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Whats wrong with our education system?

Posted: Dec 8, 2010

Its a global system now. The US was always the best. What happened? Any insight?

08:56 AM CST on Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Nick Anderson, The Washington Post

After a decade of intensive efforts to improve its schools, the U.S. posted these results in a new global survey of 15-year-old student achievement: average in reading, average in science and slightly below average in math.

Those middling scores lagged significantly behind results from several countries in Europe and Asia in the report this week from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

South Korea is an emerging academic powerhouse. Finland and Singapore continue to flex their muscles. And the Chinese city of Shanghai, participating for the first time in the Program for International Student Assessment, topped the 2009 rankings of dozens of countries and a handful of sub-national regions.

U.S. officials said the results show that the nation is slipping further behind its competitors despite years spent seeking to raise performance in reading and math through the 2002 No Child Left Behind law and a host of other reforms.

"For me, it's a massive wake-up call," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said. "Our goal should be absolutely to lead the world in education."

The report released Tuesday focused on reading ability and found that more than a dozen countries performed significantly better than the organization's statistical average in that area. The United States did not.

Education experts cautioned that the strong marks for Shanghai, as well as those reported for Hong Kong, were not representative of education trends in China as a whole because the testing program did not canvass the entire country.

Among the key findings of the study:

Girls outperform boys in reading in every participating country. The gender reading gap, among the organization's members, was equivalent to about 39 points on the testing scale, or a year of schooling.

U.S. math results were up since 2006 but not measurably different than scores in 2003, the earliest year in which comparisons were possible. U.S. science scores were up since 2006, a bright spot in the results.

Nick Anderson,

The Washington Post

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Education - maybe

[ In Reply To ..]
There are probably a lot of reasons for this.

I think we, as parents, do not push our children on education. It seems all I hear about is parents running their children around to sports events and such instead of making them study. We do not seem to put the focus on where it should be. Many parents are pushing their kids to be star athletes because we have made these type of people heros and pushing our kids to be like them so they can make zillions of dollars instead of focusing on education.

We also have no one watching the kids. It is nearly impossible for a family to survive on 1 income and kids are being shoved off to sitters and daycare, or worse yet, taking care of themselves. Some of this is out of necessity, but some of it is so we can have bigger houses, more cars and more toys.

We have taken away the right of parents and teachers to punish our children. I remember children being paddled in school when they misbehaved and now that has been deemed not proper. Parents are told they should not spank kids or that is abuse.

It seems we keep lowering standards due to the fact we have so many cultures in this country and we have to lower our standards so it is fair to everybody.

I just think we are too focused on saving the world instead of focusing on taking care of our own country. I am not saying we should not help countries that need help, but it seems every time there is a disaster in the world, we have to boast on how much more money than other countries we gave to help. We need to start worrying about our country and our kids. We are always making cuts in the schools yet are always giving billions and billions to help other countries.

I am sure there are many reasons why we are failing, but the main reason is that we do not make education a priority like many other countries do.

Just my opinion.

We simply can't compete - sorry to say

[ In Reply To ..]
We have food manufacturers who are putting increasing amounts of MSG in our foods and that stuff causes neurological damage. They put sodium nitrate in our packaged meats to keep them red and looking fresh and that stuff is known to cause cancer. We have artificial sweeteners and those also cause neurological problems. We put fluoride in our water and that stuff is dangerous and has no business being put into our water. Thanks to Monsanto, we now have genetically modified/genetically engineered corn, soybean, potatoes, etc., but the effects of GMO foods on human beings is unknown. And every time I turn around, we are putting more and more of our children on drugs for ADHD and ADD and the like. Other countries don't have these problems. They don't do things like add fluoride to their drinking water and many of them (the smart ones) have also outlawed GMO foods.

So, it's no wonder that we can't compete. We're not only not teaching our children to be able to think for themselves, but we also seem to be slowly but surely poisoning them.

Totally agree - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Yes, this definitely is a problem. Our pharmaceutical companies are working hard to have new disorders all the time in order to profit on new medications for these problems. My parents used to worry about us taking drugs, now our society pushes them, but makes it okay if it is drugs that pharmaceutical companies come up with to fix disorders that they are always coming up with. I actually saw one that says it is a disorder now if you have a picky eater. LOL

One more thing I find very disturbing is this Dream Act. Why in God's name should we educate illegal aliens? We have many kids in this country that do not have access to college, but we feel sorry for the poor illegal aliens who are here because their parents broke the law and came her illegally. I am so upset by this one.

I will be bashed for this but hasn't anyone thought - Backwards Typist

[ In Reply To ..]

about the teachers and how/what they teach? In college, it seems the teachers are not taught how to teach anymore. When they are hired in a school, unions swope in and sign them up and they are protected from being fired for not teaching the basics.

The schools have taken a lot of programs out of the school that are necessary to be educated. They also 'push' the kids through each class year so their self-esteem isn't damaged if they aren't up to par grade-wise. Schools are more interested in their sports programs to be bothered with correct teaching. They are too focused on having the largest, fanciest school with the trophy sports teams.

If the kids aren't prepared in high school, they still wind up going to college and the same thing happens there. The sports programs are more important than grades. Some college professors are progressive liberals who teach their personal agendas; i.e., Cloward and Pivins (both at Columbia U.),. Bill Ayers (University of Illinois), Professor Gates (remember him?) who wants to rewrite black history and delete those he doesn't think follow his ideals, and others. Some of the largest and most prestigous universities zero in on progressivism/liberalism. Even some school boards (Texas comes to mind) wants to rewrite history.

In this day and age, where are the fundamentals of learning? The 3 R's are no longer an absolute. How many kids know how to do arithmetic without a calculator or a cash register to do it for them? How many know how to write an essagy or letter without using texting shortcurts? How many don't know how to read or even understand what they read?

Maybe this will be a wake-up call for the schools. I doubt it, but schools should zero in on teaching the necessary life skills.

What really gets me in an uproar is how the suggestion is being passed around about schools having longer school hours and more days. What will that accomplish if the kids aren't learning? How long are kids in school nowadays? How long is each class? I see the buses go by at 7:30 every morning and 3:15 every afternoon here. I think classes start at 8:30 and they're out at 2:30. School used to start at 8 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m., so it's a cut of 1-1/2 hours a day shorter today. We learned a lot in those hours and had homework covering the subject taught that day to do at night. I heard kids are overwhelmed with homework today. Why? My opinion is they are not being taught in class, but expected to teach themselves at home.

Okay. Done my rant now. :-)

LOL - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Not a rant, just the facts. I believe you are right. And to top it all off, the teachers demand more and more money to babysit our kids instead of teach them.

I also believe sports and achieving sports awards are more important to schools than teaching the basics.

I agree that kids don\\\'t know how to add in their heads or paper. The English language has been slaughtered, ruined by text phrases. I sometimes think kids will start to be born with a cell phone hung on their ears.

The standards are getting lower and lower. The government keeps lowering the standards so our kids can pass, but they are hurting them so much. We can\\\'t expect more if they keep lowering the standards instead of raising the standards, as they probably do in other countries.

Absolutely right! (nm) - Backwards Typist

[ In Reply To ..]
.

What are China, Finland and others doing differently? - nm

[ In Reply To ..]

Here's a website giving information about - education

[ In Reply To ..]
practices in other countries.

http://asiasociety.org/education-learning/learning-world/country

Thank you -- it looks good - nm

[ In Reply To ..]

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