Slowly but surely, the time is coming to go back to school. Children who spent 2 months on holidays will go back to classrooms to participate in lessons more or, sometimes, less willingly. To brighten up that hard time, we’ve decided to provide you with fun facts about education and schooling, and to show that in fact there is always something interesting to discover.
Let’s start with something simple: did you know that before the eraser became popular, children at English schools cleaned their mistakes with breadcrumbs? (source: americangraduates.com). On the ehow.com website we can read that Japanese schools do not hire janitors. It is the students’ duty to keep classrooms and corridors clean. The aim is to teach students to respect the work of others and to not see themselves as superior to such occupations.
When you think about schools, the first thing that probably comes to your mind is rules. Children have to obey so many restrictions and regulations. Recent studies show, however, that schools that loosen up schoolyard rules a little observe a massive decrease in bullying, injuries and vandalism. Apparently, giving too many rules to the kids does not play to the principal’s advantage (source: KickassFacts.com). Turns out that giving children too many rules interferes with their development.
Who does not love to read an inspiring story from the life of a famous person? Think about your favorite actor or business person. They are so successful, they simply had to finish schools with honors, right? Well, not exactly. Among celebrity dropouts you can find Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, James Cameron and Mark Zuckerberg. The founder of Wendy’s (an American food chain), Dave Thomas decided to go back to high school in 1993 to get his GED. Was he eager to continue his education? Not necessarily. He became worried that his success as a high school dropout might convince other teenagers to quit school so he decided to prevent this from happening (source: biography.com).
And last but definitely not least: the days off! The longest summer holidays are enjoyed by children in Chile: summer break lasts from the middle of December to early March. In Australia however, children are more excited for the Christmas holidays, for they last longer than the ones in the summer! Schools around the world may differ, yet it is safe to say that in every country you can find something that will surprise you. Even if you hated school as a child, you would probably give everything that you have to exchange it for your 9-5 job. Or would you? Let us know in the comment section below 🙂
(MW)
