"South Korea has the most effective education system in the world's richest countries, with Japan in second place and the United States and Germany near the bottom, a United Nations study said Tuesday.
The ranking ''provides the first 'big picture' comparison of the relative effectiveness of education systems across the developed world,'' the UNICEF study said.
''It is based not on the conventional yardstick of how many students reach what level of education, but on testing what pupils actually know and what they are able to do,'' UNICEF said.
It said it based the study on five different tests of 14 and 15 year olds to determine their abilities in reading, math and science.
The scores of the tests were disclosed individually in 2001 and earlier. What is new about the study is that it averages the results to give ''the most comprehensive picture to date of how well each nation's education system is functioning as a whole,'' UNICEF said..
''A lot of that has been driven by this perception that our schools are simply not good enough and they don't compare well with systems in other countries,'' Matthews told The Associated Press.
The blame or credit for the results does not go exclusively to a nation's schools, said the 36-page study, part of a series of ''report cards'' produced by UNICEF's Innocenti Research Center in Florence, Italy.
''It is clear that educational disadvantage is born not at school but in the home,'' said the report. ''Learning begins at birth'' and is fostered by ''a loving, secure, stimulating environment.''
''We didn't really get into why. We found out that there was no one answer,'' McCormick said. ''We tried linkages with the teacher-student ratios, with various things, and it didn't work.
''The biggest thing is obviously the socio-economic background of the child and how well-educated their parents are.''
The study said that ''South Korea and Japan sit firmly at the head of the class.''
''Germany, with its strong educational and intellectual tradition, occupies 19th place out of the 24 nations,'' just behind the United States in 18th place.
Germany is unusual in that it sorts children at an early age into professional, white-collar and blue-collar curricula, the study said. The German labor market's demands for particular qualifications ''meant that the track a child ends up in has a particularly strong impact on later life,'' it said.
Germany and Denmark finished in the bottom half of tests on reading and math, but scored high in a separate evaluation of adult literacy, ''again illustrating the danger of treating any one survey with undue reverence,'' the study said.
The United States, however, finished low in each test and in adult literacy."
See why I complain
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Q45tech
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But of course the rest of the world sends their graduate students to the US for Masters and PHD in Science.
I can assure you with enough time and money it is possible for almost anyone to get a BA in US [my son is a fine example] after 12 years in college he might grad this May...or next or the next.....basic math is killing him.
Every American thinks it is their right to attend college, in Georgia all they have to do is maintain a B average in High School and all State tution is free [any school] [even privates receive rebates] as long as you keep a B in college..........2/3 CAN"T in the 1st year and it gets worse progressively.....less than 10% graduate with free tuition.
Hopefully our average [radom selected] college grads can stand up to Korean high schoolers?
I can assure you with enough time and money it is possible for almost anyone to get a BA in US [my son is a fine example] after 12 years in college he might grad this May...or next or the next.....basic math is killing him.
Every American thinks it is their right to attend college, in Georgia all they have to do is maintain a B average in High School and all State tution is free [any school] [even privates receive rebates] as long as you keep a B in college..........2/3 CAN"T in the 1st year and it gets worse progressively.....less than 10% graduate with free tuition.
Hopefully our average [radom selected] college grads can stand up to Korean high schoolers?
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Q45tech
- Moderator
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- Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2002 3:19 am
- Car: 1990 Q45 342,400 miles 22 years ownership with original engine
1995 G20t 5 speed 334,000 miles 16" 2002 wheels - 205/50/16 Sr20ve vvl
You have to go full time and 4 years is the limit, thanks to the Georgia Lottery all proceeds go to education.
The problem was that the local boards dumbed down High School B's so F students were getting B's so you can imagine what C's are like! After all it way politically corrected to leave no child behind.
Then they enter a College [even a Junior College] and need 3 text books [no Cliff Notes] times 5 classes per week.......many B students flunk out the 1st semester even with emergency remedial tutoring.
What a waste of money but it fills the freshman ranks of the regional 2 year schools. Designed and programmed to fail.
If they don't cut it, into the chipper so they can make oil is my plan.
The problem was that the local boards dumbed down High School B's so F students were getting B's so you can imagine what C's are like! After all it way politically corrected to leave no child behind.
Then they enter a College [even a Junior College] and need 3 text books [no Cliff Notes] times 5 classes per week.......many B students flunk out the 1st semester even with emergency remedial tutoring.
What a waste of money but it fills the freshman ranks of the regional 2 year schools. Designed and programmed to fail.
If they don't cut it, into the chipper so they can make oil is my plan.
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greg_atlanta
- Posts: 1111
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- Car: 2008 G35 Journey Sedan, silver/black (no sunroof), 1992 Q45 (in a past life)
Q45tech wrote:You have to go full time and 4 years is the limit, thanks to the Georgia Lottery all proceeds go to education.
The lottery is more-or-less just a creative way to tax poor people. (Reverse Robin Hood: steal from the poor and give to the rich).
There are LOTS of new cars in college towns these days... the kids got the free tuition, the parents were financially prepared to pay for college (they can afford it)... so there's all this extra money sitting around.... so a new car is a reward for being a good student. (Or a nice apartment... the upscale apartment market is booming in Athens where UGA is located).
The free tuition thing appears to be a very progressive policy to benefit economically disadvantaged people. But doesn't work out that way... it is very popular among Republicans even though it was implemented by a Democratic governor.
So next time you buy a lottery ticket.... which car dealer gets the money?
:thinker