why are americans the most imaginative people on the planet? ive been across people the world over.?
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Thanks for the compliment. Very nice of you in a day and age when verbally hating America is the latest trend in non-American countries. If Americans are really more creative than people of other nations, I think it must be because we can actually afford to be. A great many nations don’t have decent education systems, whereas American schools don’t teach only essential subjects like math or language skills, but also art classes. We have the means to actually FEED our inate creativity that everyone has, while many others are forced to keep it out of their conscious mind so they can remain focused on the struggles of simple survival.
Now, if only we Americans recognized the value of creativity, then maybe reality TV could finally be put to rest…. 😛
I can think of no better way to put it, my friend.
It is all about freedom and the right to be a freethinker!
You hit the nail on the head!
Story posted: 10-04-2005 07:07
By Elaine Wu
U-Wire
For your reading pleasure…
The United States is falling when it comes to international education rankings, as recent studies show that other nations in the developed world have more effective education systems.
In a 2003 study conducted by UNICEF that took the averages from five different international education studies, the researchers ranked the United States No. 18 out of 24 nations in terms of the relative effectiveness of its educational system.
Another prominent 2003 study, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, shows a steady decline in the performance of American students from grades 4 to 12 in comparison to their peers in other countries.
In both studies, Finland, Australia, Belgium, Austria, Hungary, Netherlands and the United Kingdom beat the United States, while the Asian nations of South Korea, Japan and Singapore ranked first through third, respectively.
The TIMSS study is a comprehensive study done on a four-year cycle that measures the progress of students in math and science in 46 participating countries. It evaluates fourth, eighth and 12th-graders through questionnaires, tests and extensive videotaping of classroom environments.
The TIMSS results reveal a lot about the weaknesses of the U.S. education system, said David Marsh, a professor at the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education.
“In fourth grade, American kids do above average internationally. By eighth grade, they slip a bit, and by 12th-grade, they’ve slipped a lot,” Marsh said. “We’re the only country that slides down that much from fourth to 12th grade.”
Although studies have attempted to illuminate the reasons for this downward slide, no conclusive explanations have been drawn.
The UNICEF report finds that educational success or failure is not directly linked to funding, and that there is no clear link between student-to-teacher ratios and test results.
By international standards, the United States spends a lot of money on education, and in terms of class sizes, a lot of countries that do well have larger class sizes than the United States, Marsh said.
Marsh said that he attributes U.S. rankings to a different set of reasons —namely, the way material is being taught in classrooms.
“The United States focuses more on procedure, and we try to teach many topics fast. Other countries tend to break topics up and go much more in-depth. They work on the concept, not just the procedure,” Marsh said. “Countries that did well in rankings focused on teaching the ideas and taught a few topics a year. Kids will learn what a fraction really is, not just how to add or subtract them.”
For example, teachers in the United States tend to teach in whole numbers, while other countries use rulers so children are able to see that there are numbers between whole numbers, Marsh said.
When kids are taught the procedure, and not the concept behind a subject, they tend to forget more quickly, he said.
Peter Luevano, assistant principal at Jefferson High School, cites different reasons for the decline in the U.S. education system.
“There are environmental factors that are involved. I think there’s a shift in the mentality of both kids and parents,” he said. “Kids value different things these days, and schools are more diverse than they were 15 or 20 years ago. We’re more open culturally, but that has caused more division rather than unity in the country. Parent involvement has also decreased, and there are also discipline factors involved. Schools have lost a lot of control.”
But the United States is taking steps toward improving education standards in the country.
In 2002, the Bush administration signed the No Child Left Behind Act, which places accountability for progress upon schools and doles out regular standardized testing.
The act is geared toward encouraging higher academic achievement among students, particularly those that come from poor minority backgrounds.
But some students at USC cannot see how the law is proving effective.
“Because the only way we measure how well students do is through testing, teachers end up teaching how to take the test, and not necessarily the subject matter,” said Megan Baaske, a sophomore majoring in history and communication. “Great, students can take a test, but they don’t know anything.”
“The U.S. caters to students’ needs and wants,” said Matias Sueldo, a sophomore majoring in international relations who spent part of his education in Argentina. “Kids here learn to pass a test, but they don’t learn the concepts. In Argentina, you either know it or you don’t.”
Emily Gamelson, a junior majoring in history, thinks that the low student achievement in U.S. schools has a lot to do with the lack of competition.
“Ambition and the motivation to achieve aren’t really inspired in our education system,” Gamelson said. “Since education is available to everyone, there’s not a lot of competition in our schools. Other countries force kids to focus at an earlier age, and there’s more competition to deal with.”
Some countries offer more incentives for students to do better. In Denmark and Finland, for instance, ninth and 10th grade are separated from 11th and 12th grade, encouraging students to do better and compete to get into the higher grades.
“It’s basically the teaching system, the values and cultures of a country that underlie its education system,” Sueldo said. “Other factors like funding really have nothing to do with it.”
But Luevano said that he thinks there are difficulties in even comparing U.S. schools, especially public ones, to ones abroad.
“Other countries might have a more homogenous population,” he said. “(Here) you have different cultures, different communities and kids who come from different backgrounds. You don’t have the same socioeconomic standards. It’s hard to be compared.”
Nevertheless, the published education rankings remain displeasing to some people.
“I think it’s ironic that the United States is the richest and most powerful country in the world and yet we can’t even properly educate our own students,” Baaske said. “Our priorities are in the wrong place.”
But Marsh believes we can make a change for the better.
“If we do this right, we can be a real educational leader in the world,” he said. “But the state of education in the United States is a serious situation that demands our attention.”
