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I've talked to people from Asia(east Asia, south Asia, the middle east), Eruope and Australia. They all say the same thing: high school education in the US is too bad.
Personally I know many Chinese American parents teach extra math to their kids at home, even though they attend "good schools".
It's because secondary school education is a joke in the US. Kids are learning algebra at a much younger age in other countries. There are plenty of American students who could not solve a basic arithmetic operation if their life depended on it.
Also, you are expected to do well in school in other countries. Here, there is this attitude that your kid should do whatever he wants to and that pushing him is somehow "wrong."
The cultures are just different. Education is not as much of a priority here as it is in other places.
It isn't fair to compare US schools with other countries such as Asia or Europe. Why? Many reasons. First, our students
come from diverse backgrounds. Let's use Japan or China. Japan and China are made up of Japanese & Chinese. They are
a singular culture with traditions (including religion). We also cannot compare our schools because those other countries
"track" their students. Students are tested at a certain grade level to determine whether they are academically,
(college), vocationally, technically or artistically (including the Fine and performing arts) bound and then they go to
schools or training in those fields. Here in the US, every student has the opportunity to attend college. Even if they
do badly in high school and do not go to college or technical school, they can go back later.
I never could understand why our students do not study a foreign language at the elementary level. Their minds are like
sponges when they are that young. Europeans and Asian countries begin studying English in grade school.
Also, we should not be cutting back on the arts. It is well documented that students who engage in the arts do much
better academically than those who do not. Look at the creativity in the US. The arts provide higher order thinking
such as comprehension, evaluation & synthesis. Asian culture focuses on rote memorization and test scores. You do have
give praise for their determination and hard work regarding in doing well in school. If our schools were so bad, why do
so many people come to the US for higher education?
American education is not a joke. We have some problems that should be addressed and there are ways in which we
can improve education for our children and youth. I would suggest reading "A Nation at Risk" which was an in depth
report done during the 70's.
If our schools were so bad, why do so many people come to the US for higher education?
There is a HUGE difference between secondary school education and university education. Many of our universities are amazing. People don't come here for the secondary school education.
There is a HUGE difference between secondary school education and university education. Many of our universities are amazing. People don't come here for the secondary school education.
Many come here because the best universities in their home country rejected them.
So attending a tier 2 university there is not a desirable choice, if the parents have $.
It is very true in East Asia. College ranking is everything there and attending a tier 2 school means your future is doomed.
One of the reasons our students seem to fall below the average in the higher grades compared to the lower grades is because we continue to test ALL students instead of tracking them like many other countries do. These reports annoy me when they don't give details about sampling, etc. Then the public buys into it hook, line, and sinker... "oh look how bad our education is; we need to DO something" so that we (the public) buy into even MORE government mandates and continue to justify the existence and fat salaries of our overly large federal DoE. Dare I mention that with each new one mandate/policy that comes up, the worse it really does get?
There is a HUGE difference between secondary school education and university education. Many of our universities are amazing. People don't come here for the secondary school education.
True, but are you saying that the student body at US universities is very small? Of course not.
It isn't fair to compare US schools with other countries such as Asia or Europe. Why? Many reasons. First, our students
come from diverse backgrounds. Let's use Japan or China. Japan and China are made up of Japanese & Chinese. They are
a singular culture with traditions (including religion). We also cannot compare our schools because those other countries
"track" their students. Students are tested at a certain grade level to determine whether they are academically,
(college), vocationally, technically or artistically (including the Fine and performing arts) bound and then they go to
schools or training in those fields. Here in the US, every student has the opportunity to attend college. Even if they
do badly in high school and do not go to college or technical school, they can go back later.
I never could understand why our students do not study a foreign language at the elementary level. Their minds are like
sponges when they are that young. Europeans and Asian countries begin studying English in grade school.
Also, we should not be cutting back on the arts. It is well documented that students who engage in the arts do much
better academically than those who do not. Look at the creativity in the US. The arts provide higher order thinking
such as comprehension, evaluation & synthesis. Asian culture focuses on rote memorization and test scores. You do have
give praise for their determination and hard work regarding in doing well in school. If our schools were so bad, why do
so many people come to the US for higher education?
American education is not a joke. We have some problems that should be addressed and there are ways in which we
can improve education for our children and youth. I would suggest reading "A Nation at Risk" which was an in depth
report done during the 70's.
The US has always been diverse and at one time we were at the head of the ranks.
So it's not diversity.
Over the course of NCLB our standing in PISA has gone down every test period.
In 2000 the US was #18 in Math (PISA). This was the first year of PISA testing.
In 2003 the US was #24.
In 2006 the US was #25.
In 2009 the US was #31.
And US educators go to great lengths to find reasons why the US is slipping and why we shouldn't be concerned with PISA scores.
Diversity didn't just hit the shores of the US in 2000, did it ?
It isn't fair to compare US schools with other countries such as Asia or Europe. Why? Many reasons. First, our students come from diverse backgrounds. Let's use Japan or China. Japan and China are made up of Japanese & Chinese. They are a singular culture with traditions (including religion).
Japan is a multiethnic society largely in denial about its diversity.
******************
Japan’s six principle minority groups — Ainu, burakumin, Chinese, Koreans, nikkeijin (Japanese return migrants and their descendants) and Okinawans.
When it comes to ethnic relations and perceptions, China is a paragon of contradictions: its majority ethnic group, the Hans, are non-racist in the sense that most are not aware of their own multiethnic background and care little about it.
If Western racism is about genetic dispositions, Chinese prejudices and racism are more about achievements and standing in the world as applied to individuals or groups.
Quote:
Originally Posted by key4lp
We also cannot compare our schools because those other countries
"track" their students. Students are tested at a certain grade level to determine whether they are academically, (college), vocationally, technically or artistically (including the Fine and performing arts) bound and then they go to schools or training in those fields. Here in the US, every student has the opportunity to attend college. Even if they do badly in high school and do not go to college or technical school, they can go back later.
I never could understand why our students do not study a foreign language at the elementary level. Their minds are like sponges when they are that young. Europeans and Asian countries begin studying English in grade school.
Also, we should not be cutting back on the arts. It is well documented that students who engage in the arts do much better academically than those who do not. Look at the creativity in the US. The arts provide higher order thinking such as comprehension, evaluation & synthesis. Asian culture focuses on rote memorization and test scores. You do have give praise for their determination and hard work regarding in doing well in school. If our schools were so bad, why do so many people come to the US for higher education?
American education is not a joke. We have some problems that should be addressed and there are ways in which we can improve education for our children and youth. I would suggest reading "A Nation at Risk" which was an in depth report done during the 70's.
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