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Students in the United States made scant headway on recent global achievement exams and slipped deeper in the international rankings amid fast-growing competition abroad, according to test results released Tuesday.
American teens scored below the international average in math and roughly average in science and reading, compared against dozens of other countries that participated in the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which was administered last fall.
Vietnam, which had its students take part in the exam for the first time, had a higher average score in math and science than the United States. Students in Shanghai — China's largest city with upwards of 20 million people — ranked best in the world, according to the test results. Students in East Asian countries and provinces came out on top, nabbing seven of the top 10 places across all three subjects
Location: In a Galaxy far, far away called Germany
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And yet for all that, they don't seem to be able to create/invent and are constantly stealing technology and duplicating already existing systems. Having said that, it is very appalling that our students don't do well. Several factors at work (in my opinion): 1) A culture that does not hold education as it once did. 2) Too much distractions in our society. 3) Too much help in making education easier. My first two are self-explanatory, but the third one needs further clarification. Basically, when you have too much time on your hands - you get nothing done. If you have too much money - you have nothing to show for it. If you have too much educational tools - you get dumber. It makes no sense, but it seems to very true. We can't figure out how people who were little smarter than neanderthals built the pyramids without much technology - yet they did (and probably better than we could). People with less seem to be able to do more (with reason).
"Everybody wants results, but nobody wants to do what must be done to get those results."
-- Dirty Harry
In those Asian nations, they have a longer school day and longer school year. They also pay their teachers comparatively more and treat them like professions. That costs more money, which Americans don't want to spend.
We have been falling behind for a long time.
PISA is done every 4 years and every 4 years the US appears lower on the scale.
But we like to ignore that and put forth every excuse in the book why we're so low and then do nothing about it.
"Everybody wants results, but nobody wants to do what must be done to get those results."
-- Dirty Harry
In those Asian nations, they have a longer school day and longer school year. They also pay their teachers comparatively more and treat them like professions. That costs more money, which Americans don't want to spend.
They also don't cater to the mantra that "Everyone is a winner" and that "Everyone goes to college".
The only way "Everyone can be a winner" and "No child is left behind" is to lower the bar.
K-12 is a joke. Foreign students come here for college and wipe our butts in higher education.
While they are off taking matrix theory we got Americans taking remedial math.
They go off into engineering and science and math while we go off into liberal arts seeking easy basket weaving degrees.
"Everybody wants results, but nobody wants to do what must be done to get those results."
-- Dirty Harry
In those Asian nations, they have a longer school day and longer school year. They also pay their teachers comparatively more and treat them like professions. That costs more money, which Americans don't want to spend.
When I was accepted to my almater I got in with a 3.3 gpa. Today a freshman class at my alma mater has an average gpa of 3.95! Also today SAT prep and AP courses are more commonplace in school. All the squawking about how dumb kids are today but all I see is that they are more burdened than ever before.
Location: In a Galaxy far, far away called Germany
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Finland has the model that all should use, but we won't because it will not allow those who score poorly to carry on to college (they have to get an apprenticeship or a trade school). Our universities are all about money and so are our high schools. They don't like to tell kids that they aren't good enough or are too lazy. They will never employ the criteria that has made Finland the consistently highest rated educational system in the world.
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