ABOUT
What is Hole Studies?
Hole Studies is a place for teachers, students, parents, or anyone interested in education. I travel the world, visiting schools of foreign cultures, hoping to learn something different about education – a different educational outlook or philosophy and then figure out how to apply such concepts here in the U.S.. The articles about foreign education is just to provoke thought and ideas – we should never stop brainstorming and learning from others!
It is also a place where you can resources that I have created/used as a teacher or was inspired by while traveling.
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Why?
With an entire family of teachers, I’ve been involved with education my whole life. The greatest gift in the world is education and I’ve always wanted to be someone that was able to give this amazing gift and be great at it. After three years of student teaching and then a few years of teaching on my own, I’ve learned that there are serious holes in education.
Education in the U.S. today is lacking the characteristics of what makes education fantastic: exploration, expectations, responsibility, respect, and fairness. Instead, students are force-fed information for a state exam that is to be taken at the end of the year and students are never given the opportunity to really understand what they are learning. There is no bridging of any gaps – and, trust me, there are a lot of gaps. However, this isn’t the teachers’ fault. Teachers have no control over this. They are given specific curricula to follow within a certain time-frame and the world comes to a giant halt when it’s not followed exactly. All the while, we are told that “higher standards” and “more rigor” needs to be implemented to ensure that students are really “learning.” The result is something far from what we want: teachers and students rushing through new material and students never understanding conceptually. This is a race to NO WHERE! Force feed the students the basic information so that they can pass a multiple choice state exam [which is ridiculous in itself], just so that they can forget about it a week or so after the test?! Nope. Sorry. Can’t do it.
As an educator, I could not deal with this reality. This is beyond disgusting and something needs to be done.
Since I can not move a mountain [at least not alone], I decided to write about education that I see around the world and compare it to the education in the U.S.
In most other countries, I’m allowed to go into schools freely to record and reflect. If instruction is in English, then great! And if not, then a comparison of how classrooms are arranged and the interactions that take place are noteworthy nonetheless.
Since Americans have been unable to change the education system for a number of years now, an in-depth compare-and-contrast between U.S. education and education everywhere else in the world is necessary. Most countries will be good to learn from, some might be worse, but nevertheless, we need help. So whether I make formal contact with schools in a professional setting or partake in casual conversation with teachers over dinner and drinks… Whether an educator in the U.S. that is interested in education in other countries or an educator in another country that has no idea how we “teach” in the U.S.… whether you’re a middle school student or a or a professor with a doctorate in educational theory – this will still be a learning a experience for everyone involved – including you!
Hole Studies was created due to the major holes in the U.S. education system. It is a place for new ideas inspired by international education. No country is perfect, but every country does things a little differently – sometimes better, sometimes worse.
My goal is to travel around the world to visit schools and talk to teachers in order to gain new perspectives of how we can fill these holes here in the U.S. I won’t have all the answers of how to fix things, but I will share interesting things that I experience. Then together, we can figure out how to apply the foreign ideas here at home to fill in the holes… Hopefully, over time, if we keep filling in the holes with good alternatives, eventually we’ll have a great educational system!
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What Does Hole Studies Offer?.
Articles
Whether you’re a teacher in the U.S. with similar frustrations that would like to read about my findings of different educational theories from around the world, whether you’re a teacher from another country that is interested in reading about U.S. education, whether you’re thinking about going into education as your career, or whether you just like to read interesting blogs of what most people don’t know of what goes on behind the scenes in schools, then Hole Studies is for you.
Teacher Resources
Hole Studies provides some resources for your classroom, tools for better class discipline, activities, etc.
Parent/Student Resources
Hole Studies isn’t just for teachers; it is also for parents and students too! You’ll find parent resources to keep your child(ren) on track in school, ideas/ suggestions, free materials, and even personal tutoring (if I happen to be in your area).
About Lindsay
I was born and raised on the south shore of Long Island – right in between New York City and the Hamptons… Towards the end of high school, I realized that life on Long Island wasn’t reality (especially when there are reality shows on MTV filmed at the exact places I frequented). At the age of 17, I wanted the complete opposite… And I found it in West Virginia.
I attended West Virginia University I earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics and a Master’s Degree in Secondary Mathematics Education.
I taught for a few years and then realized that American education is well… not good. It has nothing to do with the teachers. The problems are from higher up and I feel like I wasn’t being heard from my classroom of ideas. I needed to do something about it. And not just complain about it, but actually DO something about it!
This is how Hole Studies was born.