<p>Did anyone watch the 20/20 special last night? They were talking about how "stupid" the schools in America were compared to Europe's and Asia's. I thought America's schools were supposed to be the best. I want to transfer to a Swiss boarding school now. xD</p>
<p>out of curiosity...why did you suppose that America's school are the best ?</p>
<p>America's schools are "the best" in some ways, and "the worst" in others. The threshhold for education is much higher than in European or Asian countries, where they have trade schools etc. for those who aren't inclined to scholastics. So the numbers of basically educated people are higher here...on the other hand, our test scores and such are lower because we have that threshold. Only the best and brightest go to Gymnasiums in Germany, for example. Everyone goes to high school here. It's the law.</p>
<p>Although the US may be lacking in K-12 education, compared to the world, the US has one of the best Colleges and Universities in the world. </p>
<p>That NY Teacher's Union President is a jerk. She's running this big monopoly that hurts the students in the long run. I agree with Stosel when he says that having the choice and introducing competition among schools will improve schools.</p>
<p>Yep. American universities are, on average, the world's best, but our pre-uni education just sucks :p</p>
<p>tkm256 makes a good point. It is important to remember that we all have access to a decent, FREE education. Everyone goes to high school, and everyone tests. In other countries, only the best and brightest go to high school, and only the best and brightest test.</p>
<p>America's problem is that we continue to pour money into trying to educate for college those who have no desire or will to get into college. We are working on a model that is unsuccessful. Why do you think so many folks in the US pay their education taxes and private tuition? We do provide education to all so why do these "all" complain so much? Public education is the lower rung and a stop gap not a solution and method to reach the top rung.</p>
<p>hahahaha hazmat what a typical harvard kid. They're lucky to have you</p>
<p>
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we all have access to a decent, FREE education.
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</p>
<p>I wish this were true, but it isn't. It's true that we all have access to a free education. But we don't all have access to a decent education. The truth is, there are plenty of public schools out there that truly suck. And the kids have no choice but to either go to them or shell out money for a private school or get home-schooled. Not a particularly reasonably choice if you are poor and your parents have to work.</p>
<p>Yeah, the issue is not so much availability as much as it is quality. There's a very small subset of public schools that are truly rigorous and that offer a variety of opportunities. Many are extremely limited in scope, for no reason other than money.</p>
<p>hazmat, from the low rung kid to the top one,
private schools are not always better than public schools. i go to a great public school that does better academically than many private schools in my state. i'm curious as to what you think the solution is. do you think there should be no public school? the people that can pay go to school and the ones that can't are left without an education? maybe some of those kids would be happy but a lot of opportunities would be closed for many. i'm sure if our government decided that you don't need to go to school unless you plan on going to college, thinks would most likely change for the worse in this country. i live in a small town full of a lot of extremely intelligent people (i believe it has the highest number of people with phd's per capita) and every single kid in this town goes to public school. we are not being deprived a good education just because they don't have a private school here. it would be a waste of money to pay for a private education, where in this town, you would be better off staying in the public schools. i know in my old town there were some parents who sent their kids to private, not because of the education, but because they felt it boosted their family status. if i misinterpreted your post, sorry, feel free to correct me.</p>
<p>I am not advocating the demise of the public education system nor am I saying that private is always better than public. As an aside I have been educated in both the public and private. I am merely saying that we do have choices and that a student has freedom to pick the best option. Why don't we expand the school loan program to include grades lower than college? Vouchers aren't working in many areas as the courts rule against them so make the loans more available or tag the funds to the student so they can walk the system as the needs arise. If all schools within the public system were available things might improve.....at the moment the only moving around would be magnet schools many of which are random assignment not merit entry. Correcting those problems would help.</p>
<p>i'd disagree with tkm's statement that americans are generally better educated.
aisan schols force their students to learn, and no there are no professional schools in asia (i heard it's present in europe). </p>
<p>so asian high schoolers know more even though they might not like learning.</p>
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Many are extremely limited in scope, for no reason other than money.
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</p>
<p>I wouldn't even say that it is a simple matter of money. I believe I read somewhere how the Washington DC public school systems spends more money per student than almost any other public school system in the country and yet gets abysmal results.</p>
<p>The US K-12 school system needs to be reworked. The teacher labor unions are too monopolized and have too much say in how the school system should run. I agree with Stosel when he says that creating competition among schools will improve education. I mean companies compete to provide the best products for their consumers.</p>
<p>btw, are there any US Schools that even take those international exams? The only tests I ever take are statewide and national tests.</p>
<p>Just to keep all the discussion in the same place, there's a thread in the Parents Forum thats already on page 5:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=138592&page=5&pp=20%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=138592&page=5&pp=20</a></p>
<p>To cooljoe: There is an international test that 4th grade students or their equivalents take across the world. It's called the The International Mathematics and Science Study TISMSS. It tests fourth grade students or the equivalent of one across the world on math and science. When I was taught about this in Poli. Sci. the professor just brushed the findings off (the study found that US 4th graders only manage sub-par scores compared to kids from other countries). He said, "Does it really matter how you perform in 4th grade?" </p>
<p>It was pretty pathetic when students from Belgium beat the students from the New Jersey school- students who said that the test was easy but didn't even manage to answer fifty percent of the questions correctly. And then, it was even more pathetic when they couldn't even answer simple questions regarding their own nation's history. I mean c'mon, pompous little *sses.</p>
<p>America's schools are the best... the colleges anyway. We have the best university system in the world, but one of the worst secondary/primary education systems in the world compared to other industrialized nations. </p>
<p>I so agree with John: WE NEED CHOICE! I, for one, am a victim of classic zoning restrictions in the US. I go to a ****ty school while some people who got into Ivies and such went to awesome schools just down the street. Why wasn't I given that same opportunity?</p>
<p>It's DEFINATELY not the money and question of financing; we pay more per pupil than any other nation in the world. The problem is how the government monopolizes education to force everyone into a "zone" instead of letting them choose the school they get to go to. Other countries don't have this problem because students get to choose their school; in other countries, if you don't work up to par, you don't get students who want to go there and in turn you don't get their government dollars and in turn you shut down. Why can't this happen here?</p>
<p>Without competition, schools and their teachers are lazy no matter how many regulations and acts we place on them.</p>
<p>Zoning is not exactly the number 1 problem in education today</p>