In a Global Test of Math Skills, U.S. Students Behind the Curve

Washington Post ^ | Dec. 7, 2004 | Michael Dobbs

[FairOpinion]

American high school students have a poorer mastery of basic math concepts than their counterparts in most other leading industrialized nations, according to a major international survey released yesterday.

The PISA study, conducted every three years, ranked the United States 24th out of 29 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based group that represents the world's richest countries. Students from Finland and South Korea scored best in the survey, which measured the ability of 15-year-olds to solve real-life math problems.

The results suggest that, at the secondary-school level, the learning gap between the United States and its competitors in Europe and Asia is widening. U.S. students continue to lag behind students elsewhere in basic math skills, despite recent gains in standardized tests at the national level.

[FairOpinion]

The actual report and detailed info is at:

PISA

[Ciexyz]

This is distressing news.

[durasell]

Does this surprise anyone?

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Sad because math is really not that difficult.

[Texas_Jarhead]

The solution is more illegal aliens and more teachers (unionized of course).

[FairOpinion]

Here is the list in ranking order:
Country Math score
Hong Kong-China 550
Finland
Korea
Netherlands
Liechtenstein
Japan
Canada
Belgium
Macao-China
Switzerland
Australia
New Zealand
Czech Republic
Iceland
Denmark
France
Sweden
Austria
Germany
Ireland
Slovak Republic
Norway
Luxembourg
Poland
Hungary
Spain
Latvia
United States 483
Russian Federation
Portugal
Italy
Greece
Serbia
Turkey
Uruguay
Thailand
Mexico
Indonesia
Tunisia
Brazil

[durasell]

Yeah, take that Portugal!

[Alouette]

My daughter's favorite subject at school is math. She even tutors younger kids in math.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that her father and I both majored in math.

[Moorings]

Its because Bush didn't throw more money at this. If there was more money, students will pick up Math better. /sarc

[Cyclopean Squid]

Hong Kong got 550 and the USA got only 483?! I can't believe those guys beat us by, um, 133 points! /sarcasm

[calex59]

Yes, 50 plus years of liberals running our schools and this is where we stand. Their solution of course will be to throw more money at the problem.

[FairOpinion]

It is really sad. Public education needs to be overhauled, and not by throwing more money at it.

They need to have standards, and expectations of students, and make sure they know there are right and wrong answers.

Forget the new math, where, if it "feels good" then 2 plus 3 can be 9 and you get credit for it. A few years ago, I saw on TV that somewhere they really were teaching that kind of math -- I think it had yet a different name.

ALL kids need to learn the multiplication table and get it right, regardless of race or location of school, etc.

[spinestein]

Mathematics as a school subject is really not that hard to teach. It requires lots of memorization of rules and even more practice.

Unfortunately, rote memorization and boring practice are two things that the National Education Association and many public school teachers have been trying to stamp out for decades (for the benefit of the students).

Coddling children does not benefit them when they grow up to be soft, incompetent, ignoramuses.

[durasell]

Money buys a lot of things in education. I was at a school not long ago where the average class size was 12 or 15. Where text books were changed every three years. And private tutoring was available "upon request." The tuition was around $30,000 a year, not including supplies, such as laptops and calculators, etc.

[Wneighbor]

Doesn't surprise me. I teach in college. It's shocking what students don't know.

[FairOpinion]

Then there are the poor students from East Europe, who have 40 kids in a class, no computers, no teching aids, and score way above the US...

[PianoMan]

Mathematics as a school subject is really not that hard to teach. It requires lots of memorization of rules and even more practice.

Someone once pointed out to me that rote used to be taught with rhythm. Then they got rid of the rhythm, and kids started hating the rote. So then they got rid of the rote, and now the kids have nothing.

Same with Mother Goose. A great way to absorb elements of language, phonetics, and narrative, through rhythm and rhyme. Genius really. But now everyone thinks it's "too white". So kids just don't learn language with nearly the elegance.

[Roy Tucker]

I think the problem is not enough good math teachers. My uncle when he retired as a Captain in the Navy taught math in the local high school and was named the outstanding teacher.

[FairOpinion]

"The United States was also cited as having the poorest outcomes per dollar spent on education. "

NY Times: U.S. Students Fare Badly in International Survey of Math Skills

[durasell]

They're not competing against video games, 96,000 channels of cable television and iPods. Education is still prized in their culture and they still believe in the American work ethic -- except for Hungary, who the heck knows what goes on with them and math.

The bottom line is (and I've said it before and I'll say it again) these people are not playing around. They're building an infrastructure of intellectual capital that will do us grave harm in the future.