4 ms·
Come on, can we please stop using the high school test comparison or explain why there are such dramatic differences. The countries listed higher on there tend
by asolove 18y ago
Come on, can we please stop using the high school test comparison or explain why there are such dramatic differences. The countries listed higher on there tend to have draconian centrally-run school systems which only allow certain portions of the population into public high schools, while the remainder of the population attends vocational schools. Thus, we're comparing the future college graduates of other countries against the entire population of the US.
And our system is quite to our benefit. Most all of the US hacker community, who slacked off in middle school and only really got interested in the tough math of high school and college, would never have been allowed to take those classes in most other countries. They'd have been marked as low-achievers early on.
- mkelly 18y agoI can't speak for anyone else, but I drifted through high school because it was mind-numbingly boring and filled with dumb rules I couldn't understand the need for. Things only got interesting at a university.
- xiaoma 18y agoI don't think the Canadian educational system is all that draconian. It is amongst the most competitive in the world, though. Here are some other reasons the US is struggling despite spending more money per student than any other country: 1) Most of US public teachers come from the bottom third of college students 2) Teacher skill is far more important than small class sizes, but the US system values small classes more than good teachers 3) New teachers typically work alone after a very short amount of time 4) Teachers are paid poorly http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/socialsector/resources/pdf/Worlds_School_systems_final.pdf http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/socialsector/resources...
- redrobot5050 18y agoNot to mention the U.S. system is still fixated on what worked for the educational system when 95% of Americans worked on farms. Six hour days. Summers off. Since the majority of the U.S. (51%) live in urban areas, the 21st century education system should make school similar to the workforce: school from 9-5. Or 8-4. Grades need to be wiped out. Students need to be placed on levels. No a "slow math class" for 8th grade, but one that reflects his/her ability or inability. And we need national standards on textbooks. No more bullying from large (red) states like Texas on what gets taught in science classes around America. Or what you can say about the south and their attempts to smother/suppress the civil rights movement / black vote.
- xiaoma 18y agoOdd... I had the numbered points on separate line, but this site crammed them all into one long, ugly line. It's too bad I can't edit it.
- sokoloff 18y agoI would say that teacher passion is even more important than skill, and both are significantly more important than class size. But student:teacher ratio is so easy to measure, compare and discuss that it becomes the de facto metric.