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The 10 smartest countries based on math and science
Business Insider ^ | 05/13/2015 | Matthew Speiser

Posted on 05/17/2015 8:27:19 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

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To: Theoria
You noticed.

Top five, Asian countries. Next five, arguably Nordic countries. Except for Japan these countries have fairly small populations. In fact Singapore and Hong Kong are more aptly described as city states rather than countries. The bigger you get, the harder it is to maintain standards.

I wonder how many of these countries have federal "departments of education"? I know Canada does not.

41 posted on 05/18/2015 3:49:57 AM PDT by Former Proud Canadian (Save Western Civilization. Embrace the new Crusades.)
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To: pallis

Factor in the rot that infects just about every metro school district in the US. Those results tend to bring down the US average. Throw them out and the US is easily in the top 10.


42 posted on 05/18/2015 3:55:56 AM PDT by Former Proud Canadian (Save Western Civilization. Embrace the new Crusades.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Congratulations to my Canadian Cousins in the “Polite State of America.”


43 posted on 05/18/2015 5:10:32 AM PDT by Awgie (truth is always stranger than fiction)
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To: SeekAndFind

Sampling error.

Our education system takes in and tests a wider variety of people, and the favored countries put most of their population on rigid tracks (or streams) that are unlikely to receive international tests.

It’s an easy way for others to shove the US down the ranks while feigning a sense of “scientific validity”.


44 posted on 05/18/2015 5:20:28 AM PDT by setha (It is past time for the United States to take back what the world took away.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Finland, Estonia, Switzerland, Netherlands and Canada

Tiny countries; you have to look at the whole population. They might have a few thousand scoring high but so does the USA.. Is this per capita? or total?

45 posted on 05/18/2015 5:26:00 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: 21twelve

At least he was smoking.


46 posted on 05/18/2015 5:31:05 AM PDT by samtheman
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To: vladimir998

I was thinking the same damn thing.


47 posted on 05/18/2015 5:54:32 AM PDT by Mathews (Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NIV), Luke 22:36 (NIV))
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To: SeekAndFind

Technically, Hong Kong is not a country, but it does have its own currency and legal system. I wonder how much the British influence impacted the educational system there.


48 posted on 05/18/2015 6:29:19 AM PDT by conservativejoy (We Can Elect Ted Cruz! Pray Hard, Work Hard, Trust God!)
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To: setha

RE: It’s an easy way for others to shove the US down the ranks while feigning a sense of “scientific validity”.

The North Shore of Long Island has some of the best schools in the United States.

The students take the International Tests at the 4th, 8th and 12th grade and guess what?

They score on average, higher than the top 5 countries on the list.

Here’s the other thing — the Koreans and Taiwanese immigrants in New York score HIGHER on average than the Koreans and Taiwanese in Korea and Taiwan.

Go figure.


49 posted on 05/18/2015 7:36:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: central_va

RE: Tiny countries

I wouldn’t call Japan (127 Million people ) and South Korea ( 51 million people ) tiny by any means.

I’ll concede that they have a HOMOGENEOUS population unlike the USA where (whether we want to be PC or not ), the presence of various ethnic groups will SKEW the average results DOWNWARDS.


50 posted on 05/18/2015 7:38:57 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: re_nortex
I'm thinking schools have been going downhill since the mid 1960s.

I went to public school during the Nixon and Carter years. It was a zoo - like Welcome Back Kotter. An absolute joke. Good thing I developed a lifelong love of non-fiction reading so that I was able to overcome that and learn about the world.

51 posted on 05/18/2015 7:54:22 AM PDT by SamAdams76
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To: The Antiyuppie
So, if you hear it spoken and pronounced properly, you can spell it.

Turkish is like that. I think Finnish and Thai are also.

52 posted on 05/18/2015 10:43:52 AM PDT by JoeFromSidney ( book, RESISTANCE TO TYRANNY, available from Amazon)
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To: Cronos

I didn’t know that.


53 posted on 05/18/2015 5:00:06 PM PDT by Daffynition ("We Are Not Descended From Fearful Men")
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To: conservativejoy
Heavily. The British system WAS the best in the world until the 60s and 70s -- Hong Kong retained that old system (as did india until recently)

The Brits on the other hand dumped them. There was a program that put 2000s kids through a 50s curriculum (UK TV program) and found that half failed and no one got an A, not even the A+ students.

I know 1/3rd of Brits don't know the meaning of the Battle of Waterloo and history is "optional" -- their system is the only one that makes the US system look good

54 posted on 05/18/2015 10:13:52 PM PDT by Cronos (ObamaÂ’s dislike of Assad is not based on AssadÂ’s brutality but that he isn't a jihadi Moslem)
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To: Daffynition

well, racially the Caucasians include not only Europeans but also Semitic (ARabs, Jews) and their cousins in North Africans (think Libyans), Iranis, Indians (both north — Aryans and south - Dravidians) and strangely enough even Australian Aborigines


55 posted on 05/18/2015 10:15:20 PM PDT by Cronos (ObamaÂ’s dislike of Assad is not based on AssadÂ’s brutality but that he isn't a jihadi Moslem)
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To: Cronos

56 posted on 05/19/2015 1:43:45 AM PDT by Daffynition ("We Are Not Descended From Fearful Men")
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To: Cronos

This is why we need control of our schools and curriculum at the local level. We’ve been dumbded down for far too long and have a lot of catching up to do.


57 posted on 05/19/2015 6:21:19 AM PDT by conservativejoy (We Can Elect Ted Cruz! Pray Hard, Work Hard, Trust God!)
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To: The Ghost of FReepers Past

Hong Kong’s doing all right, no?


58 posted on 05/21/2015 9:09:29 PM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: SeekAndFind
1. Singapore
2. Hong Kong
3. South Korea
4. Japan (tie)
4. Taiwan (tie)
6. Finland
7. Estonia
8. Switzerland
9. Netherlands
10. Canada
11. Poland

Damn Polonophobes, Hong-Kong is not a real country...

59 posted on 05/25/2015 7:29:58 AM PDT by Grzegorz 246
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To: Grzegorz 246

RE: Hong-Kong is not a real country...

And China insists that Taiwan is not a country either.


60 posted on 05/25/2015 5:41:36 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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