WASHINGTON -- U.S. students ranked "average" in an international
education assessment released on Tuesday, but House Education and Labor
Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) is giving the country's school system
an F.
"Average won't help us regain our global role as a leader in
education. Average won't help our students get the jobs of tomorrow.
Average is the status quo and it's failing our country," Miller said in a
statement Tuesday.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan called the results "a massive wakeup
call," adding that the findings released earlier today by the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development "show that a host
of developed nations are out-educating us."
The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment report, which
compares the knowledge of 15-year-olds across 70 countries, found that
Korean and Finnish students scored the highest marks overall. More
generally, the report found that Asian students, especially students
from China, tended to score above their counterparts from other parts of
the world.
On a scale of 1,000, Americans received 500 in reading, 487 in math
and 502 in science. Although American students did make small gains in
science and math, they continue to lag significantly behind other
countries in those subjects.
"The difference between the countries at the top of these rankings
and the U.S. is that the countries who are outperforming us have made
developing the best education system in the world a national goal,"
Miller said. "They've recognized that the strength of their economy will
be inextricably tied to the strength of their education system in the
21st century."
The OECD report's authors concluded that over the next 20 years,
raising scores in math, science and reading by 25 points would result in
a gain of 41 trillion dollars for the U.S. economy.
"The educational success of other countries while the U.S. has
stagnated is a clear, unequivocal sign that a shift in federal education
policy is absolutely necessary," Miller said. "It is time we decide as a
nation that we can no longer afford to stay just average. Average is
not good enough for a country as great as ours."
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4 comments:
Children are caught in the web created by local, state, and federal governments, school boards, teachers and teachers unions. Even on the surface of the issue my brain hurts from thinking about what needs to be done in order for American students to be successful and live above the poverty line…
Try explaining to a 3rd grader that they need to be focused – that their success and the success of other 8 year olds is imperative for America’s success.
If you haven’t already, watch the documentary film “Waiting for Superman”, which is available for instant watch on Netflix. If this doesn't open your eyes to the growing problems with our educational system in this country and here in Winchester, nothing will.
It's not about the children, or even education, it's about the money that's being wasted on a failing system...
I think part of the problem are the parents. I remember when I was younger, if an issue arose at school the teacher was always right until my parents had a chance to sit one on one with the teacher to discuss. Now it seems the teacher is always wrong... because Junior would never do x, y or z.
Good Luck getting the parents to answer the phone, lucky if the phone is working or the right number. There are parents who do not even know who their child's teacher is, what their kids are doing after school etc. So sad!
Public Radio this morning, the experts were saying," we cant spend ourselves out of our education problems."
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