There are 29 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 6,610 times. The latest Post () was by serafina.
What a lesson in taking responsibility at a young age, serafina. I’m sure your growing-up experiences greatly contributed to your clear self assurance, self sufficiency and high level of motivation.
Do you know if Italian schools still emphasize the discipline and respect that were important when you were growing up? Or are those values that are now being disregarded all over the world?
Now, here I am told the teachers are addressed as 'profe' and students use the 'vos' and slang to talk with them. I have heard multiple reports of teachers being hit with coins or paper balls when they turn they back to write on the blackboard. If they complain with the school principal, they are told to not give their back to the classroom. If they object that they need to in order to write in the blackboard, they are scolded as 'too demanding' (probably, demanding with the principal raising an extra issue they don't want to deal with because it would mean to create friction with parents).
Basically, teachers are bullied and it is considered part of the job.
It was the other way around for us. We used to have to duck under the desks to avoid the projectiles thrown by the teachers.
According to The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Italy has the fifth highest amount of average hours spent doing homework.
http://one-europe.net/user/fil…/Homework_Infographic.jpg
Interestingly, Italy has below average percentages of the population going through higher education compared to other major European nations. That said, it has an average amount going through 6-years or more of education. This shows while fewer Italians tend to pursue degrees compared to other Europeans, they are more likely (marginally) to see it through to a higher level (masters, doctorate, etc.
Italy is also ranked 35th in the Education Index, with other major European countries (Germany, UK, Norway, Belguim, etc) in the top 15 and most others in the top 25. Interestingly, Spain is ranked 32nd. I say that's interesting because the majority of Argentina is of Italian/Spanish origin so I see a correlation between the schooling system here and in those countries (Maybe included the half day schooling Serafina talked about in Italy). Argentina is ranked 37th, the highest in South America.
However, I will concede long homework hours alone are not a good measurement of whether an education system works or not. Simply because some nations with excellent education systems also have long homework hours. For example Ireland, which is ranked 5th on the Education Index but has a high amount of homework compared to Argentina seemingly having a low average amount and not doing well on the Index.
As I said, my kids are bombarded with homework, but I admit I never stopped to consider whether this is unique to private education and public school kids have less. Or even just unique to their school. Either way, even if we remove that point that the education system here is broken I stand by the fact shorter days are a contributer to this. Countires that rank higher in education tend to have children in school for more hours per day. Sure, it may only be one hour or 90 minutes more when breaks and lunch are factored, but still it seems an important difference.
Incidentally, when I went back to the UK last time I discovered my former school now allows children to leave at 1PM on Friday's, essentially having a half day.
Very interesting, Semi. Your kids do half days on Fridays, but what about Mon - Thurs?
When I was a kid, I attended school Mon to Sat, 8 to 1PM.
This was from elementary through high school. It wasn't until the university that I had to attend school 9 to 6PM. And then study!
Very interesting, Semi. Your kids do half days on Fridays, but what about Mon - Thurs?
In Argentina, my kids do variations of 7:40am to noon or 1pm, depending the day.
In the UK, it was always a 9pm to 15:30/16:00 pm everyday when I was growing up. Now, the high school I went to in the UK allows students a half day on Friday. As this is a public school I presume this is now standard.
Furthering something I am not fond of here is how early the kids start school. I personally think trying to engage a child's brain at 7:40 in the morning is a challenge, especially with the current generation. Heck, even I start work at 7am but don't really feel properly engaged until a couple of hours later.
By the way, while I am bemoaning the lack of hours, amount of homework, and now the hour they start, the real problem here remains what the schools teach and the hit and miss quality of the teachers.
In Argentina, my kids do variations of 7:40am to noon or 1pm, depending the day.
Furthering something I am not fond of here is how early the kids start school. I personally think trying to engage a child's brain at 7:40 in the morning is a challenge, especially with the current generation. Heck, even I start work at 7am but don't really feel properly engaged until a couple of hours later.
I had an occasional student, an Argentinian doctor living in Spain, who was here visiting her daughters. The youngest was about to finish her medicine degree, and the mother was in disbelief that she had to go give a final at 7:30 AM.
I do agree, and I wonder how many hours per night do the people here, considering that nobody eats before 9 PM. I assume people go to bed by 11:30PM-midnight, which would give 6:30-7 hours of sleep if you have to start school/work at 7:30
I had an occasional student, an Argentinian doctor living in Spain, who was here visiting her daughters. The youngest was about to finish her medicine degree, and the mother was in disbelief that she had to go give a final at 7:30 AM.
I do agree, and I wonder how many hours per night do the people here, considering that nobody eats before 9 PM. I assume people go to bed by 11:30PM-midnight, which would give 6:30-7 hours of sleep if you have to start school/work at 7:30
Yes, and that's an adult who may have the responsibility to go to bed/sleep by midnight. I mean you can do a lot to make a 16-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy go to bed, but you can't do a lot to make them actually sleep. If my daughter is asleep by 1am it's a good day. I know many of her friends are up much later than that. We wake my daughter up at 6:15am.
Honestly, since I came here I had to change my whole sleep cycle. I was never a 10-hour a night person, but these days I am not going to sleep until around 1am and then up at 6am. A lot of life's go-getters would say you should only sleep 5 hours, but I have a sneaking suspicion that my 4-5 hours a night is slowly shaving years off my life. haha.
Honestly, since I came here I had to change my whole sleep cycle. I was never a 10-hour a night person, but these days I am not going to sleep until around 1am and then up at 6am. A lot of life's go-getters would say you should only sleep 5 hours, but I have a sneaking suspicion that my 4-5 hours a night is slowly shaving years off my life. haha.
I used to sleep a lot when I was younger, 10 hours a night. When I was at the university, I remember once sleeping 14 hours in a row. My then boyfriend was worried I wasn't picking up the phone and called my landline number to see if I was okay. 
Since moving to Argentina, given that I work from home and I have no kids I can follow pretty much whetever schedule I like, and I am still tuned to my Italian schedule.
I get up between 7 and 8 (I wake up on my own), We eat between 12:30 and 1PM, we have dinner between 7:30 PM and 21, depending on my workload.
Sometimes I start cooking late and we eat at 21, but I'd much rather eat 7:30-8PM so that I can properly digest my dinner before lying in bed.
On those days when we eat late, having dinner at 9 PM and going to bed at 11PM makes me feel like I am diving into bed as soon as I get up from the dinner table.
Truth is, when I eat late is because of work, so even if we are done with dinner at 9:30PM, then I sit back at my desk working, which doesn't help digestion much, so by the time I am done (11:30-ish to midnight), my digestion is still in its early stage.
This is also an issue when we want to go out, as most places open at 8PM sharp and we are usually the first there. When we have to coordinate with another number of people, they also try to drag stuff to 9:30PM into 1 AM.
If I don't get a proper sleep, I am unable to 'function' the next day. I can't simply sit at the computer to get pay, I have to produce reasoned words.
