Education Speech Essay

A Chinese proverb, â€Å" If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people’’. Good morning to all. Knowing what a great impact education plays on the world, I decided to investigate the various education systems. Today, we look into the education systems of: Ghana, Finland, South Korea and Argentina I begin with Argentina. Argentina has the highest levels of education and literacy .The school year in Argentina runs from March to December and lasts about two hundred days. Schools are closed for national holidays and two weeks in July for vacation. Normally, public elementary schools are in session for four and a half hours each weekday. Saturdays are generally reserved for extracurricular school activities. Often, a school will have a morning and afternoon session, allowing pupils and teachers to choose their sessions. The country’s public university system is also free of charge and all students are required by law to complete thirteen years of schooling this is from pre-school up to twelfth grade. When researching into the Ghanaian education system I found a few really interesting facts. Education in Ghana from nursery school up to an undergraduate level takes about twenty years. Primary and secondary education is free and compulsory in Ghana. Children begin around the ages of six and end at seventeen. There is a unified national curriculum for the entire country. And lastly, there are â€Å"Culture† classes in nearly every school that involve students practicing African drumming and dancing. Now, moving on to South Korea. The school calendar has two semesters, the first extending from March through to July and the second from September through to February. There are summer and winter breaks. A typical day finds high school scholars studying before school begins at about 8 am Classes run for fifty minutes each. The afternoon session resumes at about 1 pm and classes continue until about 4 pm, followed by the cleaning of the classroom. Students may then take a short dinner break at home, or they may eat at school. Teachers typically move from room to room, while students stay in one place. Students return to the school library to study or attend private schools or tutoring sessions until between 10 pm, and midnight. And lastly, Finland. The education system which has been rated the most  innovative and unique education system in the world. Ninety three percent of Finnish students graduate from high school and education in Finland is a system with no tuition fee. In Finland, classes are small, seldom more than twenty pupils. Inside the school, the atmosphere is relaxed and informal, and the buildings are so clean that students often wear socks and no shoes. Outdoor activities are stressed, even in the coldest weather. Most commonly, pupils are issued a report card twice a year. Pupils are entitled to receive free books and materials and free school trips or even housing in the event that they have a long trip to school. In elementary school students get seventy five minutes of recess a day. Teachers only spend four hours a day in the classroom, and take two hours a week for â€Å"professional development†. All teachers in Finland must have a master’s degree, which is fully subsidized. And can you believe, Finnish teachers are actually given the same status as doctors and lawyers. So as we can see, education systems all around the world are different: however, each system succeeds in planning children for a career. And always remember Nelson Mandela’s wise words: â€Å"education is the most powerful weapon, which you can use to change the world†.