Posted on 11/28/2020 5:32:57 AM PST by george76
By Right now in China, 195 million students K-12 are learning in-person in Chinese public schools. Meanwhile, millions of American public school students are learning in a failed remote system that can’t even keep track of thousands of students who haven’t shown up for class all year.
In 2018, 15-year-olds in dozens of countries participated in the triennial Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). The PISA test measures reading ability, math and science literacy, and other key skills. American scores are decidedly unimpressive, with students scoring in the middle of the pack for all categories. Most frighteningly, China beats the United States in every category.
While China does not test or educate every Chinese child like the United States does for its citizens, China’s affluent and middle-class areas also outperform affluent and middle-class U.S. areas. In addition, U.S. students underperform their peers in developed nations that also educate every child, such as Singapore and Germany.
In addition, over the last two decades U.S. students’ scores have remained virtually stagnant, while China continually does better and better every three years. In other words, China’s developed areas are out-performing us, and the gap is only getting bigger.
Most parents and students already know that online learning is not working. A look at recent headlines says it all: “Coronavirus: Failing grades spike in Bay Area schools with distance learning,” “25% of Wake middle and high school students failed a class during remote learning,” “Remote learning increases failing grades by 83 percent in Fairfax county,” and “5000 Alabama students haven’t shown up for any sort of class.”
Yes, the way China manages in-person schooling is authoritarian. The Communist Party keeps watch, making sure teachers are following a detailed hygiene protocol. Local officials routinely inspect classrooms, and the government uses apps and other technology to monitor students and staff, and restrict their movements. It has even instructed parents to stay away from their children.
But Americans have also been very compliant with overreaching CoVID regulations. When school was open, singing was banned and kids were forced to wear masks while playing basketball or attending outdoor football practices, until finally many were shut down entirely. Americans have for too long put up with hypocritical governors and public health officials who violate their own rules.
The difference between us and the Chinese is what we value. The Chinese Communist government understands that an educated population is key to global economic dominance, so they have prioritized keeping schools open, which the science has proven can be done safely. Meanwhile, in the U.S. we have closed our schools, but have deemed pot dispensaries, liquor stores, abortion clinics, and strip clubs “essential.”
American teachers unions have been some of the biggest proponents of closing schools, even though studies have proven that kids are not infecting teachers and teachers are not infecting students. Teacher unions have enacted positivity rate thresholds that mandate the return to remote learning or have simply refused to come back to work unless a vaccine is available.
Education has been China’s greatest priority and economic weapon for a long time. They were already beating us, but our COVID response could accelerate China’s education advantage, turning them into an economic superpower faster.
It is not too late for parents and students to revolt against irrational school shutdowns that have no basis in science. This is more than an education problem. It is turning into a national security problem, too.
For reasons I am not entirely sure of, I have gone back to school to get a masters in elementary education (I was a mergers and acquisitions attorney prior to raising my children). In my Literacy Teaching Methods class this past week, we were told that it is not important to teach grammar, but rather time should be spent teaching children how to write blogs.
There is so, so much wrong with public schools. (Disclaimer: I homeschooled my children)
“195 Million Chinese Students Are In School. Why Aren’t Our Kids?”
Our communists are worse/dumber than their communists?
This is ALL part of THE PLAN to make CHINA the WORLD POWER over the US!! DUMB OUR KIDS DOWN......not far to go.
RACISS!
Teachers in China are slaves of the Party. Teachers in the U.S. own the Party.
The government quasi-monopoly education system is completely broken, has been for some time.
One of the silver linings from the Covid cloud is that more people are homeschooling for the first time and some/many will continue doing so when the government schools open back up.
End H-1b visas now!!!
Stop importing H-1B visa wage slaves!!!! That on thing would turns things around in a postive way in a hurry!!!
Yes, the premise of the article is slightly off. We have kids who are free of teachers' union malevolence for this first time in their lives, and are actually beginning to learn.
Among parents and elected officials, there was far more outrage about cancellations in high school sports than there was about closures of the schools themselves.
Nothing more needs to be said.
As a legendary football coach once said about his coaching career in college football (I paraphrase): “If the alumni of this school cared as much about science and math as they did about football, we’d be turning out Nobel Prize winners with such boring regularity that it wouldn’t even be a news story anymore.”
Maybe our gov pubic schools’ curriculum and schoolbooks aren’t fully aligned with the Great Reset quite yet?
I know BLM was recently incorporated in the curriculum. LGBTQ, feminism and socialism already were.
I assume they’re now busy working on adding vaccination acceptance, ID showing, social behavior, social monitoring and social scoring sections and tools.
My brother was a robotics engineer. At one point he got laid off for a few weeks and took a job substitute teaching. He loved it and went to school at night to get his “teaching” degree.
He said the classes were mostly a colossal waste of time as he often knew more than the instructors.
He teaches mostly CAD design and other engineering type electives so most of his students want to be in the class. He has nothing but disdain for the administrators. If you can’t do, you teach, if you can’t teach, you become an admin. He homeschools too, as did we.
Great. They can all pimp their blogs here.
#ignoredemocratrules
JoMa
95 Million Chinese Students Are In School. Why Aren’t Our Kids?
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Because in China getting the best education possible for their kids is a path to a better and richer future; while in America, getting an education is something to be endured and left as quickly as possible.
“195 Million Chinese Students Are In School. Why Aren’t Our Kids?”
Easy answer: The kids in Chinese schools actually LEARN SOMETHING - in the US, it doesn’t matter whether they’re in school or not, they’re not learning jack, unless their parents teach them themselves, or find others (outside of our schools) to teach them.
So why bother having them in school - they’re better off doing gardening.
“5000 Alabama students haven’t shown up for any sort of class.”
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Well, let’s see. Why would that be?
Stick a teenager in front of a computer all day, now just what he or she might do? Chat with friends, play online MM games, etc.
Homework? Talk to a teacher who is enjoying herself in Florida instead of the cold Wisconsin school where’s she supposed to be? The student doesn’t want to. Nor does the teacher. She (or he) is really enjoying being paid to be on vacation!
Teachers in a rotten system getting paid while kids are at home learning nothing. At least the on line teaching can be monitored by the parents.
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