Children's characteristics influence their school performance. Temperament, attitudes and emotional state are variables to consider in the performance of a child from the age of nine to twelve years.
The changes in the educational system during the second half of the 20th century speak of a process that seeks continuous adjustment to achieve the thinking skills of the student in a comprehensive education. The traditional curriculum based on the development of reading, writing, and mathematics emphasized child-centered and child-centered methods. Subsequently, during the Cold War, the interests were not only those of the child, but of governments, focusing on science and mathematics.
In the 1960s, an adjustment was again sought: the educational system allowed young people to choose their own activities and the teacher was only a facilitator of learning experiences. The adjustment had to be sought by lowering the averages in the academic attitude test. They went back to basics and the system tried to improve through educational plans that included more tasks, prolonging the daily and annual school day and also a change in curriculum and school.
Today there is talk of educational classroom projects, integrating themes, subjects and according to the interests of the students. Direct experience, the use of concrete materials to solve problems and close collaboration between teachers and representatives are encouraged. However, the trend is to seek a more personalized education, with an emphasis on reason, reasoning. The idea is to develop children's thinking skills more and more and avoid overcrowding.
Technocracy has turned its hopes on the computer as an indispensable element of the classroom. However, these new tools represent an obstruction to the development of the written word and basic skills. In a study by Mullis et al, 1997. North American children were defeated in a math meeting for fourth graders from seven countries. The teachers stated that these winning boys never or hardly ever used the computer.
Papalia and others (2003) mention personalized education experiences for small groups that involve teachers, family members and students to form a true learning community, with a good common vision of what education is. The results speak for themselves: In the eastern part of Harlem, in New YorK, as a result of the application of this experience, 90% of students complete high school and nine out of ten enter university, compared to the system normal with an average of 50% graduates in the rest of the city. (Meier, 1995, quoted by Papalia, 2003).
Overcrowding is also a problem in our country. It is preferred to spend on armaments, on preparing wars, than to build schools and improve the teacher. The presence of 35 to 40 students in a classroom requires the neglect and minimal development of the thinking skills of the students.
The idea of a community project school addresses the social aspect. It would be interesting to adopt an essay of this learning community in our Educational System. The educational philosophy of the school system affects learning (Papalia, 2003). The personalization of education does not respond to state-run anthropology, in which the masses are above the person.
It is necessary to have a more individualized education and to use technology as a means to achieve this objective, in this way learning becomes more relaxed and meaningful. As a result of this, a more developed and productive society will be had. Overcrowding leads to quality deterioration.
