<p>We have a accelerating amount if video available for communication - seems as though we are reading less and less.</p>
<p>There was a recent study ([Where</a> in the world do teachers get paid the most - Emirates 24/7](<a href=“http://www.emirates247.com/news/where-in-the-world-do-teachers-get-paid-the-most-2013-10-07-1.523726]Where”>Where in the world do teachers get paid the most - News - Emirates24|7)) suggesting that US teachers are pretty well paid in comparison to their international counterparts. Adjusted for taxation, the US average teacher salary ranked in the top five among 21 countries, including Finland and Switzerland. The top 5 in this study were Singapore, the US, South Korean, Japan, and Germany. </p>
<p>Frankly, the US needs way too many public school teachers to pay them at rates competitive in, say, medicine or engineering. I have known several smart and capable people who chose teaching because they enjoyed it, because they felt they were doing something that motivated them to get up in the morning, because they were improving the world, and because they had a stable middle-class job with benefits. If that’s not good enough for you, then teaching is not your career. Where I live, it’s very hard to get a teaching job. They have plenty of good applicants.</p>
<p>I don’t think our problem lies in teacher compensation or inability to attract “the best and brightest.” It has to do with our culture.</p>
<p>I am not convinced that America has a common culture with respect to valuing the work ethic necessary to maximize educational opportunities. There are vast differences in the way different families teach the value of education.</p>
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<p>The other issue with starting foreign languages in high school or middle school is that a student’s best years for learning languages are earlier in life.</p>
<p>I really couldn’t have said it better than Turtletime. </p>
<p>My other very real observation is that there are just too many distractions these days. I’m guilty of it myself. A lot of us are worse parents because we’re here with our iPads or what typing in the last response while the kids are like “mommeeeeeee!!!” </p>
<p>I was a teen in the 80s (hey, see my user ID) who remembers my parents being completely confounded by the hairstyles of some of my friends (admittedly, they got scary that decade). I still never believed where I would be my parents’ age and say “I can’t believe the teens these days” and here I am. </p>
<p>But who knew you’d be able to broadcast to 100 kids in the space of 2 minutes the location of an empty party house? That evidence would be for eternity? </p>
<p>It really is all different.</p>
<p>Americans have too much resources . Many students have been using calculators since middle school ! Many don’t even read anymore . People are getting lazier and lazier because almost everything is being handed to them . Students must struggle sometimes because sometimes, it’s the best way to learn. At least that’s how I learned back in my country (Philippines)</p>
<p>I could tell you many stories that would illustrate this research, but I won’t. </p>
<p>Thank you, OP, for posting this. You made my day.</p>
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Ironic that the person who is arguing that the OECD report is meaningless thinks that Japan which had the second largest economy in the world until recently overtaken by China, has a population not much larger than a country full of reindeer… </p>
<p>This speaks volumes about the state of education in the U.S.</p>
<p>Common Core</p>
<p>More than a matter of teacher pay, I think it’s a matter of teacher respect. Teachers in Finland generally come from the top of their class at college, while in the US it’s seen as a “back up” career in a lot of cases, and the average class rank of teachers is significantly lower. Teachers are just not respected. It’s not the only factor, by any means, but I think it definitely plays a role.</p>
<p>GMTplus7 said</p>
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<p>This speaks volumes about the state of education in the U.S.
<<<</p>
<p>I missed a zero. 13mil vs 130mil. </p>
<p>My point is still relevant even if I had made that mistake. The populations are not homogenous so the rankings are inherently flawed, much like the health care ratings they come up with. They test way fewer students, and students in a lot of these countries are sent to vocational schools before they’re tested. These studies come out constantly and are just a source of generational ire and turn into anecdotal “lazy kids these days” diatribes, which is a little confusing juxtaposed with the current state of the country. </p>
<p>They’re also used to justify more spending on education when we already spend more than pretty much everyone else per student.</p>
<p>The fact of the matter is the USA continues to outproduce everyone including these countries thirty places above us. I find it hard to believe countries like Iceland and Japan are beating us at anything considering the stagnation in their economies over the last few decades. China is doing great now and has much better consumer emphasis on personal savings and education, but I have a hard time believing its not a huge house of cards.</p>
<p>High focus on testing, constant experimenting in teaching, and large amounts of our education budgets going in to sports instead of education. Too much money spent on bureaucracy. Where I live, kids are not allowed to go ahead of grade level. And most kids in the district have brand new ipads to play on. My son, who was so happy to have his new ipad (he is 9) finally admitted to me that the ipads were a waste of money. He says everyone just plays with them, but they do not learn anything from them. I was shocked he said this because he LOVES his new ipad. Another thing…kids who cause trouble do not seem to be removed from the classroom anymore. Alternative schools have been shutting down in districts. And schools no longer focus on the basics.</p>
<p>Good news: US is producing more PhDs than any other country.</p>
<p>Not so good news: more than half of those PhDs are foreign-born.</p>
<p>America is afraid to create an elitist society. Too afraid.</p>
<p>Yes, kids should be grouped according to their abilities. Yes, you would have racial imbalances if you group kids according to their abilities. Yes, you create future inequality by grouping kids into advanced classes. Yes, you have to preselect students who take advanced classes. It would improve abilities of everyone, because every kid would study at his or her level, not too boring nor too challenging.</p>
<p>Would USA public accept all these? Probably not. Certainly, no politician would suggest such plan.</p>
<p>^^^ outrageous generalities and factual misstatements. </p>
<p>And the idea that we’re not already an elitist society is downright funny. In a grim sort of way.</p>
<p>katliamom ,</p>
<p>Do you disagree with me? May be I was not very clear in my post. Briefly, I believe that it would be beneficial for each individual child to be taught at his comfortable level, in a group of similarly educated peers. However, society as a whole, can’t afford this approach because it leads to stratification. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Yes, kids should be grouped according to their abilities. For example, in competitive sports, coach groups kids by their abilities. Advanced player is paired with another advanced player. Beginners grouped with beginners. It makes perfect sense, because you benefit most, when you learn with your peers. </p></li>
<li><p>Yes, you would have racial imbalances if you group kids according to their abilities. I am not talking about innate abilities. I am talking about things like literacy level in elementary school. Yes, certain subgroups of population are less prepared for school than the others (minorities, disadvantaged). If you group kids by their level, racial imbalances would be very visible. Socioeconomic imbalances play even bigger role, but they are not as visible. </p></li>
<li><p>Yes, you create future inequality by grouping kids into advanced classes. Some kids would have a jumpstart to elite college, and it would be obvious to everyone. Currently, these kids have advantage as well. However, it is not that visible, because such kids are not clustered together.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Currently, US may be an elitist society, but it is not that visible. If you cluster kids into advanced and non-advanced students, and teach different curriculums to these kids, you highlight stratification of the society.</p>
<ol>
<li>We’re already stratified </li>
<li>Plenty kids learn at their own pace, in public schools</li>
<li>Plenty kids are grouped according to their abilities, in public schools</li>
<li>If you think elitism isn’t visible in the US, you’re not looking hard enough (or at all)</li>
</ol>