Education articles like this piss me off so much

[Nanjing to Seoul]

http://news.yahoo.com/asian-nations-dominate-international-test-100159386.html

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/Ma10A5zIA0ya0Ty20iP64g--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTY0NTtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz05NjA-/

American students once again lag behind many of their Asian and European peers on a global exam, a continuing trend that often is blamed on child poverty and a diverse population in U.S. schools.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan called the results a "picture of educational stagnation" as U.S. students showed little improvement over three years, failing to score in the top 20 on math, reading or science.

Students in Shanghai, China's largest city, had the top scores in all subjects, and Singapore, South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong students weren't far behind. Even Vietnam, which had its students participate for the first time, had a higher average score in math and science than the United States.

These results again raise the question of whether the United States is consistently outperformed because of the widely varied backgrounds of its students. Some are from low-income households, for example. Others don't have English as their primary language.

As an A-level and IGCSE teacher in China, these results are to be expected. The education here is to teach to a test. Same when I was in Korea. All students are taught to a test.

Chinese schools do not fail students. Lowest grade a kid can get is a 70. If they get lower, they keep taking the same test until they pass it, then that score is recorded. The schools encourage teachers (usually with classes of 60 - 70) to teach to only the kids who care and are not asleep in class. Social promotion is the norm, as is lying about grades. All that matters in China is Gao Kao. The Chemistry teacher in my school goes nuts because they cannot conceptualize a simple chemistry concept. I teach Geography and History. Same in my classes, especially history.

I taught in the crappiest public school in Hebei province and now in one of the best international school in Suzhou. Education in Asia teaches to to a test. They are some of the best test takers in the world. Knowledge retention, conceptual development, abstract thinking, critical analysis and innovation are impossible for most students here. The test is most important. I hate articles like this. TESTS DO NOT SHOW THE ENTIRE STORY!!!

[Laelth]

1. I appreciate your insight on this. Thanks for the post. k&r n/t

-Laelth

[callous taoboy]

2. Excellent information. Thanks!

Side note: I have started employing "Singapore Math" techniques in my second grade classroom to bolster mental math and number sense. I am seeing great results. My point is that, in math at least, there may be methods like Singapore Math as well as their focus on test-taking that are helping the Singaporians outperform much of the world. In my opinion and experience, the U.S. has done a crappy job in math education.

But your post has helped my understanding in the latest round of international test data. It occured to me that comparing the international data makes about as much sense as comparing data among U.S. school districts in all of their demographic diversity.