According to the Organization of Economic Co-operation Development, OECD, the United States is slipping into the middle of the pack in education and schooling, while European countries are gliding into the top countries for education. Even Finland, whose students use to trail far behind the U.S., has passed the U.S. and is now one of the top countries in the world in education. The OECD report on how far behind the U.S. is has influenced them to find out where they are going wrong, and why their students as a whole are not doing as well as European students are doing. Studies have now finally pinpointed the problems that have caused the U.S. to be pushed in the middle of the thirty-one participating OECD countries and far behind European countries. European students are doing better in school due to the fact that the education system in Europe is of higher quality and tests students better than the education system of the United States.
The National Center of Education researched the education systems of different countries to see which ones were most effective and how they differentiated from each other. After doing so, they told Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, how the U.S. is lagging behind and also how they can catch up. “The most effective way to greatly improve student performances in the U.S. is to figure out how countries with top student
Skains 2 performances are doing it,” Marc Tucker, NCEE's CEO stated (Koebler). A main thing the NCEE saw when they were doing their research was European schools had things called ‘Gateway Test’ (Koebler). These tests are well designed, comprehensive, high quality, and are throughout the continent. “These tests cannot be prepped for. The only way to succeed is to actually master th...
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...ntries’ Educational System.” U.S. News.
U.S. News & World Report, 25 May 2011. Web. 10 May 2014. http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/high-school-notes/2011/05/25/us-can-learn-from-other-countries-education-systems Schleicher, Andreas. “Education at a Glance.” OECD. 2012. Web. 10 May 2014. http://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/CN%20-%20United%20States.pdf Strauss, Valerie. “Where U.S. Stands in Education International News Report.”
Washington Post. 25 June 2013. Web. 09 May 2014. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/06/25/where-u-s-stands-in-education-internationally-new-report/ Tung, Stephen. “How Finnish School System Outshines U.S. Education.” Stanford
University. Stanford News, 20 Jan. 2012. Web. 10 May 2014.
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/january/finnish-schools-reform-012012.html
Students dread the time of the year when they stop with their course material and begin to prepare for test. Everyone is in agreement that some type of revolution is needed when it comes to education; eliminating standardized test will aid the reform. The need for standardized testing has proven to be ineffective and outdated; some leading educationalist also believe this because the tests do not measure a student’s true potential. This will save money, stop labeling, and alleviate stress in students and teachers.
The United States has proven to be a world leader with their powerful military, democratic government, and stringent foreign policies. There is one category however, the United States struggles to be number one in, education. As shocking as this may sound, the public school system in America is not superior to other developing countries. I have witnessed this scandalous phenomena firsthand, engrossed in the public school system from kindergarten to freshman year of high school. The student body and the school administration is morphing into a nonproductive system with a zombie-like attitude. American students lack academic drive and curiosity compared to European and Asian countries because the standard for academic success is constantly lowered. Americans must reform the school system and change their perspective on how important an education is to the rest of the world.
The greatest country in the world still has problems evenly distributing education to its youth. The articles I have read for this unit have a common theme regarding our education system. The authors illustrate to the reader about the struggles in America concerning how we obtain and education. Oppression, politics, racism, and socioeconomic status are a few examples of what is wrong with our country and its means of delivering a fair education to all Americans.
...build the U.S. Education System?” Forbes. Forbes, Inc. 15 Feb 2013. Web. 28 March 2014.
This report was particularly startling because it was presented at a time when America needed to be at the height of it’s game in all areas, especially education. The American public viewed the information ...
In The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way, Amanda Ripley investigates the education systems of three of the world’s highest performing countries offering insight into the components necessary to raise education in the United States from its current mediocre place on the world stage. By involving three teenage American exchange students, Ripley gained access to firsthand experience of the familiar US system as compared to the highly competitive systems in Finland, South Korea and Poland. The author proposes that, although the systems vary greatly, commonalities in cultural valuation of education, rigor and teacher quality have made students from these three countries the “smartest kids in the world.”
Something I have always known since I was a little kid is that the educational system in this country is a complete fraud. American schools claim to live by the ideal of No Child Left Behind, but millions of students get cast aside each and every year. In schools these days, it is obvious which students are the elite—those that are raised up and motivated to go to college—and the ordinary student— those that are somewhat ignored throughout their schooling and are lucky if they even earn a GED. As a recent graduate of high school, and a product of this country’s educational system, I have had the opportunity to develop my own opinions regarding the myth of education in our society. Based upon my observations going through the school system, and the various arguments posed by several authors in “Rereading America”, I strongly believe that schooling in this society caters solely to students in the elite category while ostracizing students that do not live up to the elitist ideal.
Education is one of the cornerstones and pillars to the establishment and preservation of democracy. In history, countless scores of philosophers and political thinkers believed that only an educated citizenry can take on the quintessential task of upholding democracy. Thomas Jefferson, the primary writer of the Declaration of Independence, stated that “an informed citizenry is the only true repository of the public will.” A renowned defender of public education, Jefferson proposed plans for an education system that included grammar schools in his presidency. As a result of these relentless policies for education, the United States expanded on the concept of public instruction through the establishment and upkeep of a practical education system. The United States continued this tradition and established a reputation as one of the best education in the world. Currently, this is no longer valid as other countries such as Finland, China, and South Korea are competing for the dominant position through rigorous reforms that aim to boost student performances (“Best Education”). Meanwhile, the American system is inefficient, inhibited by political obstacles and gridlock while Finland, the top ranked country in terms of schooling, is continuing to improve. According to the PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) examinations that tested pupils across a variety of subjects such as reading, mathematics, and science of 2009, Finland’s students were ranked among the top (“PISA 2009”). The American students were ranked below average for industrialized countries in the world, revealing the reality of the educational crisis in the country. Finland’s education system, compared to the Americans, offers major differences that greatly ...
The American Education System has been a core component to the development of generations since it became a public system in the 1870s. Since then more rules, higher expectations for some, and even lower expectations for others have been added to the original structure. In recent years, many debates have surfaced over whether the American education system is failing. Too few they believe the American Education System is on the right track. Most researchers however have shown statistics that it is in fact slowly declining as new acts and regimens are added. It has been on a downward spiral for years and citizens have been watching it happen, the lack of government funding, acts like the No Child Left behind Act, focus in the wrong places, and the curriculum set up is acting as a deterrent for success.
The world grows smaller and smaller as time goes on; maybe not literally, but definitely through some points of view. With everything and everyone being more connected than ever now thanks to advances in communicational technology and with the merging of cultures from all over the world, a suitable form of education needs to become the standard to accommodate such a world. Global education teaches students about the world’s different cultures, traditions, religions, languages and other important global factors contributing to our modern world. According to various recent studies, The U.S. falls behind many other nations regarding their global education standards (Webb). How then, can the U.S. or any other nation with similar education struggles
Strauss, Valerie. "Where U.S. Stands in Education Internationall." Washington Post. N.p., 25 June 2013. Web. 15 Mar. 2014.
The education system has been a controversial issue among educators. Requirements of school do not let student choose what they want to study for their future. It’s a big issue to force student study specific curriculums, which don’t help them improve, and what they like to create something. Educators choose a general system for education to all students which based on general knowledge. Intelligent or genius students have to be in that system of education, which doesn’t let them improve their creativity. Educators attempt to change that system to make it better, but their changing was not that great to be an example for the world. Also, did that change qualify education system to compete other systems or not? In some examples and reasons have been made me agree with some of points from Gatto’s and Edmunson’s and disagree them.
Sadly over 40 years later, the the educational revolution still hasn't taken off. The “pieces” are still lying around unassembled and the education in the schools is still tolerated. The need for change of public schools in the United States has been emerging since of the the passage of Pennsylvania's Common School Act in 1834. The Common School Act of 1834, set up a "general” system of education by common schools. People are continuously saying how children are the future and we must nurture them in order to ensure a bright future for our country. However, we are failing at a very basic level. The current education system in the United States is extremely poor. Drop-out rates for high school students continue to rise and student performance has been steadily declining. An article published in 1999 showed exactly how much of a crisis the American education system is really in. The article was written by William J. Bennett, former U.S. Secretary of Education, and it ranked high school seniors form 21 industrialized nations based on their performance in math, science, and advanced physics. American high school seniors ranked 19th in math, 16th in science and last in advanced physics.
There are many important things children gain while growing up; the most important thing children gain growing up is their education. The educational skills children learn in school teach them the skills they need to perform outside of the classroom and in the workforce. With education being one of the most important gains in the lives of children, it has come to light how in recent years the United States has fallen further and further behind their peers in international rankings. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 2009 educational scores the United States ranks “33” (1), which is lower than the 2002 ranking of “18” (CNN). With such a decrease in the United States ranking, parents wonder why American students are falling behind. The No Child Left Behind Act, standardized testing, and the large use of technology are some of reasons why the United States is falling behind in educational rankings.
Education is a vital tool for lifelong success but there are many areas of concern in the current system of public education. Education reform has been a constant occurrence since the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Every year, specialists develop