Monday, November 13, 2006

Calling all Mathletes.

I read this today and it annoyed me.

We constantly hear about U.S. public school test scores and how we are failing when ranked beside other nations. This is usually to stir up a frenzy for school reform and funding and adoption of new programs.

Within the article it states that this new need for reform comes on the heels of a study that lead to the previous need for reform and how we have to get away from the previous recommendations of the same group.

Let's start assiging blame for this "problem." I can find two sources (which in all honesty is actually the same source):

1) The group doing the report. Obviously you don't know what changes will be effective and what areas of focus are of greatest concern. How about you just let the teachers teach instead of forcing curriculum on them.

2) The system. Not the school system. This system of reporting our scores next to international students. An exerpt from the article:

"...the math skills of children in the United States simply do not measure up: American eighth-graders lag far behind those from Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and elsewhere on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, an international test."

Wow I guess American students are not as intelligent as students from those countries. That can't be it, it must be our methods of teaching. No it's probably a self-esteem issue. Let's change numbers to things that make the kids feel good about themselves.

How about you try being honest in your reporting instead of peddling your snake venom.

Asian students are tested and screened before being allowed into public universities. Only the students who pass the tests go to school. The others are enrolled in public service or industrial programs or cast to the wayside (sweatshops, other horrors). Therefore you are comparing the test scores of all U.S. students (I realize not all children go to school but I'll even grant you that the children in school represent the top 75% of children in the U.S., which I'm sure you'll agree represents a low estimate) to the test scores of the upper margin (I'll even go with the top 50%, a number that is too big) of students from Asian countries. Therefore our average scores are bound to be significantly lower than those of the Asian communities.

Even European school systems do more job tracking and gear students toward desired career paths at an earlier age.

Am I saying change our school system? No, I'm saying educate our public so reports like these have the proper context.

Incidentally, I was not implying that Asian people are not smart. I have nothing but respect for your people and your culture. Please don't kung-fu me.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't worry so much, Caleb. The Bush administration is on it. Didn't you read? With No Child Left Behind in full force, we'll be able to effectively bring our children up to the educational standards of the mighty gods. NCLB is fool proof when measuring student intelligence, and it's the fault of the educator if every single student isn't up to the standards of which the government has pre-ordained despite learning disablities or social class. Don't worry, they'll just pull funding as a form of motivation to urge teachers to step up to the plate.

Anonymous said...

Luckily we only need like 5% of our people to be really awesome at math. The rest of us can just get along by riding their coattails, or, if all else fails, hire one of the more talented Asian kids.

Oliver said...

You should see the state of the kids in England. They don't know their math from their muff.

Unlike any other nationality I know, Americans are excellent at identifying actors in films and listing all the other films they've been in. Not only that, they'll tell you who wrote the screenplay, directed iand produced it. People just don't do that elsewhere.

Caleb said...

NCLB is a joke. Taking money away from existing education is not an answer. Throwing money at the problem isn't the answer either. I don't have the answer, but I can pick it out if I see it. I'm an American High School graduate.

My real point was that people are dumb all over the world.

Jay M. said...

ARRGH. Why don't they just go back to the crap that used to work. Put away the ritalin, give dad his belt back, and make the students do their homework.
If there were consequences for bad choices, rather than freakin hand-holding and placing blame, maybe these kids would have a chance at succeeding. We're teaching them to come up with more creative excuses, not solutions.

Anonymous said...

Just to clarify: I was being sarcastic.

Caleb said...

Really? You need to use a sarcasm font

Martin K. said...

...or at least use html < / sarcasm > tags. God.





Note: I tried to use proper tag formating when posting this the first time, and blogger gave me an improper html error.

Megan said...

Give dad his belt back!?!?!?
I hope jay m. forgot his sarcasm html tag.

Jay M. said...

Yeah, I couldn't find my sarcasm tag either. And yeah, I'm just sayin. Discipline, people.