I sometimes feel inundated with reports about how American students fall so far behind students in other countries. I am getting quite irritated at this pattern! It truly makes me sick to my stomach and I have found myself actually yelling at the television when I hear these stories.
This is Just Part I
I am not trying to say that American students are smarter than all others. Not even close! I just think it is absurd to compare a set of scores and draw a conclusion that one educational system is superior to another. Those are single glimpses into entire societies. When you hear those comparisons, do you ever hear the influencing factors to those scores? Are you certain every country tests all of their students? Are any students "weeded out" before they are required to take the test? How are the families structured? All of those points are interesting...but for another entry. I would like to make a different comparison today.
The Study and The Mystery
A "prominent" 2003 study, the "Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study," shows a steady decline in American math and science scores from 4th grade through 12th grade when comparing them to peers in other countries. The study showed the following as the top three scorers (I'll tell you what the numbers in parenthesis are in a minute):
- South Korea (1)
- Japan (4)
- Singapore (35)
Also ranking above the United States were (in no particular order):
- The Netherlands (36)
- Austria (17)
- Hungary (6)
- Finland (11)
- Australia (41)
- Belgium (12)
Drum-roll Please...
You would think by looking at this that the United States was certainly not the place to educate your children with all these countries available. There is more to the story, however! I looked at the website for the World Health Organization and, after I did some digging on a few countries, found some interesting 
information to analyze. The numbers in parenthesis above are where those respective countries rank when it comes to suicide rate among females (I just chose that piece of data just to have something to compare). Do you see anything interesting in the top two? Hmmmmm....I wonder where the United States ranks? Using the same measure, the United States ranks 50th. Canada is also frequently mentioned as having superior and they ranked 42 on the suicide list.
I am certainly not saying there is a direct connection between suicide and scoring well on a math test. I am contending, however, that there are evidently pressures in many countries that we have to a much lesser degree here in the United States. It is ridiculous to compare single hairs on two heads and think you learn anything useful. Why do you think we don't hear more about this? There are certainly many factors that contribute to such a data set, but I think it is worth including in the story. I think many media outlets as well as government institutions have a vested interest in making American educational institutions look lackluster. Just look at any organization that stands to make money from such a perception. I know our school system can learn many things both internally and externally, but I don't think comparing scores to other countries is productive.
Again, we will delve into the topics of family structure, who is testing and much more in future posts.
Agree or disagree with any of this? I look forward to your comments!
Thank you for your time and support,
Recent Comments