Notice the "regardless of the circumstances".
Yeah, however I just took this as a generalization, since it'd be quite a statement to say that someone tried everything.
I didn't even realize what people meant by saying "just concentrate" until I took my first methylphenedate when I was 25.
Not meaning to troll, but if you try some acid, you'll realize there's a whole spectrum of "awareness" and "concentration" that you weren't aware of, if you feel such a difference from methylphenidate. (Just make sure to have some good weed and relaxing, interesting, positive music, in case it gets too much.)
Medicating with amphetamine all the time is obviosuly quite moronic.
I'd even say it's dangerous and should be a criminal offense to prescribe that without having 99.99999% proof, judging from my (extensive) experience with party kids and goers.
ADHD/ADD are real but often overdiagnosed
That was exactly my point.
Expecting things to be customized to our particular level of interest in unrealistic.
That's also true (mostly), however some kids adapt better and some worse.
She has trouble focusing on anything regardless of environmental variables.
As others have pointed out, in most cases this is called "being a kid." If something's presented in a boring way, try to do that differently. And, more importantly, try to think outside your box and find out things on which she does focus pretty well.
to transport people commercially you need a "commercial transport license"
Unless you're just sharing the cost.
Certainly, he had a disposition towards this happening, but it was marijuana that pushed it over the limit and completely fucked his entire life.
That would have happened in any case. Stop scaring the kids! Just remember, it's all in your head.
I sincerely doubt that teaching matrices in 7th grade raises "understanding and awareness".
It did at least in one case. I'd also have loved an intro to lambda calculus in the later years. Things have advanced since the 60's/70's but the curriculum adjusts in the opposite direction for some reason.
I have to say that you seem to make the mistake of regarding quantity equivalent to quality. [...] I find it pretty hard to believe that you [...] actually read and not merely skimmed them.
Well, I personally didn't read all of them, only the ones I *knew* I was going to be questioned on (like War and Peace, for instance). This usually amounted to like 50% of the list (we had a liberal teacher). But, since the "examination" was quite deep and required an actual understanding of the plot, characters, historical context, and many other dimensions of the book in question, you *had* to *read* and *understand* the book or risk getting a bad grade. Then again, my cute neighbor read *ALL* of them!
Feel free to ask someone, who went to school in Moscow or St. Petersburg (don't know about other cities, but I'd wager the situation was very similar), if you need confirmation. I know it's hard to believe for someone used to sparing the "poor kids" and providing them pre-chewed information laced with the teacher's opinion, instead of pushing the kids to solve problems on their own.
we usually cover one book per month during lessons (if that much) but in detail.
Yeah, I remember being bored on the second week of some of Duerrenmatt's or Lessing's (shorter) works, when a minority came prepared and we were reading the whole book in class (especially great, when it's that idiot, who never learned how to read properly and couldn't bind two syllables together), instead of discussing the plot, analyzing the literary style, etc. We were "reading" The Judge and his Hangman for 3 (three!) months. Seriously! WTF?!?
What I'm trying to say here is that maybe it'd be worth a consideration by the education panel to give a list of 20 books and let the students choose at least 2 of them to read over the holidays, but no, that'd be against the almighty law of not giving them *any* homework over summer. ; )
Judging by my (subjective, of course) experience, I'd say the general literacy of the population that went to school in the USSR is way higher than the general literacy of the "average German". I wouldn't expect otherwise, after I've overheard parents in DE say things like: "Oh, I really don't think my kid should go to a gymnasium, the load's too high (LOL), he/she's better off in a real [10 years total] or hauptschule [8/9 years total]", or a teacher deciding where your kid's going instead of you and/or the kid.
Eventually, when people get out of school, their prospect is to find an apprenticeship as a salesman or some other job that's going to be virtually non-existent, when RFID & Co hit the market, or their job as a construction worker get's automated away by an oversized 3D printer.
I never understood why the level of expectations in DE is so low in general.
As a comparison, in 2010 the attainment rate of tertiary education in RU vs DE is 54 (1st place) vs 25.4 (23rd place) percent for (25 to 64 year olds) source: OECD interactive tool.
Regarding PISA, of course you can dump most of the results, if they come during your last lesson and say whoever's finished can go home...*facepalm*
And regarding matrices (and other concepts): it just raises the student's general understanding and awareness of subjects. It's just one example of the "level-difference" that really stood out and that's why I mentioned it. I wish someone would have shown me this, back in school too, but maybe I'm just a nerd.
The flush toilet is the basis of Western civilization. -- Alan Coult