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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I wish people would stop droning on an on about how European, Nordic and Asian education systems are better than America's, because it takes away from the real issue: deep rooted inequities. Those high performing countries benefit from having more insular societies, allowing them to focus in an effective way on *their* particular needs. To test this, take American South Koreans. Do they perform worse, on average and regardless of SES, than South Koreans in their country? The same logic can be applied other groups as well. I don't know the answer, but if it is no, then the American system is not worse. In reality America's system is more weighed down because it has to cater to all groups and cultures. This is very, very, hard to do effectively and inevitably leads to inequities. I'm not saying we should be more insular, i'm saying we should realize this and make a concerted effort to root out educational inequity. [/quote]

I agree.. you really cannot compare US to Europe. I'm pp that stated about how since most of Europe are socialists and everything is paid for, it's comparing applies to oranges.  It's not a fair comparison.  Comparing the US to Asian countries is also not fair because Asian countries tend to be more homogenous in their racial makeup so they don't have to deal with many ESOL type issues. I don't know how big of an impact this plays into the US scores lagging, but I'm sure it does affect it.

Additionally, I feel like the Asian countries score higher because so many of their kids go to after school tutoring.  I know why they do it (it's much more competitive to get into the top colleges which sets you up for life), but I wonder if the majority of the students didn't have the extra schooling how they would score on the pisa.  My cousin, from Asia, went to international schools for a few years because the father was in the foreign service.  My cousin said the education was great. Cousin also went to school in NJ for a few years and thought it was pretty great, too.  Cousin does not want his kids educated in the Asian country because he feels it's all about the test scores and not about the love of learning.  If he can, he wants to send his kid to the an international school if he is living in Asia.

I know the Asian countries place more importance on education than the US does, so I'm sure this has something to do with it.  But I think you'd have to compare the US to a country that has similar immigration populations and social welfare.  Not sure what country that would be.  Canada has  a lot of immigrants, but they have better social welfare than the US.  I think Australia is somewhat similar to the US, but I think the govt pays for college there..not 100% sure.[/quote]

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