[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

[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

[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.

[ryanjb2]

Success in math really has little to do with formal education and much to do with an individual's logical and problem solving abilities, which are largely inherited from his or her parents genetically.

[ETERNAL WARMING]

I'll just bet our kids are number 1 in multicultural, diversity issues tho. Sad.

[Bushforlife]

The solution: 1. Set standards
2. Measure progress toward these standards
3. Improve system where the measurements show the need.

Author of this solution: President GW Bush, NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND.

Nothing touchy-feely here. No fear of bruising a childs' developing feelings if he underperforms. Expecting the desired result from both the child AND the teacher, and not being satisfied with less.

For those of you in the NEA, I can speak more slowly if you don't understand the above. Oh thats' right, this is Free Republic, no NEA members here.

In addition, schools need to concentrate more on the basic four: History ["Social Studies"], Math, Science, and English. Perhaps I can expand this to the basic FIVE, by including a foreign language. The importance of these core subjects seems to have become diluted in the US public school system in a sea of electives which are considerably more superficial and (perhaps therefore) more attractive to children. Perhaps a requirement for these less relevant electives would be demonstration of mastery of the basic five subjects either in the preceding year or via standardized testing.
Once public schools get back to their primary mission of teaching the fundamental basic core subjects, and become less concerned with attempted liberal social engineering of our children, our relative scores in such studies quoted above are bound to rise.

[Chode]

In a Global Test of Math Skills, U.S. Students Behind the Curve but they feel really good about it cause they maxed out on self esteem!!!

[snarks_when_bored]

Follow the link below and just read the names of the authors of the research papers listed:

High Energy Physics - Theory

Some of the authors teach at American universities, but the names tell an interesting tale nonetheless.

Thinkers ultimately rule the world. The nation that fails to teach its children how to think is forfeiting all hope of achieving (or maintaining) world leadership.

[Utmost Certainty]

Math isn't just about rote memorization: You need to learn how to *think* through math. It's problem solving skills more than anything else - and that's precisely what ISN'T being taught, nor is how math applies to the real world.

I'm a 20 year old sophomore in college, and from my not so distant high school memories, I can see exactly why we're not doing so hot in math these days. Most (not all) math teachers are doing a poor job of stimulating interest in the subject beause they're not teaching the critical thinking skills that go behind it, and they're not showing how any of the math actually applies to real-world experiences. You're basically thrown a set of problems in your face, told to do them, and left wondering to yourself, "... why am I learning this and how is it going to benefit my life?" I know I thought that plenty of times, and so did plenty of others around me. I left the subject alone for years after that, not because I convinced myself I wasn't good at it, but because I just couldn't see anything worthwhile in it.

Finally in college I begin to really see how all this "math stuff" applies, thanks to a few great professors that got me really excited about it.

Still, I sit in my Calculus and Physics classes now, surrounded by all these engineering majors and I'm a little concerned. They can do the mathematics, but they can't seem to think through the problems themselves. They expect every problem to be neatly outlined and detailed, and that there should be a specific answer to each problem they encounter. They can't come at the problem with any kind of ingenuity or creativity. They're skilled robots who have been trained to fit their thinking into certain procedural guidelines and are oblivious to anything else. And I think that's what's going to put this country behind more than anything else.

Ah well, another rant for another day.

[TX Bluebonnet]

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