Can American students compete with their global peers?

We put a man on the moon long before No Child Left Behind.

When did Honda become popular? Was it because of our lagging 8th graders?

Oh, give me a break.

We are kidding ourselves if we think that the American School system is up to scratch in comparison with other developed nations. I have worked in a school for nine years, and while I love the kids, I am disgusted with our system, and the pitiful decaying of the American family unit. First of all, our kids' failures have little to do with methodology, quality of teachers, etc. Which is what the feds & the state keep focusing on through development of techniques, teaching standards and standardized testing. American kids are less educable than other kids, and that is a problem with our society, first and foremost. Our kids don't have family structure and support the way some international students do. As a result, the lack of discipline (usually due to no father in the home, or parents that are so tired from their 9 to 5's that they are letting the TV and Nintendo raise their children) Our kids don't know how to sit down and focus to be taught. I can't tell you how much time teachers spend getting 10th graders to be quiet so they can teach! Discipline is a real problem, and the kids and parents have all the rights-therefore the school can't do mush to deter bad behavior. Do think that is the environment that Japanese teachers are dealing with? Because of this our school needs more resources to make up for the gaps at home. For example; my cousin teaches 9th Lit and she has one student at a 1st grade reading level, seven at a 5-7th grade level, two at a college reading level (they are too lazy to take Honors, & the school can't force them), with the other 22 are at the appropriate level. How the heck is she supposed to devise an effective curriculum for ALL of those students? Unfortunately, she will have to teach to the middle like most public school teachers have to. Most of the ones below level will fail, and the others will go-unchallenged with a course that is beneath their true ability. Of course this environment breeds bad behavior due to frustration of some, and boredom of others. Other countries "track" so they are teaching kids with similar ability levels in one classroom. That is why we don't measure up in test scores. Sorry so long, but I have strong opinions! Thanks

Mathematically, there is no way for America to compete with nations where free education is granted while America's students must pay dearly for it.

Nor is there any logic to requiring them to pay for it if a nation is committed to investing in their own children.

Paying for the privilege of being educated to compete among world powers where free education is accepted as an obligation doesn't make sense, and can only undermine American prominence in the spheres of intellect, professional services, and scholarship endowment.

Restricting human welfare to the willingness to pay for education is inhumane regardless of how much schools and banks receive for education profits.

What a stupid study...why are we comparing 8th graders? thats how rediculous this claim is, the education in the US doesn't get rigourous until high school around 10th grade! Once you get to the 10th grade you can choose whether you can take AP or IB courses (IB is INTERNATIONALLY ACCREDITED) BOTH count towards college credit if you can pass a test. In 8th grade you are still learning what you learned in 7th grade and 6th grade and elementary school. Why do you think there are more college students coming into the US then American students going to college outside the US? Its because it doesnt really matter if our education system sucks, its the student that makes the best out of his situation and we have THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES IN THE WORLD.

We should become worried when there are more foriegn students than domestic students in our universities.

even though i failed 3 or 4 classes in middle school and im still getting a full ride to chapman university because in high school i participated in extra curricular activities and got an acc. 3.77

im gonna get a degree and make the money, and some kid in China is STILL gonna be poor cause he lives in a communist country. thats the sad part.

No, if you want your children to be educated then I suggest you get them out of the failing public system and join the homeschool movement. It's not perfect either, but it is a whole lot better than the socialistic, peer dominated, amoral alternative. Of course you will have to give up your beautiful home in the estates and drive 20 year old cars because with mom staying at home raising a generation of responsible citizens you won't have enough money to afford the lifestyle you're currently living! We're probably not quite ready for that, are we? I know, it's a little close to home isn't it?
All you need to do is take a trip to the mall to see an eyeful of what we are producing today. I suggest you go with an empty stomach though, because there is a high rate of nausea experienced at those places by 'normal' humans. I can't fault the system, however, the root of the problem lies with our fractured selfish society. With divorce rates at all time highs how can we expect mom and dad to mentor the latchkey generation? Mom and dad need mentoring themselves.

We as Americans are so arrogant to think that no one is better than we are. This is not true though. Are school system is lacking! If we don't transform the school system immediately, our children will not be globally comptetive.

The American government is making schoolwork easier sso it can lok as if test scores are improving so they can make money, so we cannot compete

i think that we can not compete with our globel peers because we have dumb down our education system
through the use of standized test. we are teaching to the test and not how to think we must teach our children to think in terms of critcal, deductive, inductive and analysis thinking.
Standized test does not do this and can not do this it only teaches how to answer multi - choice. Add this with teachers who are forced to cover what is just on the test and not enrich children's live through the reading and writting of essays and book reports.
creative ideas come from questions and to question you have think.

Our public education system is so loaded down with social education issues, that the knowledge of basics in all areas is overwhelmed. I teach juniors and seniors but also have taught in high risk facilities, and the one common thread is that students don't understand the basic concepts necessary for life. Their abilities are far below where students were when I was their age, yet our education system show that they are doing things earlier. When we measure the number of students taking the test, not the increase in abilites or level of performance, we are simply trying to show that we are doing a good job. To find out if we are truly successful, send your students to a business and let them see if they can understand the tasks being performed and check to see if they have the skills to perform these tasks. I feel as do most of our employers that the vast majority fall miserably short, stating that the students do not have the basic skills to perform the job.