The Edutopia Poll
by Sara Ring
Think America is No. 1? Think again, says a new study that compared the math and science scores of U.S. students with those of their peers throughout the world. The American Institutes of Research reports that American eighth graders lag far behind their counterparts in countries such as Taiwan, Singapore, and Japan, inspiring fears that our country will soon lose its economic dominance to our better-educated foreign competitors.
Yet some feel there is little cause for alarm. They say that comparing test scores of vastly different populations may not reveal the quality of education, particularly in countries that do little to promote creativity and freethinking. And the report shows that even students from low-performing U.S. states had higher test scores than students in most other countries. Have people exaggerated the significance of these findings, or will our lagging math and science scores add up to future trouble? Tell us what you think.
Global education standards
Submitted by Pat Ross (not verified) on June 22, 2008 - 06:17.
Mathematically, there is no way for America to compete with nations where free education is granted while America's students must pay dearly for it.
Nor is there any logic to requiring them to pay for it if a nation is committed to investing in their own children.
Paying for the privilege of being educated to compete among world powers where free education is accepted as an obligation doesn't make sense, and can only undermine American prominence in the spheres of intellect, professional services, and scholarship endowment.
Restricting human welfare to the willingness to pay for education is inhumane regardless of how much schools and banks receive for education profits.
Can American students compete with their global peers?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on May 13, 2008 - 22:56.
What a stupid study...why are we comparing 8th graders? thats how rediculous this claim is, the education in the US doesn't get rigourous until high school around 10th grade! Once you get to the 10th grade you can choose whether you can take AP or IB courses (IB is INTERNATIONALLY ACCREDITED) BOTH count towards college credit if you can pass a test. In 8th grade you are still learning what you learned in 7th grade and 6th grade and elementary school. Why do you think there are more college students coming into the US then American students going to college outside the US? Its because it doesnt really matter if our education system sucks, its the student that makes the best out of his situation and we have THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES IN THE WORLD.
We should become worried when there are more foriegn students than domestic students in our universities.
even though i failed 3 or 4 classes in middle school and im still getting a full ride to chapman university because in high school i participated in extra curricular activities and got an acc. 3.77
im gonna get a degree and make the money, and some kid in China is STILL gonna be poor cause he lives in a communist country. thats the sad part.
Can American students compete?
Submitted by Louis (not verified) on April 17, 2008 - 18:40.
No, if you want your children to be educated then I suggest you get them out of the failing public system and join the homeschool movement. It's not perfect either, but it is a whole lot better than the socialistic, peer dominated, amoral alternative. Of course you will have to give up your beautiful home in the estates and drive 20 year old cars because with mom staying at home raising a generation of responsible citizens you won't have enough money to afford the lifestyle you're currently living! We're probably not quite ready for that, are we? I know, it's a little close to home isn't it?
All you need to do is take a trip to the mall to see an eyeful of what we are producing today. I suggest you go with an empty stomach though, because there is a high rate of nausea experienced at those places by 'normal' humans. I can't fault the system, however, the root of the problem lies with our fractured selfish society. With divorce rates at all time highs how can we expect mom and dad to mentor the latchkey generation? Mom and dad need mentoring themselves.
Can American students compete with their global peers?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on March 29, 2008 - 16:30.
We as Americans are so arrogant to think that no one is better than we are. This is not true though. Are school system is lacking! If we don't transform the school system immediately, our children will not be globally comptetive.
Can American students compete with their global peers?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on March 28, 2008 - 07:05.
The American government is making schoolwork easier sso it can lok as if test scores are improving so they can make money, so we cannot compete
Can American students compete?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on March 8, 2008 - 09:42.
i think that we can not compete with our globel peers because we have dumb down our education system
through the use of standized test. we are teaching to the test and not how to think we must teach our children to think in terms of critcal, deductive, inductive and analysis thinking.
Standized test does not do this and can not do this it only teaches how to answer multi - choice. Add this with teachers who are forced to cover what is just on the test and not enrich children's live through the reading and writting of essays and book reports.
creative ideas come from questions and to question you have think.
Standardised Tests
Submitted by Michael Griffin (not verified) on October 9, 2008 - 06:58.
I agree: standardised testing is devastating on developing intrinsic motivation, and on deep learning.
See Alfie Kohn's writings about this on the internet.
Can Americans Compete?
Submitted by Dan R (not verified) on March 6, 2008 - 05:54.
Our public education system is so loaded down with social education issues, that the knowledge of basics in all areas is overwhelmed. I teach juniors and seniors but also have taught in high risk facilities, and the one common thread is that students don't understand the basic concepts necessary for life. Their abilities are far below where students were when I was their age, yet our education system show that they are doing things earlier. When we measure the number of students taking the test, not the increase in abilites or level of performance, we are simply trying to show that we are doing a good job. To find out if we are truly successful, send your students to a business and let them see if they can understand the tasks being performed and check to see if they have the skills to perform these tasks. I feel as do most of our employers that the vast majority fall miserably short, stating that the students do not have the basic skills to perform the job.
Competition or Cheaper Labor?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 26, 2008 - 14:51.
Unfortunately this is not all about ability and knowledge, it has a lot to do with the price of labor.
China & India are economic powerhouses not because of a talented, educated, bright young things. Although many of them are, but because they will do the same job for less money.
The "utility" of education means that we consistently model education on the demands of the workplace.
If we assume all the traditional manufacturing and manufacturing related jobs will now be dominated by China and India then American/British and other western nations will be required to produce highly educated people in diverse and new technologies (Bio Tech for example). The paying jobs in America will not be in manufacturing but in research and other high level thinking jobs.
The American Public School system has a dismal record in science and other related technologies because of failed immigration assimilation policy. The public school system is swamped with kids who cannot (and possibly will not) ever speak or understand english at the academic level required of future workers in this country. Let alone be educated formally in the sciences. The few who do will get the "good" jobs, the rest will be cast out on the shrinking world of service related jobs. The wake-up call was rung many years ago, political ineptitude drowned the sound of the warning bell and still does. We have traded the need for excellence in education for the need to have more and more consumers at any price.
The answer? - To ignore the SIG's who demand we speak 133 different languages, separate from the political clammering for ethnic votes that results in a "whatever" attitude to assimilation. We need to teach science, critical thinking and problem solving skills. Introduce a proper and effective bi-lingual education program, so that those who can and want to learn do. Those that don't and have no desire but to exist in small ethnic communities trying to rebuild their own separate states within America can have that...but please not at the expense of those that want and should expect more from their country.
Who Are We Kidding
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 26, 2008 - 05:17.
We are only kidding ourselves if we think educationally we are still at the top of the heap. The average school is not preparing its students to complete globally, we can barely prepare them to compete locally. Across the south and heartland America,I would venture to say that schools are still bent towards a national level, certainly not global. Coastal regions, East or West probably fair better because of a greater intercultural interaction.
As long as we follow and press state standards, rather than national standards, do not give schools the technology students need, pay teachers so poorly and parents remain apathetic about their students' educations, this will not change. We do not value education in a cultural sense the way most of the rest of the world does. Until we do, we will not stay even, let alone stay on top.
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