Americans fall behind in math and science

[Armistead]

"U.S. students lagged behind those in 16 of 30 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based group that represents the world's richest countries. The U.S. students were further behind in math, trailing counterparts in 23 countries."

Don't blame France, other studies I looked at had us further behind...

Seems we're moving quickly to socialism and stupidity....where have we seen this before...



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...120400730.html

[GoldenRivet]

ignorance is a celebrated thing in America these days.



it is much cooler for kids to be stupid sideways hat wearing, pants around the knees morons than to actually be successful at something

good at words and maths? no... hell no man... i believe you'd get your ass kicked for somethin lak that

[Armistead]

We have two teachers in the family, both say teaching is lowering the standard to pass all and to teach them how to pass state and federal test.

My daughter home schools all 3 of her kids. She networks with other mothers that do the same. They still enter public competitions and have to take all the same test, but always rate in the top percent.

Seems we're moving quickly to socialism and stupidity....where have we seen this before...

How many of those countries above the US would fit your USian definition of socialist?
Considering of course that all the countries above the US have that "socialist" thing called universal healthcare

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by Armistead

We have two teachers in the family, both say teaching is lowering the standard to pass all and to teach them how to pass state and federal test.

Bingo! They teach how to take tests.

I would not only blame the kids, I would primarily blame those responsible for them, the parents.

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by Nippelspanner

I would not only blame the kids, I would primarily blame those responsible for them, the parents.

I don't blame the kids at all. I have two of them. One is still in grade school. My eldest is in college. My second will go to college as well. My wife and I are very much a part of their education. However, both will state they are being taught to test.

[Aktungbby]

Nothing new here, It's why we imported Einstein and Werner von Braun, and Hedy Lamarr(patent holder) to name a few.

[Kptlt. Neuerburg]

Frankly there is a lot of things that need to be changed in the education system in this country. In the US we don't have standards that are set at the national level, instead it is set at the state level, whereas funding is based upon income so a person in a wealthy or even an average neighborhood will have a better education then a person living in a poor neighborhood.

Teachers in the US are allowed to teach if they have a bachelors degree and they are allowed to teach a subject that isn't relevant to their degree, so a teacher who has a degree in Greek Mythology can teach math. Then there are bad teachers who are protected by unions and "tenure", so a bad teacher who should be removed from the classroom is still allowed to teach,(I've had experience with this.) Classes should be based on the an individual students learning capabilities and placed into classes that way instead of the individual being forced to learn a subject in at the group level in which the individual might have difficulty learning that subject.
When my parents where in school A students where placed in their own class same thing with the B,C,D and F students. So why has that changed?

Then there's the state and federal tests, which seem to prove more of what a student hasn't learned then what they have learned. An example of which is when I lived in Washington State we would take the Washington Assessment of Student Learning or WASL for short. While I was in Jr. High or Middle School as its know in other states, I had been placed in a special class for math as I was horrible at it and the explanations from teachers never seemed to help much either. When it came time to take the WASL, I managed to do well in subjects like reading, social studies and English, but when it came time for the math section I could not answer most of the questions. Why? Because it was at a higher level of math then I had learned in the classroom and because it was a standardized test which meant that I was forced to be part of a group which had learned a higher level of math then I had and had a better comprehension of that level of math then I.

[Wolferz]

Welcome to the Idiocracy.
It won't be long before the "sex on demand" law gets passed.
Sorry ladies.

[Armistead]

Originally Posted by Tribesman

How many of those countries above the US would fit your USian definition of socialist?
Considering of course that all the countries above the US have that "socialist" thing called universal healthcare

I don't have a problem with universal care, but you can't have that and mass profits for all those in the industry...why we are bound to fail at it.

[ETR3(SS)]

Anyone else notice this article was posted in 2007?

[ETR3(SS)]

Originally Posted by Armistead

Seems we're moving quickly to socialism and stupidity....where have we seen this before...

And all under Bush's watch...so what does that say?

[the_tyrant]

A huge reason is this American fascination towards liberal arts.

In many Asian countries, there is a stigma that "liberal arts are for losers". In most Chinese schools, we can see a trend that smart kids go into science and engineering, the not so smart ones go into finance and commerce, and the absolute bottom of the pack go into the arts.

Thus at the high school level, anybody who isn't too dumb would go and study the maths and sciences, wereas with american students, too many of them would not study math and science, since they are aiming to study liberal arts in university.

[MGR1]

It's OK, the UK is "stagnating" as well;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25187997

Having said that, there is variation between Scotland and England/Wales. According a news report I saw on TV, Scotland does better in Maths and English, but England/Wales do better at the Sciences.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-25198792

Mike.