A Disappointing Finish for Americans at Education Olympics
Reader Comments
We Need Parents Who Care and Teachers Who Teach.
I was raised in Kentucky, a state that lags behind in education, consistently. I had parents who taught me to read before kindergarten, and they were criticized for this. I learned a lot from the library, a place where I go now and see few, if any, children.
I spent four and a half years in Japan, between junior college and finishing up my undergraduate degree, and I saw just how long Japanese children spend in class.
It's not our political machine and who can fix it. It's a matter of the parents taking part, the government backing out and teachers caring about the students as opposed to their meager paychecks. If we reward the positive... students would simply want to learn.
I work with college aged young adults these days, and they haven't learned much. They think math is done with a calculator, science is done by the 'other guy' and the 'geek', and not them, and social studies is so easy. None of the above should be true.
And yes, this is a failure that went against several systems that are not democratized. Not every student gets to participate and not every student gets to learn. I won't even comment (much) on the homogenization of American students into a purely socialist system where those who succeed are 'dumbed down', and those who fail are 'moved up'.
I'm glad my parents decided that it was worth it to instill in me the willingness to learn.
Why We Lag Behind in Education
America is the only developed nation where our teachers (of which I'm a part)are actually rewarded for increased FAILURE. This scheme masquerades as "Remedial" funding where if a significant population of a school can't read or write (at basic levels) that school receives remedial federal and state monies to supposedly correct the problem. But then: why would teachers want to fix the problem if that would mean the disappearance of the remedial cash cow?
Education
Thia is becoming a Glabal World and doing better in the
Science, Math, Communication technologies, if not advanced
to new levels will leave the United States behind in the future.
There are so many future things in store that require new
out-of-the-box ability to think and solve. GET REAL FOKKS.
Here what's wrong and how to fix it
As an educator at the college level, I can tell you that 80% of incoming freshmen enter college unable to write a paragraph or do simple everyday math. 60% cannot write a sentence absent major grammatical errors. Our high schools are day care for tall kids and the curriculum is laughable compared to Canada, Europe and even private schools in this country. Our kids are being shortchanged at home, as their parents did not receive a world class education either.
Simply put we need a much more demanding curriculum with logic, algebra and geometry taught with applications before high school. We have to raise literacy standards, end social promotion and demand more of parents in support of the educational process. Turn off the the TV and study as our kids are graduating with an elementary school education. Wake up America! We are indoctrinating not educating.
'national' interest
There is nothing new in this, education systems get compared internationally every year, and the US does about as well as in this case.
You can confort yourself with the idea that it was for the national (corporate) interest, the public US education system was created to produce subordinates and factory labor, and did that excelantly. Now the US is thinking about how to compete with China (good luck with that).
In Finland our system has been updated to the information era, were counting on survival thru specialization. We do not graduate as professionals, but professional learners, able to fluidly adapt to the demands of the workplace, and able to open one man companies, opposed to the 'who should i work for' cage.
This is why we survive and shine despite a population of 5 million.
Finland, We won?
Finland has under 5 million people, with one of Europes most aging populations! Ha!
An answer
It's called: Outcome-based education. The student doesn't need to reach any particular goal, just complete the program to the satisfaction of the teacher, and their standards have changed significantly over the last 30 years. Just looking (and listening) to this buffoon we call a president is the perfect example of how the system has degraded over time - even for the elite capable of buying their way through Harvard or Yale with Daddy's money.
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Dumb Americans are Good for the Government
If you think the poor educational system in this country is an accident, you're sadly mistaken. American children used to get a very thorough and well rounded education before the federal government stepped in and began dictating curriculum content and implementing standardized testing. It's in the best interest of a government to limit the intellectual growth of it's citizens so that they can be more easily controlled through the media and government propaganda (aka nightly news).
Try to find another nation of people so massively propagandized and completely oblivious to the world in which they live in. At least the people that lived in the Soviet Union knew they were being controlled and monitored. The Soviets needed a wall to keep people from trying to escape. The fat dumb and happy people in this country are completely oblivious to the police state that is being rolled out right in front of their eyes. Most people in this country can't even find Afghanistan on a map, or Iraq for that matter.
We have been turned into a herd of sheep that have learned to go along to get along. Our government proudly tells us we are a nation of consumers. And boy are we good at consuming. Just take a look around you. Look at all the obese individuals consuming everything they can get their hands on. This country has lost it's way. We used to be a nation of producers, now we shop at Wal Mart so we can buy cheap goods made by slave labor in China. Remember when we used to be told to look for the Union Label? That was back when Americans actually valued products made in their own country by their fellow Americans. But our politicians have sold out this country and are allowing the multinational corporations to rape this country while they pay off the politicians in the process. You need a very stupid population to get away with something as detrimental as what they are doing.
Ignorance is bliss!
What needs to be done to fix it? I'll tell you
Stop giving these religitards free reign to spread their retarded 'creationism' and other 'godly' crap. Religion is cause of the vast majority of violence that happens on this planet, all over an imaginary entity that was brainwashed into everyone's minds by the same people who thought the earth was flat and everything in the universe revolved around us.
Religion should be outlawed. It has no place in today's society and only causes hate and violence for those 'different' than you.
