Education is a moving target. New technologies require adjustments in education. Some do better than others but the education establishment (and often govt support) is slow to adapt. Or even resists change.
@pauleckler
True dat. Many countries manage this much better than the US.
This is where we philosophically differ about the purpose of K-12 education. I believe the purpose is to provide a general foundation of knowledge and academic skills that allows the high school graduate to be a good citizen and provides the ability to learn what is needed for their chosen profession.
You seem to be advocating an education system that tailors itself to the economy to teach skills needed to fill job openings. In short, Iâm guessing you believe high schools should be teaching welding and calculus while I think there should be required classes in nutrition and philosophy.
Sure, but it is not because immigrants are better educated. It is because they are generally more disciplined, motivated, and display more âgritâ. This shouldnât be a surprise. The challenges of immigration select for people with the personality traits associated with success.
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Thatâs a fair distinction. To clarify - I believe we should do both. Countries donât have to sacrifice one for the other.
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Actually, no, you cannot make that generalization at all. Because of the locally funded-via-property-tax system, an anachronism. Here in New England and upstate New York, the quality of education and the opportunity for children K-8, maybe 9-12 is MUCH less/lower for the lower income areas within these smaller states. In my little corner of perfectland with median average house appraisals of $400K + and .21/$1K tax rates and high relative incomes (and in NH no income tax), the funding RATE per capita/school is 2x-3x the rate for schools merely 30 and more miles north of here.
The uneven funding mechanism has been a legal and political holy war for 30 or more years. If youâre born in the northern half+ of these states, with limited tourism and nearly no other major business besides the occasional big box store at minimum wage, you face a real challenge getting out of that âboxâ.
Those kids just arenât getting the same quality of education (or life) as in our lucky corners of the world, the families arenât able to save the kind of money it now takes to get into a good college, the states donât fund close to enough scholarships or work study to help significantly - and many people in those areas are stuck - through no fault of their own. Forgiving student loans isnât the right answer, but neither is privatizing the issue by letting shady financial companies charge usurious interest rates for outrageously inflated university tuition.
The return of remunerative technical training careers in HVAC, car service & repair, etc is a blessing in creating opportunity to move and make a good living. They canât afford to move and live here; theyâre commuting from 30-45 minutes + away to bartending and service jobs.
FC
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This concept has been around forever. Back in the 1860s Congress decided to give land grants to colleges that taught practical skills like engineering and agriculture. They have always been looked down on by the classical liberal arts colleges that prefer to teach latin, greek, and philosophy. We need a mix of both. STEM is highly valued these days. But of course lawyers and politicians who learn to think are also a plus.
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I think we all agree that the American education system is far from perfect. The question being addressed is whether there is reason to assume that other nations have better education systems based primarily on the results of international test scores.
My position is that while other nations may very well provide better education (or not), the arguments making that claim I think are usually very naive.
Take for example school inequality in America, a very real problem. However, many, if not most, of the other nations that America is compared to have their own inequality issues that usually arenât discussed. In many Asian nations and a growing number of European ones extensive âshadow educationâ is prevalent. This is where tuition is paid for additional schooling after the normal school hours. This obviously creates inequality between families based on wealth.
So does Japan or South Korea have a more equitable education system than America? Perhaps they do, but a better argument has to be made than simply pointing at our property taxes.
Against the background of the worldwide expansion of shadow education, research shows that students from high socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds participate more in shadow education than students from disadvantaged SES backgrounds. We relate these social inequalities in shadow education participation to institutional features of educational systems. More specifically, we argue that the effect of socio-economic background on participation in shadow education will be stronger in countries characterized by high-stakes testing. Using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment for the year 2012 (PISA 2012), we show that higher SES students participate more in shadow education. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0020715220984500
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Shadow education is a response to extremely competitive entrance exams in many countries. Failure to be admitted to college track curriculum has a major impact on career. Parents strongly encourage those they think can qualify.
Admission to top rated Ivy League colleges is also competitive. And some make extra effort to qualify.
Complaining about it seems unfair. Colleges do have programs to admit many without resources to attend.
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Finland Finland Finland.
Perhaps because Finland was endowed with almost no natural resources (hooray for tar pines and fish), spent much of their history enslaved by neighboring Vikings, Swedes, Russians; they anciently, deeply, culturally, socially valued their children; and therefore (what a surprise!!!) they really (as opposed to demagouge-ically) care about and are willing to pay big time to provide universal prenatal, infant, and child care, followed by universal democratic education.
All children attend public schools, and so their is a potent alignment from rich to poor to make certain those schools are excellent.
The result is having a strong economy, ferocious military, and delightful lifestyle.
USAians are idiots, and so raise idiotsâŚ
d fb
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Live in a poor neighborhood and the schools get poor students. Most make a good effort with available resources but making up the difference is not easy. Many social issues are part of the problem.
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Up to a point, but we have plenty of those who donât qualify based on your criteria.
Mike
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