State of Education

22 Jul 2011

The state of education in the USA is a disgrace. Particularly appalling was this statistic:

In Singapore, South Korea, and Finland, 100% of teachers come from the top 1/3rd of their college classes. In the United States, nearly 50% come from the bottom 1/3rd.

Sigh.

7 Responses to State of Education

Spellcheck

July 22nd, 2011 at 16:55

Just to point out that you wrote “Singaport” instead of Singapore.

Dustin

July 25th, 2011 at 10:36

Fixed!

Elly

July 26th, 2011 at 00:51

So what. Age, maturity, intention, love of children, helpful collaboration, positive attitudes, differentiated instruction and teaching, and a positive outlook can make U.S. education meaningful. Believe me, people from all over the world want to come to the U.S., and there are MANY MANY educated and super-intelligent people here — thanks to TEACHERS!

Seraw

July 26th, 2011 at 05:51

In Singapore teachers are paid well and highly respected.

If I’m a science major and I graduate at the top of my class would I rather: a) work in forensics where I can land a 6 figure salary, spend my days working in a top class lab, and my hard work leads to promotions — OR — b) Make 40k a year, spend the bulk of my day disciplining children, and working hard makes people think I’m a pedophile.

Doug

July 28th, 2011 at 12:41

Exactly, we must pay teachers far better, leave their pensions and benefits alone or pay the price in declining teacher quality and if we hope to recruit the top half of the university class. Finland requires straight A’s + 2 Master’s degrees to become a teacher. Teachers are deeply respected. Finland is #1 in the world over and over.

I wonder why?

Caroline Grannan

July 28th, 2011 at 14:55

Except that this claim about teachers coming from the bottom third has been widely and resoundingly refuted as false, something you could learn in about 12 seconds on Google.

James Todd

March 28th, 2012 at 21:54

I notice you did not include your northern neighbour. Canada scores just under Finland and South Korea in the categories in the PISA measure. The answer, the examplar – in English – is available just across the border. Come and see us sometime!
James Todd

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