The State of U.S. Education: At A Glance

[Dustin]

Stole this from reddit. Pretty interesting

[mugofbeer]

And it's even more sad to see the dramatic deterioration of the level of education we had even 2 years ago with the horrific state budget shortfalls and what it has done to even decent school systems.

[betts]

We have a huge country with a very diverse population. We try to base our curriculum on doing well on standardized tests, and yet we really only need the college bound to do well on standardized tests. Most dropouts never make it to college and so it is them we are not reaching. I found high school mind-numbingly boring, but I had a goal of getting to college so I participated. Had I not had a goal, I might have considered stoping out too. What matters is not what children learn, with the exception of reading, but that they learn something. It's learning that sets up neuronal pathways in the brain, not a particular subject. If we tried to make learning more fun and interesting, and worried less about test scores, we might find that everyone did better. Our country is so large that we only need a small percentage to be math and science whizzes to have enough for innovation. I think we should concentrate on reading for those who don't show aptitude for math and science.

I had a perfect example of the above with my youngest son. We struggled with addition and subtraction flash cards. He wasn't interested and so made no effort to learn them. I was completely frustrated because my more biddable older children had gone along with my drilling without much resistance. The youngest loved sports and spent all his time on the Internet reading about players, teams and games. One day he knew the flash cards without any review and I was amazed. I asked him if he'd been studying on his own. He told me that he'd been figuring out margins of victory and point spreads and he needed to know it. Although we later discovered he has a math learning disability, he taught himself percentages for the same reason. He learned it because it interested him.

[bandnerd]

Neat graphic. I might print that and take it to work with me.

[Midtowner]

It'd be a different world if teaching was a desirable profession in the U.S.

[HewenttoJared]

It'd be a different world if teaching was a desirable profession in the U.S.

It would be a different world if education(not the degree, just being informed) was a respected thing in the U.S.

[bandnerd]

It would be a different world if education(not the degree, just being informed) was a respected thing in the U.S.

Indeed.

[Achilleslastand]

Gotta love multiculturism and diversity.....+1

[NoOceanHere]

Hold PARENTS, TEACHERS, and STUDENTS accounable for a change. If we forgot how to do that, open up a page of history before we unleashed the NEA and the Dept of Education.

[rcjunkie]

Hold PARENTS, TEACHERS, and STUDENTS accounable for a change. If we forgot how to do that, open up a page of history before we unleashed the NEA and the Dept of Education.

I somewhat agree. I feel most of the blame falls upon the parents, they need/should take a more active approach in the education of their children. My daughter teaches elementry in Moore, last year was her first year. On Open House Night she had 7 parents show up. (out of 24 kids).