Education in Madrid
Citizenship Essay-Education in Madrid
“Education is the most powerful
weapon which you can use to change
the world”-Nelson Mandela
In this essay we are going to discuss the quality of education in Madrid by
comparing, with some statistics, the budget spent in education, the amount
of people in bilingual programs and the structure of the system. We are
going to give you the basis to judge by yourselves, as our opinion is that
education in Madrid provides a great preparation for further studies and
working life.
Education is a very important part of our society, which is why Madrid
spends so much money on it, trying to provide a better future for young
people. But, is it enough? Each year, per every primary school child, the
government spends 7.861 euros, while Europe spends 6.820 as an average.
Furthermore, each year, per every secondary school student, Madrid spends
8.516 euros, while Europe spends 6.071 euros as an average. However,
private education, which claims to be better, costs more money. But does
the quality of education increase with its price? In the private school
‘International College Spain’, parents must pay 1.653 euros each month,
which makes 14.877 euros per year. It is supposed that this will give them
more opportunities, but is it really worthy the price? Maybe Madrid should
spend as much as these parents to assure a better future.
Moreover, bilingual schools in Madrid provide an education in English to
the 73,3% of the students of Early Education, the 98,6% of Primary, the
98,1% of ESO and the 95,5% of High School students. Apart from this,
other languages, such as German and French are taught in schools so
children can travel and work abroad in the future. However, not all students
are lucky enough to be able to go to a school with prestige, therefore not
learning correctly the language and not achieving the bilingual level
claimed to be taught.
Education is divided in several stages, being Early Childhood education the
first of them. In this stage, basic things are taught to children by means of
simple games, preparing them for further studies. However, scientific
studies have proved that five-months-old babies are capable of performing
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Education in Madrid
by themselves simple mathematic operations. These children were also able
to distinguish whether simple operations (1+1) were done correctly or not.
So, talking about efficiency, babies should learn this to improve their
effectiveness as adults, but, using this method could cause damages in their
development, this is the reason why I think teaching children slowly is the
best way.
By Andrea Laguna 2ºD ESO
Compulsory primary education consists of six academic courses that you
may be studying between six and twelve years at three cycles of two years
each.
The major goals of primary education are achieving basic literacy and
numeracy among all pupils, as well as establishing foundations in science,
mathematics, foreign languages, geography, history and other social
sciences.
Although non-university (primary and secondary) education in state-funded
schools is free in Madrid, parents must pay books, materials, and
sometimes uniforms for their children. Being this a disadvantage for poor
families.
Primary education is very well organized; here I give you an example.
School is divided into three terms. The first one, the winter term, goes from
September to December. The second one, the spring term, goes from
January to Easter and finally, the summer term, after Easter to late June.
And between the summer term and the next winter term of the next grade,
there is a long summer holiday break of almost three months, in order to let
students have a rest. In spite of this, we still believe students get too many
hours of class.
Compulsory secondary education takes place after primary and may be
followed by Bachillerato or vocational course (ciclo formativo). It consists
of four courses between twelve and sixteen years of age. On their last year
of secondary, students should obtain a Certificate of Completion of
Secondary School (Título de Graduado en Educación Secundaria) if they
have successfully passed their examinations. If not, they will leave school
with a “Certificado de Escolarización”. Following primary studies, the aim
of secondary education is to ensure that students acquire the basic elements
of culture, especially in humanistic and scientific aspects; develop and
consolidate in their habits of study and work, and prepare them for their
inclusion to further studies.
By Aurora Asenjo 2ºD ESO
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Education in Madrid
Maybe education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the
world as Nelson Mandela told us. As all of us are in secondary education
and in some years we will pass to high school (or bachillerato, as we say in
Spanish), but most of us don´t seem really excited. We see bachillerato as
another course upstairs where we will be given more different classes,
more homework and even more exams. What we usually don´t realize is
that receiving the bachillerato title after graduating is our key to the door of
universities and opportunities in a future not so far away. Here in Madrid
some, or most of our schools have now the “bachillerato internacional”
which gives us the opportunity to study in universities abroad. Despite
bachillerato being only two years, they are the two more intensive years
during all the studies since childhood until the majority of age in most of
the cases.
After the bachillerato most of us aspire to go to a university. Here in
Madrid we can show off about the wide and diverse range of titles and the
prestige of our universities. This huge dimension of university education in
Madrid, the important contingent of students coming from other regions of
the State and from many different foreign countries, contributes to mainly
Americans and Europeans. Although our universities might not be the best
ones in the world, there is the chance they could be some of the best in
Europe.
By Laura González 2ºD ESO
People with disabilities need special education. People who work for
special education, like ONCE (Spanish organisation for blind people),
teach children with disabilities basic things and help them to integrate
better in the society.
In Spain, ONCE is one of the most famous and well recognised
organisations for blind people. In September 2013, the organisation
celebrated their 75th anniversary with about 71,460 members of all ages
.They were also awarded with Spain's “Premio Príncipe de Asturias”. From
2012 until 2021 ONCE will try to help 30.000 people and provide a job for
at least 15.000 of them.
Teachers have a very important role in the education for disabled
people.They are trained to approach academic skill development in
alternative ways. For example; students with reading disabilities may be
limited by their inability to hear the phonemes in words, and therefore,
sounding out new words is so difficult that no matter how hard they try
they only make minor progress. A special education teacher may approach
this problem by decoding words, teaching children visual strategies.
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Education in Madrid
A small number of special education teachers work with mental retardation
or autism. However, the majority of special education teachers work with
mild to moderate disabilities.
By Maedeh Vafikarimlou 2ºESO D
As a conclusion, education is well organised, despite the constant and
confusing changes in the law by the politicians. It is also considered
bilingual; event thought not every student reaches this level. It is great in
the way that it includes everyone, no matter what problems they have, as
shown by the ONCE. It provides opportunities for everybody, and it also
treats students as people, not only focusing on their efficiency.
Furthermore, it allows you to choose the future you want for yourself,
without anyone interfering in your decisions. Moreover, Madrid is one of
the places that invest the most in education. And even though it is
progressing, it can still be improved by rearranging subjects and
stimulating imagination instead of memory.
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