Wednesday, November 7, 2018

US Education


The US ranks 31st in Math, Science and Reading according to the annual standardized test given to 15 year-olds in the 70 countries.

The countries who rank 1st through 10th are Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Estonia, Canada, Taiwan, Finland, South Korea and China.

Singapore has elementary students take a test in 6th grade. If they pass this test, the move to a college prep curriculum. If they fail, they are placed in an occupational curriculum. Child suicide in Singapore is high after the test results are announced.  These children believe they have disgraced their ancestors. Asian cultures are long on reverence and respect for ancestors and children are taught this in their culture.  The reason Singapore is ranked in first place is because they don’t include the poor students in their occupational curriculum in the test. Their 551.7 score is the average of the students who passed the 6th grade test.

The countries who rank 11th through 20th are Ireland, Slovenia, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland New Zealand, Denmark, Norway, Poland and Belgium.

Germany forbids homeschooling and government controls education. They are noted for their approaches in scientific occupational and engineering training.

The countries who rank 21st through 30th are Australia, Vietnam, UK, Portugal, France, Sweden, Austria, Russia, Spain and Czech Republic.

The US ranks 31st when you average US scores in Math, Science and Reading with a score of 487.7

The US ranks 39th in Math with a score of 470.
The US ranks 25th in Science with a score of 496.
The US ranks 24th in Reading with a score of 497.

Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 2015-2016
The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a worldwide study by OECD in 70 nations of 15-year-old students’ scholastic performance on mathematics, science and reading.

http://factsmaps.com/pisa-worldwide-ranking-average-score-of-math-science-reading/

The OECD is the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The OECD was formed in 1948 to administer American and Canadian aid in the framework of the Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Europe after World War II.


Culture plays a large part in these rankings. The US has a “Consumer Culture” and is geared toward “buying stuff”. Lately, our students have indicated that they want more “free stuff”. But this is not likely to happen.

The US is no longer good at teaching respect for elders or parents.  Whatever we do in the US to improve our educational systems will need to address the differences in our students.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

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