02/7/2011:
"Money is not the problem folks, it's the teachers and the parents.
Teachers need to teach more academics and less kumbaya. They need to be
qualified in math and science. Parents need to be involved in their
child's education daily! The countries that are out educating us spend
less by percent of GDP than we do, look it up."
02/2/2011:
"I don't doubt that America is on a downward spiral it seems like it is on
a downward spiral with everything. Why are we on a downward spiral in
education??? Well it is the no child left behind act. Wow, what a bright
idea no child left behind. If the child is not comprehending what is
being taught lets pass him/her on to the next grade or the next unit so
they can continue to fail. What a brilliant idea, seems like the American
government is full of them. "
02/1/2011:
"The article and analysis lack substance. As well, I am embarrassed by the
lack of sophistication and understanding. Several comments by teachers (I
know), provide all the evidence needed to understand the problems in
education. The 'great' teachers represent 25% of the teachers in a
school. When education is dictated by politics, it is a formula for given
failure.
There is no correlation between money spent and achievement. The empirical
facts distinctly prove this. This is not arguable. Yet we have a
multitude of faculty that swear by this false edict. We do not teach the
difference between ideas and knowledge. Our standards are pathetic. To
learn by rote memory does not prohibit the lessons of critical thinking.
We indoctrinate, we do not teach.
"
02/1/2011:
"The article and analysis lack substance. As well, I am embarrassed by the
lack of sophistication and understanding. Several comments by teachers (I
know), provide all the evidence needed to understand the problems in
education. The great teachers represents 25% of the teachers in a school.
There is no correlation between money spent and achievement. The empirical
facts distinctly prove this. This is not arguable. Yet we have a
multitude of faculty that swear by this false edict. We do not teach the
difference between ideas and knowledge. Our standards are pathetic. To
learn by rote memory does not prohibit the lessons of critical thinking.
We indoctrinate, we do not teach.
"
12/21/2010:
"I teach middle school US History. For the 10 week Progress Reports 24 of
my 192 students failed my class. On each of the report cards to parents
of students who failed, I added the comment: 'Call teacher for
appointment.' Two called!
Perhaps 1/3 of my students have reading skills below what's necessary to
read effectively an 8th grade textbook. (I'm not saying 1/3 are below
grade level. I'm saying their levels aer below what's necessary to
understand well enough what they are reading.) My school district quit
holding back students about 10 years ago. Since then, 75% of my 'D'
student don't do enough work to earn so they get 'F's', half my 'C'
student work enough to only get 'D's' etc.
Of course I get blamed for this ... like I'm told my pension benefits will
be too high - even though I have required deducted contributions to the
system, but my state fails to make their contributions - even though when
the 1986 Tax Reform Act put everyone else in the SOcial Security System,
my state kept us out so they didn't have to make the additional employer
matching contribution!
My principal tells us we cannot have homework worth more than 20% of a
students grade because if its higher than that students fail because they
don't do the homework.
I'm sure that's my fault too.
America is getting what it deserves because ti has been taking advantage
of teachers for my entire professional life - since 1978!
Joe"
12/21/2010:
"The chief method of education in Asian countries , like Korea China and its
SAR district, HK, is rote memory; and since tests, by and large, test
memory, students from these countries will do better than ours. Learning
and understanding, as taught in the West, is a complex process (Bloom's
Taxonomy of Learning is one of many ) that allows flexibility while
stressing problem solving and analysis. Education is not 'Jeopardy Game'.
The USA has always been on the right track with better trained teachers.
Problems in learning always have root in parental interest in progress (but
not micro-managing every detail in the classroom),cooperation and
appreciation for the school. Parents that require their child to 'do your
best'; parents that show an interest in and follow up on lessons, parents
that provide a place, a daily routine, and an expectation for homework
completion––usually have kids with the best grades. This is how Asian
Americans do it. They teach their kids neve!
r to expect an entitlement. Achievement follows involvement.
In the past, parents let the teachers teach, and there was cooperation. Not
now. And that is the big problem."
12/21/2010:
"These results are eye opening but not surprising. Unfortunately there is
no easy answer and the solution is a combination of many factors that
cited are below. Among the most important are: parent involvement,
outstanding teachers, community commitment, high expectations and an
openness to change. Easy to say, but extremely difficult to implement and
coordinate. Parents need to step up and become involved in the schools
and hold their children accountable for their work and behavior. We need
to encourage and reward outstanding teachers. We need to either improve
under-performing teachers or remove them from the system. Tenure is an
anachronism that can be replaced with due process in evaluations. The
community must place a prority on education. We must expect and demand
excellence on all levels. We must be open to change -- making informed
decisions based on facts for the good of our children and not based on
fiction, fads, opinions or self-interest. If you think th!
e above are hard, getting everyone on the same page to cooperate is the
hardest, but can be achieved with open and honest communications among all
parties over a long period of time with the parties behaving consistently
and fairly. I know this can work at the local level, but I am not as
sanguine at the state or national levels because of all the interest
groups. Perhaps the tools of social networking can be applied at the
grassroots level for the national good. One man's opinion."
12/15/2010:
"One word or one Phrase might very well explain much of our educational
slide 'Bush' 'No Child Left Behind' and other factors include: countries
invest real money into their education system as we, the US, seem to be
draining our educational funding to pay banks, the pentagon and the big
busines multinationals that produce highly over priced weaponry that the
US Gov. sells to other countries for the multinationals for huge profits
and the US gov buys the lions share of these weapons to perpetuate it
constant War State and has done so for over 50 years! "
12/15/2010:
"Wow, are we seriously surprised that countries like China, Japan and Korea
beat us? I always knew their students were more educated then ours, even
when I was a student in grade school myself. Yes we do need to do
something about our academics, but not because of our standing against
other countries. If anything we need to adapt whatever it is that they're
doing into our schools, since they've obviously been doing something right
for so long that we still haven't got a clue on yet."
12/15/2010:
"Sad, very sad. This is not about not enough money for schools, this is
about how they are used. Our school district spends on average student
~9K/year. Pretty good money to spend on quality private school. I have
deep feeling that public school system just does not work at all, and not
because of lack of money, but because somebody ( sorry, majority) does not
have any idea how to work. I gave up. My son now goes to private school
where he receives some help with language, however does not have any other
problems.
He was special education student and was treated as idiot at public
school. He had altered curriculum and still was below grade level. His
teacher told me, he needed medz to help him learn, because of her style of
teaching she could not provide him structured predictable environment as
was required by his IEP. Two public school years were never ending
nightmare for me.
My son's IQ score is in high superior range. I am not surprised with the
results. More over I suspect that very basic knowledge were tested by
PISA.
"
12/15/2010:
"I am a teacher and have been one for 30+ years. I have a BA in Special Ed/
Elementary Ed, an MS in Early Childhood Ed, and I am National Board
Certified in Early Childhood as well. Last year I was in the final 8 for
Teacher of the Year in my state. I said all this only to show that I have
a little knowledge about education in general and Early Childhood in
particular. We will have to change a few things in order to make a turn
around and they are simple. All these countries start formal education at
age 7. Finland has preschool which is for ages 4,5, and 6 and emphasize
social-emotional education. Social emotional intelligence has been
determined to be more important to academic success than any of these
tests or even I.Q. They teach children basic manners, behavior, and
personal responsibility. When they start school they know the behaviors
necessary to be a success. The US on the other hand decided to throw out
any of this teaching and move academics down to kindergarten. !
In other words Kindergarten teaches what First Grade used to teach, and
First Grade teaches what second once taught etc, etc. It does not work.
Child Development experts will tell you that it is like demanding all
children learn to walk at 6 months. The brain is not developed enough for
this and our so many of our children are not learning social skills at
home so this is self defeating in this way also. Another important thing
is that none of these countries try to education the whole range of
society in one classroom. We have everything from emotionally disturbed,
autistic, sociopathic, mentally disabled, non-English speaking, to gifted
in one classroom. Our teachers do not have the range of expertise needed
to teach all these children well, nor is there enough time in the day to
do so if they could. So everyone is left behind. All children have the
right to an education, but in the appropriate setting for them. These two
areas will have to be 'Fixed' before anything else will work."
12/15/2010:
"We would all do much better if, we as parents stepped up to the plate and
disciplined our kids or at least allowed the schools to reign in ill
behaved kids. Stop the excuses. Really, how much learning can our kids
get in school if teachers spend the whole day just trying to control the
classroom."
12/15/2010:
"Finland, really? What are they doing with all that knowledge? Trying to
think of one non-obsure contribution they've made to modern society. The
US on the other hand leaves them in the dust. The conclusion I draw from
this is that they just aren't very industrious."
12/15/2010:
"There should be some correlation between the PISA scores and innovation/
betterment in the overall quality of the society. Test scores reflect
effort and congratulations to the high performers. However, education's
objective in building productive, innovative and progressive societies/
citizenry should not be lost out on."
12/15/2010:
"You get out of education what you put into education. I hate the rigor of
the curriculm is rather scary but its harder to find brighter kids in the
mass now day because society allows it. Not every community puts
education first. Its what we allow, close our eyes to, believe or forget
brainwashing is just that simple. When we allow one citizen to fail, we
all fail. I hate to read it, but not going to happen in my house."
12/15/2010:
"As a student, this disappoints me highly. It saddens me to think that this
country has regressed so much as from being so advanced, basically at the
top, to our students getting below average as test scores. We are not a
third world country that has high rates of illiteracy, every child has a
right to an education, so why students don't take an advantage of this is
beyond me, of course this is probably because they don't realize the
importance of education and how much it can benefit them. I only hope that
drastic changes will occur in our education system, however I'm not
getting my hopes up."
12/15/2010:
"Regardless of the 'intensity' of the problem, the problem is real.
Question is how we are going to solve it without enough resources (budget
deficit) and enough involvement (parents out of the picture)"
12/15/2010:
"Good golly. What about the parents? I'm working with a high school to
write grants for additional funding. The parents are supportive of the
grant idea but almost none read the grant applications. When they do
contribute text, things like 'it's' and 'its' get confused in their
writing. Don't pay attention to this article's conclusion that the PISA
may be biased. The PISA is correct. The high school I'm working with
spends $5,800/year/student. Excuse me? $5,800??? In contrast, the county
spends about $14,000 on special-needs kids. That should be reversed, and
spend $14,000 on the brightest and $5,800 on the 'special.' We have to
transfer money from Afghanistan and DoD to Education and our brightest."
12/15/2010:
"Chinese schools typically have 50 to 90 students in a class and only one
teacher and no aides. The students are expected to clean the schools even
during vacations and holidays. The day starts at 7:30 and ends about
5:00. In China teachers are important, in America, teacher are regarded
as a nuisance. Misbehaving children even just two or three destroy the
academic environment because the teacher needs to spend most of their time
disciplining not teaching. Get rid of them. Send them permanently to
schools catering to disciple problem children. Establish a national test,
make students who do not pass stay behind. At some point a national test
should also be given to see if the student is working toward being college
ready or should be sent to a vocational training school. Most other
countries do this. As a certified teacher and also a substitute I WOULD
NEVER, EVER send my children to public school (at least in Texas). In
Texas there was a court case with the most mi!
nd boggling subject matter: should a student who does not work on an
assignment and turns in a blank paper get a 50%!!!!!!! The court said
'No, they should get a zero.' duh, no kidding but several school
districts wanted to appeal the decision...I think they must have had a
Texas public school education and I use the term education loosely ."
12/15/2010:
"This should not really surprise anyone. The U.S. school system has not
progressed much over the last many decades. The approach, the method, the
entire system is lacking. One can not rely on our schools to educate our
children with valuable tools and information. It IS a parents job."
12/15/2010:
"Are all children in all of the participating countries taken from the
same/similar pools? Some children in other countries never get the chance
for education, i.e.,those that bloom later. Is this a specially selected
random pool or is it a true random selection from all children?"
12/14/2010:
"I marvel at the idea that our country does not 'teach to the test.' We
do, and our public education system rarely rewards a child for high marks.
It seems like it is super to be 'special' and you get your very own aide
to escort you, and it is good to be 'standard/average,' but if you are
gifted or above average the solution is 'after you do this mind numbing
work that is far too easy for you have some more work that agian will not
access your real apptitude.' It is no wonder that the real wealth of our
county (the brillinat and gifted ones) hide their 'candle under a bushel.'
We have taught our society to step in line from the elelmentary school on
up, and that my fellow American's are why our children have been thrown
udner the education bus."
12/14/2010:
"This is sad for our children, but not surprising. I live in California
and with each passing day our schools become a bigger joke. There is
simply no money left for the schools. Classes have 40-45 kids in them.
Teachers are tired and can't keep up with the mayhem.
My son, who has been in private school his whole life, decided he wanted
to go to public high school. Half way through his first semester, he
begged me to go back to his former school. He hated public school. His
teachers cussed, didn't show up for class, and the kids openly cheated
during exams. The entire adventure was an experience of non-chalance.
Don't get me wrong: I am NOT blaming the teachers. Rather, the state for
spending so much money on other things that they have screwed up the
school system. We need smaller classes, more teachers and better systems
of punishing the kids who can't adhere or mind the rules.
Instead, it is every man for himself. Sad."
12/14/2010:
"It's approaching high time for both policy makers as well as parents in
the US to accept the fact that for many of our children, we no longer
provide nor demand a first class education. Education matters, and
collectively we are failing to develop in our children the skills they
will need to be competitive in the increasingly globalized labor market."
12/14/2010:
"School systems like China's and South Korea's are always going to perform
better than countries that don't 'teach to the test.' But PISA claims to
be testing students' ability to apply their knowledge to real-life
problems that require ingenuity and creative problem solving. Sounds good,
right? After sampling a few of the math, reading, and 'science questions,
however, I marveled at the creative thinking of PISA's marketing machine
rather than the creative thinking required of test takers.It's a smartly
designed standardized test but no more. How it can claim to test creative
problem solving, I have no idea.'
I believe the skillful in testing is when you can apply your regular
learning same as creative problem solving. Creative thinking is just
creating 'dreamer' not in reality.I believe those top education countries,
they have gone through lots of difficulties in decades and they study for
living, not for dream.In American, kids are training to be creative, but
not quite capable to live the knowledge out.Kids are too pampered in their
growing stages, they are not likely be able to survive,as those top high
rank countries, when they face reality, the real life."
