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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Elementary education in US is fine. It's the middle and high school education that cannot compete with many other countries.
School does start a little too early here, but it's because the US doesn't have free daycare for all. This early learning cuts into play time, which is learning for young children.
Middle and high school classes are taught by chemists, historians and linguists in the old country. It makes a big difference.[/quote]

Actually the problems in elementary education bleed into middle and high school education. Kids aren't taught to read properly. They don't have good background knowledge for science and social studies. Elementary math teachers (in general) are not good mathematicians. One thing the video doesn't say is that Finish teachers are generally top of their class in college. US teachers are generally not. Highly educated college students go into teaching in Finland. Highly educated college students in the US go into tech or finance. [/quote]

Even those really great Finnish teachers have trouble teaching when the kids aren't good.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4Zp3N2y-1w[/youtube]

I've seen other videos of this teacher teaching in Finland and she's great. But she couldn't control this "multicultural" classroom where the standards and expectations for behavior and academics were obviously way lower at the same age. (Or even comparing to a lower age in Finland, which she hinted at a couple of times.)

Teacher quality is only part of the issue.[/quote]

There is another show on YouTube where British and South Korean teachers switch for a week or two. The South Korean teachers struggled to keep the kids in line and engaged. The standards for behavior are different. Most of my friends teach in wealthy suburbs. They would never survive at my school in the city and they've admitted that. I've taught in city schools with a large majority of FARMS students, wealthy suburb schools and at international schools. The main noticeable difference is the parents. I teach students in multiple grade levels so I often have the same students for years. Many of them have non-existent parents. Sometimes I wonder if they have parents. They are completely MIA. We couldn't contact them even if it was an emergency. Many don't want to hear from the school. Sometimes they will tell us "Don't call me! He's your problem while he's there." It's very sad.[/quote]

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