In this area I agree with you completely Tamar. I read a study not too long ago that compared the math and science knowledge in the 40s and 50s to today. As it turns out, students in the 40s and 50s actually were more knowledgeable in math and science than students are today. In fact, the study pointed out that college graduates today do not do as well in math and science as 9th graders did in the 40s,50s, and 60s. Given that information, I wonder if students back then were any more prepared for life then than our children are now. I know that students today do not focus as much time and energy on individual subjects but more on a 'range' of subjects with less time devoted to each. I think it does give kids a well-balanced education and better prepare them to enter life as an individual n any field or trade. However, I must also admit that because of that, 'in general' students are less prepared and less knowledgeable in their specific field than European students are. Even so, in many fields the education only prepares the student to begin learning on the job. The majority of one's knowledge in any specific field is gained after a degree is attained later while working in or researching a specific field.


>>it is true. We try to prepere children for their future job.
>>I have possibility to compare knowledge of people who start program in 4-5 class, 8-9 class and as a student.
>>For first one programing is a nature(game,) for other become a job.
>>It is more ease to learn programming or language when you are young, then when you are 20 years old.
>>Competition force us, russians, other Europian country to involve children in job training during their secondary study. When child become 18 years old he/she should be able to work. Most of our students in universities work.
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>I think you address two different points here, so let me respond to them separately.
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>1) Job training vs. education--This is a fundamental difference between Bulgaria and the US. I imagine it has to do with economic circumstances. In the US, large numbers of families can afford for children not to work (or to work only a few hours a week or only during school vacations) until they're out of school entirely. We have strict laws limiting how much high school students can work.
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>It's my sense that as a society grows economically, it becomes more feasible for students to focus on a broad education rather than job training.
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>2) Age of learning to program--I see nothing wrong with teaching children something about programming. There are valuable skills for all in learning the kind of methodical thinking needed to get a program working. That said, most of the software developers I know learned programming as adults or as college students and seem to do well with it.
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>Tamar