Really makes you think:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32608772
And it looks like it won't be long until the Russian Federation will overtake the United States too - as it's only six places behind. Several ex-Soviet republics already have overtaken the United States. And yet you get these Fascist Christians who still act as if the United States is the best in the world at everything. Isn't it embarrassing that the United States is being overtaken by Socialist countries? It was only recently that I discovered that Cuba has a higher average life expectancy than the United States.

I'm not sure if Germany can live with rank 13 in the long run. As opposed to the US, we don't really have any natural resources.

But I really want to stress that reducing the achievements of an educational system to one number can't possibly be very useful apart from getting a very rough picture. What is it supposed to measure? Educationicity? Educationness? Educosity? You also have to keep in mind that these studies and the underlying tests are possibly designed by idiots who don't know what they are talking about and necessarily let some of their prejudice seep into the final ranking measure.

(May 13, 2015 at 9:07 am)Alex K Wrote: I'm not sure if Germany can live with rank 13 in the long run. As opposed to the US, we don't really have any natural resources.

But I really want to stress that reducing the achievements of an educational system to one number can't possibly be very useful apart from getting a very rough picture. What is it supposed to measure? Educationicity? Educationness? Educosity?

It measures test scores in mathematics and science, if I read correctly. That's how they came to the conclusion that children in Vietnam, on average, receive a better standard of education then the United States. Clearly, it's the states of the so-called 'Bible Belt' that are bringing the United States average down.

So we know that children in Asia can solve standardized tests in mathematics and science better, on average. That's one measure, not the measure by a long shot. You can then discuss whether that's worth routinely bringing your students to the brink of suicide in the process as some countries there do. One should also analyze whether this implies that they have the necessary training for innovation and technological and scientific progress, and how those abilities are measured best.

Regardless, the U.S. education system is absolutely abysmal, and when you get into the inner cities, calling it an "education" is a farce. Michigan's education system is especially bad, and Detroit's is one of the worst in the country.

You ask anyone that works in a college and they'll tell you that their students on a whole are woefully under prepared.

I'd say the US doesn't really value and respect the teaching profession (bad pay and low social prestige), and letting schools be run by local boards is crazy, as is the funding scheme. The somewhat rural school where I spent my senior year was mostly on a decent level if you took AP courses, although even there some teachers were relatively incompetent. I think I was lucky, it was a very good school in comparison, but an all AP course selection would only barely have reached the level of my German school. You can't ask for more as a teacher though because then the rich guy with the idiot son on the school board gets you fired. But those that dared, damn they were world class. So there is hope.

I read Vietnam as Vatican and for the past hour or so have been wondering what the education system there looks like

Brain, y u so dumb

(May 13, 2015 at 9:13 am)Alex K Wrote: So we know that children in Asia can solve standardized tests in mathematics and science better, on average. That's one measure, not the measure by a long shot. You can then discuss whether that's worth routinely bringing your students to the brink of suicide in the process as some countries there do. One should also analyze whether this implies that they have the necessary training for innovation and technological and scientific progress, and how those abilities are measured best.

Yeah, examining the methodology, it seems that it might be a suitable method of comparing national abilities in maths & 'sciences' but:

1. it doesn't list the 'sciences' that are tested
2. it doesn't specify how much focus/weighting in the tests is put on each 'science'
3. the sample size is relatively small considering the total population, which may skew the results

So as a way of testing the 'quality of global education', I think it fails. What of the Humanities, Arts and Sport? What of teacher selection processes, curricula and teaching methods? What of spending, investment and infrastructure? What of the social and cultural constructs which frame the education system?

It's thusly an interesting stretch to relate the performance scores to national financial performance, indicating the amount of cash to be made if scores were higher. I think that's a useful way to sell education to those governments who prioritise their spending elsewhere (show them the Business Case!) but since the underlying scores are an unreliable indicator of performance, the quoted GDP Increases are flawed.

(May 13, 2015 at 9:10 am)MrNoMorePropaganda Wrote:

(May 13, 2015 at 9:07 am)Alex K Wrote: I'm not sure if Germany can live with rank 13 in the long run. As opposed to the US, we don't really have any natural resources.

But I really want to stress that reducing the achievements of an educational system to one number can't possibly be very useful apart from getting a very rough picture. What is it supposed to measure? Educationicity? Educationness? Educosity?

It measures test scores in mathematics and science, if I read correctly. That's how they came to the conclusion that children in Vietnam, on average, receive a better standard of education then the United States. Clearly, it's the states of the so-called 'Bible Belt' that are bringing the United States average down.

We have experienced here the that quite a number of americans refuse to believe facts, preferring to believe what they want.
I'm sure this attitude would affect educational ability.

Quote:Really makes you think:

Not really.  I imagine those other places do not have school systems which are under constant attack by rich corporate cocksuckers who want to privatize schools so they can suck more money out of the system in the form of stock options and "bonuses."  (See American Health Care for an example of how such a system "works.")