach and why.

From the first time I lived in the Philippines until recently I have observed examples of Filipino classrooms whether it be in movies or actually visiting schools. The latest example was when I visited the large school that my niece Zyra attends in Laguna. I spent much time there and observed the behavior of the children, which impressed me very much. These young children, all in uniforms, were respectful to their teacher and answered yes sir, no sir, and Thank you. The teachers were smiling and looked like they enjoyed themselves and their jobs.

Now lets look at my experience in the US with same ages. The students were not required to wear uniforms in most cases, and the classrooms were very unruly. Not all of the children were loud and noisy but the ones who were, ruled the classroom. The US teachers looked worn out and looked like they couldn’t wait to get out of there and go home. As the ages advanced it got worse until it is at the point now that assaults on teachers are not uncommon in US schools. I am not going to judge the learning abilities of these schools in different countries but I am just questioning why the big difference?

Again, I am sure there are unruly classrooms in the Philippines but I haven’t seen any as well as there are quiet respectfull classrooms in the US. I did notice that the children attending private schools where their parents were paying were better behaved than in  the public schools. Does that make a difference?

By the way  on the question of what ages would I like to teach, I chose 8-10 year olds because worldwide they seem to be the most eager learners and these years were my happiest school years.