Comparing primary schools in Litomyšl and New Zealand

We had the chance to spend three months living down under, and the children went to school there. New Zealand primary schools are hugely popular abroad; people from China, Korea and European countries pay a great deal of money to send their children there. In our case the fees were taken care of by the local university that had invited us. How do the schools there compare with what we know from Litomyšl? Let's sum up the main differences.

1. New Zealand schools are easier, especially in math.
2. They are more informal. In one class the teacher did push-ups on three fingers when he couldn't answer the children's question. The emphasis is on discussion, argument, creativity, ambition.
3. There are no grades. Assessment is given in words, often in the form of praise.
4. Uniforms are compulsory. Phones are banned.
5. The schools look like a cluster of cabins in a park. Children spend breaks outdoors, often playing rugby and cricket. The classroom has children from all over the world; white New Zealanders are a minority.
6. There are no school cafeterias; you have to pack your children's lunch for them.
7. From the age of 10 they learn practical skills: cooking, woodwork and so on.

The children enjoyed it. Are our schools worse? I prefer the Czech system. New Zealanders themselves realize that their schools lack rigor. Immigrants from Asia and Europe are overtaking them. The other extreme is Korea or China, where children know nothing but drill from dawn to dusk. And you know what? When you talk to Koreans and New Zealanders, they end up saying they would most like a compromise, the kind we have in Europe. Czech primary education has a good reputation.

That doesn't mean there is nothing we could improve at home. We pay too little attention to the ability to argue a point and too much to Eastern-style memorization (where kaolin is mined, name ten nearly identical butterflies, and so on). But even that is preparation for life: sometimes you have to do what your boss wants, period. You have to grit your teeth and get on with it.

The New Zealand system is not as excessively progressivist as the American one. Schools do not serve as a vehicle for ideological indoctrination. Environmental problems, for instance, are discussed, but not as life's central concern: the emphasis is on the children's personal development and on finding solutions, not on atoning for inborn guilt. Creating, building, fixing, not self-restraint at any cost. School shows children what great things they can achieve in life, not how to minimize the consequences of their own existence.

My thanks to the teachers at the Zámecká school (and above all the class teachers, Mrs. Lipavská, Pokorná, Motlová and Bořková) for making the stay possible, sending us the coursework while we were away, and being patient with the children after our return. Now I can say with a clear conscience that the work of our teachers is excellent, even by international standards.