Eighth graders from the United States rank below students in many Asian countries when it comes to Science and Math, according to The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study.
TIMSS rankings show that the US students rank 11th in Science and 9th in Math.
The chart below was published by the Washington Post.
What should we do about our students slipping further and further behind?
“Schools Should Stick to Basics and Resist Green Fad,” according to an article by Russ Harding of the Education Report.
Harding argues that teachers should resist the temptation to steer students towards the fad of green energy jobs, and instead focus on Math and Science.
“Future jobs in energy will go to workers who possess high levels of proficiency in math, engineering and the hard sciences, such as chemistry, physics, geology and biology,” Harding believes.
“Educators should drop most environmental courses from their K-12 programs,” he said.
“Much of what is taught in school under the guise of environmental education is not based on science, but is instead environmental indoctrination based on a particular philosophical or political point of view.”
Usually I agree with the Libertarian leaning Mackinac Center, and they do great research.
However, I don’t understand why learning about the environment can’t be incorporated into the science curriculum as part of the “hard sciences” of Biology or Geology.
Many teachers and groups are being creative as to how they incorporate environmental education. Click here to see the many upcoming Earth Day projects available for schools.
For more information, see “Schools Should Stick to Basics and Resist Green Fad.”
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Comments
Einstein taught us the movement was relative. If you are riding in a train car and the train next to you starts to move, it will seem like you are going backwards, but you are sitting still, or maybe even moving forward at a slower rate of speed.
So it is with these international tests. The US is not moving backwads. The small countries that have been way behind us for a long time are finally beginning to move forward. We are still moving at the same rate of speed. We should be cheering the success of these small, once backward nations, in pulling up their bootstraps and clearing the station.
And, I agree. No, we do not need to go "back to the basics". Whenever we do that, we deprive children of a well developed curriculum and waste their time learning skills that can be performed by inexpensive machines.
Green is taught in science, and can be included in the problem-solving aspects of math. It is an odd subject to approach in social studies except as part of young children learning about their communities and responsibility to them. If you want to include "green" in social studies, study anthrology and understand how the Native Americans maintained the forests for their subsistence (so that they ALL did not have to work hard to live well), as compared to the European model of cutting down all the forests, cultivating most of the land, and allowing leisure time for a small number of an upper class who also made adquired non-essentials, with exhausting labor required of those with less status who were not allowed to acquire "luxuries". There are several current books that examine the life style of the Native Americans in depth rather than dismiss them as dumb savages. "The Land As God Made it", was in reality the Land as the Indians cultivated it.
Anne
I am also happy that these countries are improving. However, the scores show that they have bypassed us. With our great nation, our train should at least be able to keep up with their trains and not let them bypass us.
With economies around the world imploding and the number of jobs shrinking, our kids must be better educated or they will be unemployed. My child attends a special school (Panama City Renaissance School in Panama City, Florida) where the academics are matched to what is expected overseas. It is incredible what she is learning. She is at least 2 grade levels ahead of gift programs in our area and also way ahead of advanced schools we have visited in major metropolitan areas. If US kids are to have a chance we need to encourage more schools of this type.
I'd like to see data on what percentage of kids are tested in each nation. For example, in the US I assume 100% of kids are tested. Do the other countries educate and test 100% of their students? If this is not accounted for in the study, it is not valid.
You might want to read the fine print. There are all kinds of performance cover-ups going on in the US. However, we are quick to come up with all kinds of excuses the results aren't real. The testing analysis is available on the TIMSS website. Also, you might want to check out the John Stossel ABC special Stupid in America. As part of the research for the program identical tests were given to kids in New Jersey and kids in Belgium. It is embarrassing. The US kids performed very poorly. Also, you can read about US families who have moved to countries with top academic programs. Jim Rogers now lives in Singapore. It might be helpful to read what he says about education there.
STEM
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