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Q: Каково, на ваш взгляд, одно из главных достоинств религиозного образования?
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Q: Господин Пейдж, сейчас многие родители забирают своих детей из государственных школ и либо переводят их в частные школы, либо обучают их на дому. Чем, по-вашему, продиктовано такое поведение?
A: Absolutely. No child should be tied to a school that’s failing them. It is one of the, I think, most grievous sins that we have in the United States as far as school is concerned, that is insisting that a child attends a school that’s failing them. A child should be free to — a parent should be free to select a school that best meets that child’s needs, whether it’s private or whether it’s public or whether it’s a cyber-school or whether it’s home schooling or whatever. There will be a complex matrix of educational delivery systems, which includes all these different deliveiy systems. And private schools have a wonderful track record. There’s a vast body of research from the University of Chicago and elsewhere that indicate that private schools, especially religious Catholic schools, offer a high-quality education to some low-income students in inner-city settings.
Q: Каково, на ваш взгляд, одно из главных достоинств религиозного образования?
A: Because of the strong value system support. Values go right along with that. In some of our other schools, we don’t have quite as strong a push for values as I think we would need. In a religious environment the value system is pretty well set and supported. In public schools there are so many different kids from different kinds of experiences that it’s very hard to get consensus around some core values.
Q: С какими проблемами предстоит столкнуться системе образования в ближайшем будущем?
A: I think it is getting the idea across that every child has value and that every child can learn and that every child deserves our very best and most intense effort in ensuring that they have the greatest opportunity for education. It is believing in each child. And one of the most depressing things is to find systems where that belief is not strong or they don’t believe in the children. Sometimes they have low expectations for certain children. And overcoming these low expectations for certain children is probably our greatest challenge in the future.
The Baptist Press. Apr 11. 2003
Interview with Dr Ahmad Al Sharef, Assistant Undersecretary
for Students Activities and Welfare at the Ministry of Education
and Youth, the United Arab Amirates
Q: Какие главные задачи стоят перед преподавателями и работниками образования в Арабских странах вообще и ОАЭ в частности?
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A: We аге in a transition phase from instruction-oriented education to selfeducation. This means a drastic change. It starts with the goals, through the terms and the philosophy itself.
In the era of instruction, the goal was to cram the mind with information. This mode considers the brain as comprised of many aptitudes according to the explanation prevailing at the time.
Now, the goal has changed. The approach is more holistic. It considers the student as a social entity. In an era of self-education, physical and emotional education is not less important than mental education.
Hence, it is clear that the biggest and most important task facing the teachers and the educational authorities in the UAE and the Arab world is to shift from the system prevailing for long time to another one that is totally different.
Q: Получается, что проблема стоит перед каждым. А что делать учителю, который привык работать по старинке, ведь его обучали по традиционной системе?
A: The curriculum is now expanded to embrace all aspects of life. Therefore, methods must be changed too. To consider that the student, not the teacher, is the centre of the educational process requires change. This change starts from the educational goals and extends to the term as I mentioned earlier.
The issue is a major one. The challenges are great. In confronting these challenges, we must employ new technologies judiciously and accept the interdependence of societies in order to see the bigger world as it really is —- and for it to see us as we really are.
Q: Как вы думаете, насколько для школ важно придавать особое значение критическому мышлению и открытому взгляду на мир?
A: This is exactly what’s required. The modem development theories do not differentiate between home and family, as well as the school, the environment and life. The school takes the child from his home to the great big world, the society.
To enter such an open world, under the influence of satellite TV, Internet and the information revolution, he needs to be armed with the right understanding, fortified and ‘immunised’.
Immunisation is not only against measles, smallpox and other diseases. There are many ‘diseases’ presented through this openness against which he should be immunised. This could only be achieved by critical and creative thinking.
Tomorrow’s schools must combine theory and practice, encourage experimentation and follow the approach of systematic investigation.
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