If any of you have been reading my blog faithfully for the past few months, you know that I'm studying abroad in Edinburgh this semester. This morning I found an article about the reading and maths scores for British* secondary school students have slipped off the international league table since 2000. In 2000, the UK was eighth in maths and seventh in reading, but has now 24th and 17th, respectively. It is the only group that was in the top 10 in 2000 to have fallen into the lower group; guess that means the US never even made it that far up.
I saw a 20/20 program about two years ago entitled 'Stupid in America' about the poor quality of US primary and secondary schools compared to those in other countries. The educational systems in countries like Belgium spend about the same amount of money per student as the US does, but gives that money to the student to go to whatever school that student he or she wishes. Thus, the schools compete to be better. I can't make much of a value judgment since I was fortunate enough to go to good public and independent schools, but there is a serious problem. When people at college or university can't distinguish between 'your' and 'you're,' for example, that's a pretty good indicator of something lacking in their education.
But back to international education. Reading performance for 10-year-olds in the UK has also dropped in recent years, but science results are still above average. The Netherlands and Slovenia are among countries which have greatly improved their schools in recent years to beat the UK in results.
This news is pretty bitter for the UK government. I'd like to hear if the US has anything to say about it.
For the full results, sampling information, and the full story, click here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7115692.stm
* Hope I'm not insulting your intelligence, but a lot of people don't seem to know which countries comprise Great Britain. England, Wales, Scotland, and NORTHERN Ireland (Eyre) make up Great Britain, or the United Kingdom. The Republic of Ireland is a separate country and uses the euro instead of the pound as its form of currency.
I'm interested to see other English speakers are also falling in the educational testing scores.
In my opinion, it's because of a difference of cultural values. Asian countries have longer school days, tougher classes and schedules, and generally focus more on education then we do. It is my experience that American students are encouraged to have "social growth" and "self-esteem" as opposed to actual academic accomplishments. Maybe this trend is why we are falling behind in math and science.
That's a really good point. It is important to be well-rounded and have social skills as well as knowledge, but I fear that the disparity between relative intelligence and political power is a problem in international politics. I do think school should be tougher. People might say, 'Let kids be kids,' but this has never been an option except for the upper classes. All cultures have a history of child labor, whether it be in agricultural or industrial societies, and of course I'm not suggesting that as a solution but I'm saying that going to school longer or making it harder isn't going to be detrimental to a child's development.
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It's unfortunate that we've fallen into this system where it's OK and even encouraged to fail, and kids are hailed for "trying." I understand encouragement for effort, but there is a point where we need to teach our children what failure is. Some of the kids from this generation are adults now, and having serious difficulties in the workplace because they have never failed before, and expect to have life handed to them on a silver platter.
My parents were tough on me, but not overly so. I think I'm a better person for it, because I can face life head on and I know how to work hard.
These results are comparative, not absolute. The result reflects improving education in other countries which is good news. Hopefully the competition will spur improvement here and in Britain.