Is Shaheen School Dhaka the Best CO-ED School in BD?

[AsifTheManRahman]

well spitfire, i'd definitely prefer a bangla based education over an english based one any day. i have no problems with that. however, your comparing us with the japanese and chinese, or even the europeans, is like comparing apples with egg pudding. look at the japanese and chinese (and also the europeans) and tell me how far they have advanced in every aspect of life compared to us. nobody cares if the japanese don't learn english or any other language because they are a big name in the world today. unfortunately, we haven't reached such a level of advancement, and right now we are not at the position to expect that our language will get the same respect as japanese or spanish (not that anyone will disrespect us for speaking bangla). we are dependant on other languages, and to be honest, i dont like it. i too believe that the language we have made so much sacrifice for should be something that people will know us for. however, right now, we are not at the position to expect anything like that.

once again, i'd like to direct you to the statements in my previous posts where i mentioned that the question is not about which language is studied - english or bangla. however, since you brought up the misconception that english is the only reason people go to english schools, i've had to bring the issue up

once we reach a similar height as the japanese, i'm sure people will value us and our language more. not now.

and again, i'd like to make it clear that i don't have anything against bangla or bangla based schools. what i'm trying to say is that knowing a foreign language (most preferably english as it is universally used) is not harmful at all, when you're gaining an equivalent knowledge of your own mother tongue as well. in fact, it's helpful.

as for private education, whenever was that a key word? and so many bangla medium students go to private tutors as well - so what's the big fuss?

no charm factor is in action over here - the O and A levels are under an english system, and thus tutors teach in english. now which part of that is greek?

[Zunaid]

Originally posted by allrounder
To all you have to realize that education is not just about getting good grades, scoring high on your SATs or getting admission to prestigious universities.

I did mention in my post that english medium schools do not teach us about our culture, philosophy, literature, geography, history. The books you get shows pictures of people not from our country, the stories you read in your literature class are not bangladeshi stories, the map you saw in your geography class is not map of bangladesh. This is just not right. Please dont tell me that you prefer your kids growing up reading Humpty Dumpty, Little Miss Muffet instead of Bangla choras. How can you accept that being a bangladeshi?

The bangla subject is there mainly for translation purpose, that is the only period where you read bengali, read bangla poems, learn something about bangladesh.

Tell me do english school teach all basic subjects till grade 10? Do you have to study, history, geography, literature anymore after 7th grade? English schools get very focused on O (3 years syllabus) and A level(2 years syllabus)l examinations right from grade 7. Even then students take the exams even before completing 10th grade and 12th grade.

Well I can keep going on an on with this issue, but this thread has already focused on something other than the topic. May be I should open up a new thread.

Edited on, March 11, 2005, 4:44 PM GMT, by allrounder.

Too much sweeping generalizations stemming from blinkered glasses?

You may be partially correct in that there has been a mushrooming of so-called private schools, whose business is not the dissemination of education but the amassing of money. Medium of instruction has nothing to do with it - consider all the Bangla medium "tutorials" that you see from oli to goli.

But in the real schools where medium of instruction is English, you will be very surprised to see how much the emphasis is on Bangladesh - be it history, geography, language, social studies et al. I have compared the curriculum from this perspective - I was surprised to see that we (I went to Green Herald in the late 70s) had more focus on the history and georgraphy of Bangladesh than the comparable SSC curriculum.

Surprising, no?

I moved on to Notre Dame and then to BUET - had no trouble transitioning from one medium to another. No adjustment problems, no disconnect from my culture and roots, and no difficulty in understanding Bankim.

coda:

At GH, we sat for the Senior Cambridge exams - similar to the U of London O Levels, yet a tad bit different. Exams held only once a year - and you must sit for a minimum 6 subjects. Grades are numeric:

1,2 = A
3,4 = B
5, 6 = C
etc...

You are actually given 1st, 2nd divisions etc. A total grade of 24 in 6 subjects would give you a 1st division. The best possible grade is getting what is known as 6p = i.e 1 in all 6 mandatory subjects.

[nasifkhan]

Originally posted by allrounder
To all you have to realize that education is not just about getting good grades, scoring high on your SATs or getting admission to prestigious universities.

I did mention in my post that english medium schools do not teach us about our culture, philosophy, literature, geography, history. The books you get shows pictures of people not from our country, the stories you read in your literature class are not bangladeshi stories, the map you saw in your geography class is not map of bangladesh. This is just not right. Please dont tell me that you prefer your kids growing up reading Humpty Dumpty, Little Miss Muffet instead of Bangla choras. How can you accept that being a bangladeshi?

The bangla subject is there mainly for translation purpose, that is the only period where you read bengali, read bangla poems, learn something about bangladesh.

Tell me do english school teach all basic subjects till grade 10? Do you have to study, history, geography, literature anymore after 7th grade? English schools get very focused on O (3 years syllabus) and A level(2 years syllabus)l examinations right from grade 7. Even then students take the exams even before completing 10th grade and 12th grade.

Well I can keep going on an on with this issue, but this thread has already focused on something other than the topic. May be I should open up a new thread.

Edited on, March 11, 2005, 4:44 PM GMT, by allrounder.

OH BHAI...............Pls pls pls .....Na jaina Ulta palta kothai boilen na......

[Spitfire_x86]

Originally posted by AsifTheManRahman
well spitfire, i'd definitely prefer a bangla based education over an english based one any day. i have no problems with that. however, your comparing us with the japanese and chinese, or even the europeans, is like comparing apples with egg pudding. look at the japanese and chinese (and also the europeans) and tell me how far they have advanced in every aspect of life compared to us. nobody cares if the japanese don't learn english or any other language because they are a big name in the world today. unfortunately, we haven't reached such a level of advancement, and right now we are not at the position to expect that our language will get the same respect as japanese or spanish (not that anyone will disrespect us for speaking bangla). we are dependant on other languages, and to be honest, i dont like it. i too believe that the language we have made so much sacrifice for should be something that people will know us for. however, right now, we are not at the position to expect anything like that.

We may not have enough resource to make higher studies in Bangla medium, but I see no reason why Bangla shouldn't be the medium of education for pre-University level education in all schools. (that don't mean ruling English out of the curriculam)

once again, i'd like to direct you to the statements in my previous posts where i mentioned that the question is not about which language is studied - english or bangla. however, since you brought up the misconception that english is the only reason people go to english schools, i've had to bring the issue up

It may not be the only reason, but definately a very big reason. If scholastica goes Bangla medium today (not changing curricullam, only switching language) , most of the current students will go to another school. In the next admission session, they will be forced to reduce tution fees, because people here aren't willing to pay so much for only Bangla medium education. The quality of education won't matter much then.

once we reach a similar height as the japanese, i'm sure people will value us and our language more. not now.

We're definately not going to be alienated from the rest of the world if government decides that only Bangla should be the medium of pre-university level education. 50-60 years ago, Japan wasn't in their today's postion, but their medium of education was and still is Japanese.

and again, i'd like to make it clear that i don't have anything against bangla or bangla based schools. what i'm trying to say is that knowing a foreign language (most preferably english as it is universally used) is not harmful at all, when you're gaining an equivalent knowledge of your own mother tongue as well. in fact, it's helpful.

I don't have anything against learning English either. But I'm completely against choosing English as medium of education for pre-university level educaion.

as for private education, whenever was that a key word? and so many bangla medium students go to private tutors as well - so what's the big fuss?

no charm factor is in action over here - the O and A levels are under an english system, and thus tutors teach in english. now which part of that is greek?

Didn't you write that ?? You were definately not talking about tutors, were you?

and no, i dont agree that parents only buy private education because it's in english. the keyword here is "private". it is because those schools are private that they are not as low quality as most (definitely not all) public schools.

Anyway, I wanted to say that most of these parents are going to lose interest for "higher-quality educaion" if "private" schools remain unchanged in terms of education quality but switch to Bangla as medium of Education.

[AsifTheManRahman]

i thought you were referring to private tuition. yes, i was referring to private education, and not tuition in my previous posts (except the second last one).

it has been proven time and again that anything related to the govt in bangladesh is subject to corruption and laziness on the part of the people involved. public education - be it english or bangla - is not free of that, and hence the inferior quality of so many public schools in bangladesh. this is not rocket science

anyways, i don't think that the nation is ready to ensure that bangla gets the respect it deserves - we are simply not yet as great a nationality as a whole. your comparison of bd to japan time and again gives me the goosebumps (apples with egg pudding once again). and i really don't see any problem in having a two faced education system with bangla and english being taught together.

[rafiq]

Hey why don't all of you just be happy with whatever friggin' education you got, be it bangla, english, chinese, co-ed, single sex, in a madrasha, temple or convent?

majhe majhe mone hoi....

[rafiq]

shedin akta dawat-e akjon bollo "majhe majhe mone hoi banglacricket-er server-e ek hali virus dhukai dei"...funniest thing I heard in a week!

[ZunaidH]

Here's my opinion:

I think the Bangla Medium of instruction in Bangladesh has some inherent deficiencies. In my opinion, people who go through the program are cheated. For example,

--the idea of "suggestions" before the exam is simply wrong. "KAA" set "KHA" set "GAA" set are wrong as people complain about questions set are harder having "KAA" being the easiest set of questions and preferable.

--Skip the previous years questions and study for SSC/HSC is bad. What's up with that rule?

--that "Uchchotor Gonit" thing for SSC was a joke as I don't think the book was "uchchotoro" in any ways or means.

After I passed my SSC and was taking my SAT and achievement exams, I felt that I was cheated out of my natural share of learning in school. Compared to my SSC books, the books available for O and A levels were much advanced and had some real meat on them. No comparison there. If I could rewind my life, I would go back and study the O' Level books.

On the best co-ed subject, I am not sure what makes Shaheen the best co-ed school. In my opinion Cadet Colleges and Shaheen school (the army type of schools) are probably at the bottom of my ranking. They simply don't create leaders. People going to those schools get a good dose of discipline and works out well for the bad and the spoiled kids. For the spontaneous and the creative type, I recommend, look elsewhere. Decent Bangali parents should be able to make that call. What works for Dawah Tabligh may not work for me. No need to send people to Pabna. I find that bit offending. Please refrain.

[allrounder]

'Regulatory body a must for English medium schools'

http://thedailystar.net/2005/03/13/d50313060168.htm

Looks like I am not the only one who thinks this way. Hope they improve the curriculum of both bengali and english medium schools and provide proper education to all of us.

[Sami]

Originally posted by allrounder
The purpose of the english medium schools is not to teach the students everything 'in english' but what english medium schools teach is hardly anything that is related to Bangladesh (its history, geography, culture, literature, sociology, philosophy, people). As a result the products of english medium schools finds a hard time to blend in with the general bangladeshi population. They do not fit in with the main stream bangladeshis. They are neither good in bangla vasha or expert in english language (excluding the brilliant and genious kids). As a result many of them ends up abroad. You will find very few ending up in BUET, DU or any other uni in BD (excluding the NSU types which were created recently).

well lets go point by point here... I was in an english medium school... and in one of the oldest and reputed ones at that... we were taught Bangladesh history, geography, culture, philosophy and abt the people in school... maybe not to an extent that wud please everyone... but when you condemn english medium in this way u shud first get ur facts right... Have u been to an english mediun school or have u been thru the syllabuses of each class? I am not a genius nor I am brilliant student and i dont claim to know english or bangla perfectly well either... but i can honestly say that I am pretty good at both of them and i cud read and appreciate the bangla language as well as any bangla medium going student. the schools have nothing to do with how a child perceive their native culture. No Schools and I repeat NO SCHOOLS in bangladesh teach their student to NOT appreciate bangla... The outlook that kids have towards the bangladeshi culture develops from out of school experiences... mainly family-friend-TV etc. Its true that English medium students don’t end up in public universities as much as Bangla mediums do… maybe the ratio is 1:1000 but that doesn’t reflect the true picture… the number of students in English medium is practically like 1:1000 to number of students going to Bangla medium. And also like it or not the people who send their kids to English medium schools can afford the expenses to send their kids abroad. I am sure if the same was true for bangla medium students they wud be lining up to go to the US or Canada or wherever. And funnily enuf a good portion of bidesh going students are from bangla medium schools. And not to diss the Bangladesh uni entrance policies there are very weird accommodations for A level results… in most cases the board thinks of ‘us’ as weird beings from a completely different system… it is not us that think we r different… it is the Bangladeshi system that has alienated us…

Originally posted by allrounder
The term 'english medium' gives the false impression that studing in english medium makes them better than students studing in bengali medium, as a result all students going to english schools feel that they are somewhat smarter, better educated and more civilized than bengali medium students. The students always tend to carry this attitude in them.

Ai idea apnare ke disay? We don’t think we r smarter or better than bangla medium students. Moner madhuri mishaya aishob likhen ken? There are always some snotty students in the bunch. Onek bangla medium er polapaan er paa mati te poray na demak er jonne… it’s a stereotype and I hate this… shobai andaje ja ichcha boila jaben and amra shob somoi accept korbo naki? Koijon English medium student der ke apni closely deksen? Some of my best friends are from bangla medium and my closest family members have been to schools like VNS, St joseph, residential model, udayan, BAF shaheen (the school that started all this blabbering in the first place), ideal school and I have friends who have been to cadet schools… make an effort to talk to ‘us’… kotha bole dekhen u will be surprised to see how much alike we are to bangla medium students… after all eki desher manush… eki jaigai boro hoisi, aki rickshai chorsi and whatever…

Students themselves become teachers once they pass O'level or A'level. They focus on O'level and A'level exams so much that they even skip real education and goes to coaching centers from grade 7/8 and takes exams even before passing grade 10 and 12 grade properly. So students tend to loose the meaning of real education.

another pile of BS… apni mone koren amra fakibaaji kore exam diye dei? O level and Alevels mean exactly what it SSC and HSC means to bangla medium students… we don’t run off to finish off our schooling so that we can become some teacher at some school… its something that we do caz we get some time in hand to earn some extra cash its not our goal in life… just to relate… bangla medium er onek chele pele metric/intermediate diyar por tutiony kore… its what young students do… it’s the way of life… its not innate to English medium students…

The english schools, teachers, coaching centers sucks money out of the parents just because it is 'english'. The quality of education is not proportional to the amount of money spent because an average bengali medium student is probably the same as an average english medium student . Once they spent so much money, they do not want to get a job with the same pay a bengali medium graduate will get. Because throughout their lives they feel they are superior to bengali medium people.

And bangla medium students don’t go to pvt tutors? And they do not suck money out of the parents like crazy? Man apni kon duniyai asen… habijabi ja mathai ashe likhe gesen… go and look at this coaching center called “Shubhechcha” they somehow guarantee STAR marks and a handful of LETTERS… shobai is out to make money… its not a quality of the English medium system…


honestly I am refraining myself a lot here… usually I don’t get so ticked off but ek jaigai etto faltu kotha just was too much to handle… ja janen na oishob niye chupchaap thakben… I understand u have a rit to express ur views… BUT aibhabe kauke bolar agay u need facts to back ur statements up jatay manush jokhon danda and sandal niya ashe tokhon haath tuila dekhaite paren… onek bangla medium students deksi re bhai… I have seen many being apprehensive of ‘us’ English medium er snotty polapaan and also I have seen bangla medium students looking away from ‘us’ thinking they r better off… but rarely ppl come to understand what its all abt… there are always ppl who will be snobbish and akashe bheshe beranor moton demak wala… and these kinda ppl are on both sides of the river… don’t generalize… we don’t like being called “Bangladeshi’s GONE WRONG”… as much as U like to think we are…

Keu dukkho tukkho paile maaf koira diyen… really pissed rit now… so ektu emotional hoye liksi… its just pissing to be alienated… English medium students are stereotyped only too often and we do deserve a break…

Edited on, March 13, 2005, 1:33 AM GMT, by radicalsami.
Reason: stupid word replaces Bangla with Bangle...

[allrounder]

Even after reading the daily star article from my previous post how can you say that all I wrote is pile of BS?

Vice-chancellor of Brac University Prof Jamillur Reza Chowdhury said there should be a regulatory agency for English medium schools whose textbooks must be in consistent with the country's history and culture.

Dr Manzoor Ahmed of Brac University, Principal of The Aga Khan School George G Kays and Chairperson of Scholastica School Yasmeen Murshed presented three keynote papers at the day-long workshop.
-- Daily Star

I am sure that there has been a lot of changes within the schools over the years and hopefully they are working to address the issues in the coming years too.

My friends who went to NSU from a bengali med did not have a very plesant experience with students from english med inside and outside the classrooms. Now to see where you are coming from I find this explanation : over the years the population of english medium students coming from middle class and other backgrounds have increased thus the number of students having superiority complex probably went down.

I agree that english schools give a ton load of work to the students right from the beginning, the topics they cover is more than bengali schools cover, O'level and A'level syllabus covers much more than SSC and HSC. But that does not cover the areas of education I mentioned.

To say everything is BS takes us nowhere or help to review education systems of Bangladesh both english and bengali. It will be better if we can talk about how each system can help the other to improve and improve the overall education system in BD.

Oh to support my facts, aitar theke r ki boro fact hoite pare j I am a product of english medium school right from KG to A'level ('82-'95)? So everything I said is from my personal experience.

Edited on, March 13, 2005, 3:11 AM GMT, by allrounder.

Edited on, March 13, 2005, 3:32 AM GMT, by allrounder.

[AsifTheManRahman]

if you did go to an english school, then why the wide use of the word "you" in the following post?

i wonder which school on earth you went to :duh:

do you realize that your previous posts are contradictory to the statement you made about having gone to an english school in the last one? anyone reading your posts would have easily been convinced that you had no idea about english schools in bangladesh. apni ki schoole chokh kalo kapor diya baindha rakhten bhai?

and what about the DS article? you think the education minister ever went to an english school? if not then how is he supposed to know what's taught there (i.e. whether the teaching system is consistent with our culture and what not)?

also, your statement on english medium students lookig down upon bangla medium ones sickens me. we have, among the quite few bangladeshi undergrads at my university, a guy from govt laboratory, and he is never subjected to any sort of discrimination on our part. in fact it is he who sometimes suffers from an inferiority complex.


[quote]Originally posted by allrounder
To all you have to realize that education is not just about getting good grades, scoring high on your SATs or getting admission to prestigious universities.

I did mention in my post that english medium schools do not teach us about our culture, philosophy, literature, geography, history. The books you get shows pictures of people not from our country, the stories you read in your literature class are not bangladeshi stories, the map you saw in your geography class is not map of bangladesh. This is just not right. Please dont tell me that you prefer your kids growing up reading Humpty Dumpty, Little Miss Muffet instead of Bangla choras. How can you accept that being a bangladeshi?

The bangla subject is there mainly for translation purpose, that is the only period where you read bengali, read bangla poems, learn something about bangladesh.

Tell me do english school teach all basic subjects till grade 10? Do you have to study, history, geography, literature anymore after 7th grade? English schools get very focused on O (3 years syllabus) and A level(2 years syllabus)l examinations right from grade 7. Even then students take the exams even before completing 10th grade and 12th grade.

Well I can keep going on an on with this issue, but this thread has already focused on something other than the topic. May be I should open up a new thread.


Edited on, March 15, 2005, 12:01 AM GMT, by AsifTheManRahman.

[Faceoff]

There is a saying in bangla: Folonong Poricheete.
So Bangla or English, which ever medium you have gone, at the end of the day its ur character and success in life that defines you.

[bdboy]

Originally posted by dawah.tabligh
Nope, they were not. 1st of all, the education standard of the CO-Ed's were below the mark.

Its for Rich kids to have fun type. Shaheen was not like that. Shaheen not only taught education, it also taught discipline and punctuality in every aspect of life. Also, really, you get to learn some manners there. You also learn to treat women with respect. Parents can relax thinking there kids are on safe hands. It was also a safe campus, dont forget..... its an Airforce school.

Five Star

Edited on, March 10, 2005, 5:16 PM GMT, by dawah.tabligh.

Well said!! every shaheen school has got same rules and regulations..... so can you please tell me why your dhaka shaheen is the best one in bd.
Is it because you have been there once?

Edited on, March 14, 2005, 12:13 AM GMT, by bdboy.

[Sami]

Originally posted by allrounder
Oh to support my facts, aitar theke r ki boro fact hoite pare j I am a product of english medium school right from KG to A'level ('82-'95)? So everything I said is from my personal experience.

You are just one messed up human being... if u really saw so much wrong in the system that u studied in why be there at all... and that too for around 14 long yrs... and just outta curiousity... which school were u in?