U.s. Students scores slide

Traveler

Traveler

Senior Member
Location
San Diego County
The most recent world rankings of students in the top 65 nations indicate that U.S. students have fallen even further behind in scores of math, reading, spelling, and science. Currently the U.S. ranks 31st (between Slovenia and Lithuania). The top nations are Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Macao, and Japan.

This is no accident. IMO it clearly demonstrates not only superior school systems but most importantly the willingness of the parents to put their children first.

Nationally, we see that students of Asian heritage are quite often winners of the National Spelling Bee AND the National Geographic Science Contest.

Without the parents full support and loving discipline, the children of any nation fall quickly behind.

Moreover, I also believe that cultural ideals, and full-time supervision (of children), plays some role in why we see so much violence in our schools.
 

I was surprised to learn that recently Canada has climbed into the top ten globally in reading, math, and science. I know 55% of Canadians have a university education. How times have changed.
 

Shalimar said:
Balance is needed also. In many Asian countries, the push for children to perform academically leads to high suicide rates among teenagers.
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How do we know that the push for academic achievement and suicide are related ? Seriously, children have been intensely educated since the days of Socrates.
 
Traveler said:
How do we know that the push for academic achievement and suicide are related ? Seriously, children have been intensely educated since the days of Socrates.
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I think it is a matter of how much shame is attached to not making the grade. When children are told that failing to achieve the highest marks brings irreparable shame to their families some of them cannot live with that. Whereas, now that Canada has cracked the top ten, there has not been an upsurge in teen suicides. I believe the difference lies in the focus being on education providing better opportunities for the children rather than how the family as a whole is affected.
 
Shalimar said:
I think it is a matter of how much shame is attached to not making the grade. When children are told that failing to achieve the highest marks brings irreparable shame to their families some of them cannot live with that. Whereas, now that Canada has cracked the top ten, there has not been an upsurge in teen suicides. I believe the difference lies in the focus being on education providing better opportunities for the children rather than how the family as a whole is affected.
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Hmm. That makes sense.
Just out of curiosity, I wonder if the same holds true for all of the children of India (in America) who are beating the pants off "American" kids. I saw on todays MSN.com that an Indian kid won the National Geographic Contest. (many Indian kids are winning Natl contests and they are only a tiny % of the U.S. pop.) They surely have something we are lacking. Better parenting ?
 
Traveler said:
Hmm. That makes sense.
Just out of curiosity, I wonder if the same holds true for all of the children of India (in America) who are beating the pants off "American" kids. I saw on todays MSN.com that an Indian kid won the National Geographic Contest. (many Indian kids are winning Natl contests and they are only a tiny % of the U.S. pop.) They surely have something we are lacking. Better parenting ?
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Interesting question.
 
My city has just recently hit a 60% graduation rate from the public high schools and this is in a state that spends approx. twice the national average on public education.

Part of the problem seems to be that children do not understand the long-term value of education and are more interested in the instant gratification of a job or some sort of short-term hustle to make money. It's hard to convince a kid that doesn't have anything to wait and hang in there for several more years of doing without.

It also seems like some of these kids have such a chaotic family life that they just want to get out or are forced out on their own at a young age.

The need goes beyond education and should include proper nutrition, health care, a stable environment, social skills, etc... IMO it would be beneficial if we had some grade 7-12 public high schools that use a college campus model which would allow the kids to live on campus 24x7 so they can be among like-minded people where they can focus on their education and life skills.

It's a tough problem.
 
We do have a trial system for our families these days. Get married, or not, and have a baby. Temper happens and now there is no family. Another guy shows up and the pairing begins once more. It can and does happen again. So we have way too many that have no family to support them and give inspiration.

Not a good start for the US future at all.
 
BobF said:
We do have a trial system for our families these days. Get married, or not, and have a baby. Temper happens and now there is no family. Another guy shows up and the pairing begins once more. It can and does happen again. So we have way too many that have no family to support them and give inspiration.

Not a good start for the US future at all.
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I totally agree. IMO, it takes an exceptionally tough, yet loving, mother to raise an emotional heathy boy. Quite often a boy needs a strong male presence.

Many of us will have noticed how a child will totally ignore the verbal commands of the mother, yet when the man, with his deep voice, says , "Hey, do what your mother says. NOW !", the kid freezes in his tracks and quickly obeys.
 
This is an explanation about our educational system that was put forth by Michiu Kaku several years ago, and it seems like it makes sense and fits right in with the statistics quoted in the OP by Traveler.
We often hear about the “dumbing down of America”, and in truth, it seems like this is what has happened progressively for many years now.
We have all seen the video clips of college students that really don’t know basic history, or even geography, and have only a vague idea what is even going on in the world today beyond what they see on television.

 
Our public education system has been totally hijacked by "Political Correctness". These kids get "moved" through the system, irregardless of whether or not they meet the Standards. When I was in school, we had a 3 tiered structure...most were in the normal curriculum, the slower students were assigned to more basic classes, and about 10% of us attended advanced "college prep" classes. Try that today, and the cries of "discrimination" would be endless.
I got classes in high school that many of today's colleges don't teach until the 2nd or 3rd years. I've watched as our kids, grandkids and now, great grandkids have been taught in the public schools, and there is Most Certainly a "Dumbing Down. It's no wonder that Charter Schools are gaining in popularity in many locales where the parents still care, and can afford the added expense.
 
As they're talking about averages for each country maybe those of us here in the U.S. should start by looking at which states are leading and which fail miserably. Root causes? Political and religious influence within these states, economic levels, etc.. If we want to blame poor parenting, that's pretty widespread but if the lower and lowest states scores can't be raised - -there goes the nation's average??

Maybe these lower performers should look to the better performing states and see how their school systems and subjects compare.
 

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