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"It’s long been known that America’s school kids haven’t measured well compared with international peers. Now, there’s a new twist: Adults don’t either. In math, reading and problem-solving using technology – all skills considered critical for global competitiveness and economic strength – American adults scored below the international average on a global test, according to results released Tuesday. Researchers tested about 166,000 people ages 16 to 65 in more than 20 countries and subnational regions. The test was developed and released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is made up of mostly industrialized member countries. The Education Department’s Center for Education Statistics participated."
There is more in the article about which countries performed better or worse, how Italy's and Spain's college graduates performed worse than the high school graduates of other countries, that 10 percent of adults in all countries didn't know how to use a mouse, that adults with low literacy are twice as likely to be unemployed, that in reading and math college-educated parents did better than those whose parents did not complete high school, etc. They say the results point to those adults that lack basic skills aren't picking them up on the job. Kudos are given to countries with more continuing education programs.
The oddest thing I find about these kinds of articles is the assumption that the USA *should* be number 1 in all things educational, with no attention to being no. 1 anywhere else, like say eliminating poverty and hunger in our own country. As if education - our own style of it, in fact - is both the cause and solution to all our other ills, and therefore we need make no effort to resolve anything else. Writing 5 paragraph essays and doing standardized math problems will surely fix everything for our poorest citizens.
The oddest thing I find about these kinds of articles is the assumption that the USA *should* be number 1 in all things educational, with no attention to being no. 1 anywhere else, like say eliminating poverty and hunger in our own country. As if education - our own style of it, in fact - is both the cause and solution to all our other ills, and therefore we need make no effort to resolve anything else. Writing 5 paragraph essays and doing standardized math problems will surely fix everything for our poorest citizens.
Not "should be" but "was".
When looked at globally the US is declining.
That's why many are so quick to dismiss global statistics.
We'd rather compare ourselves, state to state to see who is #1 and live in our delusion of greatness.
The oddest thing I find about these kinds of articles is the assumption that the USA *should* be number 1 in all things educational, with no attention to being no. 1 anywhere else, like say eliminating poverty and hunger in our own country. As if education - our own style of it, in fact - is both the cause and solution to all our other ills, and therefore we need make no effort to resolve anything else. Writing 5 paragraph essays and doing standardized math problems will surely fix everything for our poorest citizens.
I think the main point they were trying to make is that in other countries more adults are involved in continuing education including on the job and if kids do better with educated parents maybe we should sink our efforts into educating parents. That's what I got out of it.
The oddest thing I find about these kinds of articles is the assumption that the USA *should* be number 1 in all things educational, with no attention to being no. 1 anywhere else . . .
This is simply wrong, and this kind of thinking is a prime mover behind the relative decline of the USA. Of course we should try to be first in all things educational -- would it be more noble not to care? Would our population be better served by even-more-widesperad ignorance? Most Americans care a lot about economic prosperity (although they might disagree with you about the causes of poverty), about sports (witness the interest in the gold-medal count at the next Olympic games), they care about the nation's ability to defend itself militarily, our share of Nobel prizes, and so forth across many categories.
All you have to do is read the comments section of any article on the internet. The grammar, spelling and content of most of the comments is so below par that it boggles the mind. Even some of the articles themselves have spelling and grammatical errors that should make the journalist blush to have written them.
All you have to do is read the comments section of any article on the internet. The grammar, spelling and content of most of the comments is so below par that it boggles the mind. Even some of the articles themselves have spelling and grammatical errors that should make the journalist blush to have written them.
As a teacher, I'm appalled at how poorly my students write. Unfortunately, I'm a science teacher so I'm not allowed to expect them to use proper grammar, spelling or punctuation and not allowed to grade them on those factors. I am, however, required to have them write because writing across the curriculum is good for them....just not grading the quality of the writing...I'm really not getting the point of the writing if it will not be evaluated on quality. Apparently the powers that be seem to think that practice makes perfect when what practice really does is make permanent. Kids practicing poor writing will not improve their writing. It will reinforce the mistakes they make.
Many of my students cannot write a proper sentence. Most papers I get will be one long run on paragraph of either sentence fragments or run on sentences just strung together or a bullet point list or since I tell them I don't accept bullet point lists, a bullet point list with the bullets removed and a period put at the end of each idea.
And then there's plagiarism. Many of my students actually believe that paste and shake then change every 5th word so you can get past a plagiarism checker is original writing. Funny how these same students can't answer the same question on a quiz a week later....go figure....
Oh and parents and students complain that I make them read the book and take notes. They don't feel they should have to read the book much less take notes on it. Apparently the book is for appearance purposes only. It's a decoration to carry around. Teachers who use their books are accused of teaching out of the book as if that's a bad thing. I see no point in spending the money on the book if we aren't going to use it. Expecting students to read is taboo....so is lecture....that's old style. Investigations are now in. Students have to "discover" chemistry. Um, do the people who come up with this stuff realize how many hundreds of years it took for very brilliant minds to "discover" what we now know about chemistry? Oh and I have to do it on a budget while not letting them use any chemicals that could be harmful....
I've only been in teaching for 6 years and I'm seeing a decline in reading comprehension and quality of writing. I blame technology. Kids and parents have this idea that kids don't need to learn things that they can look up. They don't learn to spell because they have spell checkers. They don't learn to add, subtract, multiply and divide because they have calculators. They don't learn how to write because they can paste, shake and edit. They don't learn to think because there isn't anything in their heads to think about. They learn what they learn for the test and then dump it. Lord help the teacher who expects them to know something from a previous class and doesn't spend time reviewing it before it's used.
I think I've reached the teacher stage of disgusted cynicism now.....and it didn't even take six years....
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 10-10-2013 at 10:31 AM..
When looked at globally the US is declining.
That's why many are so quick to dismiss global statistics.
We'd rather compare ourselves, state to state to see who is #1 and live in our delusion of greatness.
When were we number 1?
In any case, I teach students from all over the world, and I am absolutely confident that the US is way ahead of most countries, developed or not. However, we emphasize different things. We obsess over perfection of an antiquated spelling system to the point where kids can't learn to read in a reasonable amount of time because the system is too complex. The process is much easier in countries where the words are spelled according to how they sound, and there is only one letter per sound. We waste tons of time teaching essay writing, when most countries around the world completely disregard this. We DON'T teach grammar and punctuation, even though we complain piteously and continuously about how bad all the grammar and punctuation is. We waste years of students' time teaching "social studies" in a way that makes little sense to the rest of the world (in my state kids currently spend an entire year studying the country of Mali, and another studying the eating habits of little known Native Americans). But they get only the most cursory introduction to the current government and legal system, and almost no education in anything beyond the USA.
On the other hand, international students are even more ignorant than ours, not counting maybe three or four Western European countries. I have had international students insist that they don't use periods because their language doesn't have any (but it does). Most don't even understand the concept of citing a source, and their cheating is so pathetically obvious that I wonder if they think I am stupid.
Last edited by marie5v; 10-10-2013 at 10:40 AM..
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Funny how these same students can't answer the same question on a quiz a week later....go figure....
Oh and I have to do it on a budget while not letting them use any chemicals that could be harmful....
