Posted on 01/20/2003 9:49:26 AM PST by lavaroise
By Margarita Assenova
(Rigor, the fourth R: Curricula in Europeon classrooms, such as this one in Aschaffenburg, Germany, have a far bigger dose of academic subject matter than those in the United States.)
Because of their heavy curriculum requirements, European students regularly surpass their American counterparts on international tests.
hen English is your second or third language, it's certainly not easy to take the college-admission Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT)--let alone do well on it. Yet many European students score at the highest levels in competition with their American peers for admission to Ivy League schools in the United States. Western Europe has the resources to provide for elaborate public education, but the reality is dramatically different in eastern Europe, where teachers often wait for months to be paid. Nevertheless, according to the latest international survey, seven east European countries surpassed America in student performance in mathematics and science. While European instruction is generally not as creative as that in the United States, it is certainly much more academically rigorous. At a time when U.S. teachers are attempting to develop higher standards of education, some European practices might provide valuable tips for the reform effort. "I have never taken physics in my life," said one of my journalism fellows at Stanford University, explaining why, after years of a successful career at the New York Times, he decided to take this subject during his midcareer fellowship. His words invoked my memories of the three huge physics textbooks I had to study thoroughly in high school in my native Bulgaria. Students who did not achieve an A or B had to take a written graduation exam on the entire contents of all three textbooks--the so-called matura. The requirements were the same for mathematics, chemistry, literature, and foreign languages. Yet, we felt lucky that we did not have to pass the Russian matura--exit exams on all subjects studied in high school--or take the complicated O level and A level exams of the British educational system.
Big Curriculum Differences
hen my son announced last year that he was not planning to take precalculus, chemistry, or geography because he could meet the Maryland diploma requirements without these classes, I realized graphically how much the American and European public school curricula differ from each other. "Students' choices to take more rigorous academic classes, which are not required for graduation, are determined by families, culture, social pressure, and the college admission requirements," said Charlotte Boucher, coordinator of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, Maryland. The majority of European schools require at least three years of each of the following academic subjects: native language and literature, mathematics, two foreign languages, history, geography, physics, chemistry, and biology. Subjects such as logic and psychology, art, music, physical education, and vocational training are also mandatory for graduation, though the number of required credits is smaller. European students take most courses two or three times per week, with the exception of math and literature, which are everyday subjects. Such a curriculum is built on the concept that a less intensive but more prolonged process of accumulating knowledge on complex subjects leads to longer-lasting results. This is why students in Europe begin taking higher-level courses in middle school. For example, the binomial theorem, which is part of precalculus, a course taken by only a third of American high school students, is often taught in the seventh or eight grade in Europe. Milena Nedeva, a junior at Miami University in Ohio, recalled that she had to use a U.S. college physics textbook during her eighth grade at the American college in Sofia in order to meet her country's graduation requirements. Her class scored a remarkable combined 1380 on the SAT three years ago (out of a possible 1600, which includes a possible 800 points on the verbal half of the test and a possible 800 on the math half). The average among U.S. test-takers for 2002 was 504 on the verbal part and 516 on the math, a combined total of 1020. Does this mean that the European public secondary education system is better than the American way? Not exactly, because the two systems are built on different concepts and each of them has its own valuable features. While the U.S. system is much more flexible and allows for individual choice of educational direction, something consistent with the national spirit of America, the European system with its academic rigor is a consequence of the educational traditions of the old Continent. The two systems, however, have plenty to learn from each other.
Public Versus Private Schools
he comprehensive high school, which offers relevant curriculum to diverse student groups based on their preferences, professional goals, and achievements, has a relatively short history in the United States. Before 1900, less than 10 percent of 14- to 17-year-olds were enrolled in secondary schools, which at the time were elite, college-preparatory academies. Historical and demographic changes at the beginning of the twentieth century, caused a significant increase in the student population. The need to provide practical knowledge without abandoning the smaller group of high achievers led to the creation of the contemporary secondary school, which offers both high-level academic classes and vocational training under the same roof. Regardless of their different interests, the groups of pupils are not separated in any way. In recent years, more students tend to participate in both vocational education and the college preparatory curriculum. Catholic schools and most private institutions of learning, however, remained faithful to the concept of classical academic training. The Catholic Church argued that developing the student's ability to reason is "necessary to grasp fully the established understandings of person, society, and God," in the words of A.S. Bryk, V.E. Lee, and P.B. Holland, writing in the 1993 book Catholic Schools and the Common Good. This concept is the closest one to the popular model in most European countries. As a result, Catholic institutions, which faced the same demographic changes as the public schools, eventually resolved the debate quite differently and remained much more academically rigorous. Although the Catholic schools educate similar groups of students and sometimes operate in the same school districts, studies show that their students generally demonstrate higher-than-average proficiency in a range of subjects compared to the average level of public school students. (In the 1999 National Assessment of Educational Progress test, for example, 17-year-olds in private schools--of which Catholic schools comprise the lion's share--outscored those in public school by 7 percent in reading, 5 percent in math, and 6 percent in science.) Catholic academies, however, are private and thus not always accessible for many families with low incomes. Many believe that since the United States still has a solid system of private elementary and secondary education and has established some of the best universities in the world, it should not take long before we see precollege education fully reformed. For now, the current status of the comprehensive public school with relatively low diploma requirements presents a serious challenge not only to students but to their parents. The system calls for parents to do more than assist the child with regular schoolwork or extracurricular activities. It demands their participation in his education in a fundamental way, as educators: in advising about curriculum structure, evaluating the child's learning abilities, and making decisions about which classes are important to his future. The fact that graduation requirements in most states differ significantly from college admission requirements does not make this task easier. As education scholar Philip Cusick wrote in 1983: "There are high school students who are either very mature or have sufficient parental guidance to help them make their choices. But for those who are neither mature nor receiving any parental guidance, such a system may further disadvantage the already disadvantaged." His observations are even more valid today as the pace of life is becoming faster, further shrinking the hours that families spend together.
International Comparisons
s the debate about developing comprehensive standards for each level of education unfolds, more educators are seeking comparison with other countries in order to find the best examples and practices. University admission officers throughout the United States agree that most of the international students who compete for merit scholarships at U.S. colleges generally score higher in mathematics and science than the average American students. It is not unusual to discover that 20 or more students from a single economically disadvantaged eastern European nation are studying on a full stipend at prestigious universities such as Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton. "Most European students are ahead of their American peers, because they take 'college' classes in high school," said Ilona Teleki, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. She noted that one of the reasons for the high numbers of bachelor's degrees awarded in the United States is that many American students essentially complete their secondary education in college. The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in 1995 found that while U.S. fourth-graders performed well in both mathematics and science compared to students in other countries, eighth-graders performed near the international average, and twelfth-graders scored among the lowest of the TIMSS countries. The 1999 repetition of this study, conducted among eighth-graders from 38 nations, placed U.S. students right in the middle, behind 18 Asian and European countries and Australia. Seven of the leaders were eastern European countries with poorly funded secondary education systems, where students often have longer winter vacations because of insufficient heating and teachers must wait months for their salary checks. Although rigorous curriculum undoubtedly is one reason for foreign students' higher proficiency, the constrained curriculum approach found in the United States can work as well. A 1998 study by the National Center for Education Statistics demonstrated that when a school limits the availability of low-level courses in math and science and offers more rigorous academic classes instead, the average achievement of its students rises. Another factor contributing to positive results in some foreign countries is the differentiation in school curricula. By setting up specialized secondary schools in math, science, languages, ancient cultures, art, music, and religion, the system encourages students to pursue their individual talents and simultaneously meet graduation standards. Usually, such programs are longer by a year or two than regular ones, and admission requirements include tough entrance exams. Such schools, similar to the charter schools and "magnet" (advanced mathematics and science) programs in the United States, produce individuals with the finest education in those countries. In Germany, the well-established professional associations have strongly influenced the educational system. Students may choose to join a professional school at virtually any point in their secondary education. The requirements for a diploma, however, remain the same.
Rethinking the Curriculum tatistical data show that during the last 12 years, the average number of science and mathematics courses completed by U.S. public school graduates increased substantially. As a result, the proportion of students completing the recommendations of the 1983 National Commission on Excellence in Education rose almost 15 times--from 2 percent in 1982 to 29 percent in 1998. The remaining 70 percent of high school graduates do not meet the criteria for excellence, which are relatively moderate compared to those of most European or Asian curricula. Authors R.J. Murnane and F.S. Levy, writing in Teaching the New Basic Skills: Principles for Educating Children to Thrive in a Changing Economy, pointed out in 1996 that the workplace which young people now enter looks very different than it did years ago. They concluded that all students need strong mathematical skills to function in the workplace of the twenty-first century, whether or not they plan to attend college or are intellectually curious. A solid base in math, however, cannot be built with only two years of classes in the subject, as required by, for example, California, which has the largest population in the nation. In many urban centers, the demand for better education based on a more rigorous curriculum is growing steadily. Over 1,000 students apply each year for 150 openings in the IB program at Richard Montgomery High School. The number of public and private schools offering this internationally recognized program has expanded to reach almost 400 in the United States. The IB and magnet schools have introduced entrance tests to select the brightest students, who later often enter the best colleges. Gradually, the U.S. public education system is becoming more differentiated. "We need to break up these huge public high schools, which look like enormous factories, into smaller, more manageable, and differentiated schools," said Howie Shaffer, managing editor of the Public Education Network, a national association of local education funds. Educators fear that if the bar is raised too high, many children will not be able to learn at a higher pace and will be left behind. Maybe the answer to such fears lies in the experience of organizations such as the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), which trains educators to open and run academically rigorous independent public schools in educationally underprivileged areas. The schoolchildren, previously neglected and considered slow learners in the middle schools of Houston and the Bronx, soon started to attend school regularly, score at or above average, and read 13 to 14 novels a year. Almost all KIPP students attend college preparatory high schools. As Mashea Ashton of KIPP's Chicago office stated: "We rely on hard work and high expectations for academic achievement from each student, but there is no magic bullet." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Margarita Assenova is a Bulgarian-born journalist and political analyst who now lives in Washington, D.C.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and the educational system in Europe stands exactly as that:
Training future little fascists who are more into wielding power of knowledge instead of cherishing and protecting truth above that of power.
The European way? America does not need that, trust me. As nice and serious their school curricula looks while the US ed. system seem broken, trust me people, we don't want to go there.
American curriculum is, yes, too democratic, in that students can choose their classes and the truth as they wish. Since schools of lies are hard to remember, US students often opt to simply ignore truth and go happy go lucky as they need the stuff to graduate. It's bad, but not as bad as in Europe, because at least a blank mind can be sensitive to truth as opposed to the indoctrinated socialy engineered mind of a European.
It took me years of FR sweat, blood, flames and arguments to debrainwash me from Euro-social engineering. It was tough, but it saved me, that is, despite spending my second half of my educational life in the US.
Democracy is useful if it promotes truth, if it is a system by which truth is allowed to resurface. It is wrong when it makes people vote for a crook or easy solutions above that of truth. Thank G_d truth is simpler to learn than elaborate lies, however lies have this attractiveness in that they promise power.
As great as Euro students seem, there is a huge, and I mean huuuuge, mental discrimination in Europe. Mental capital and power is the way these kids perform so well. What they do not tell you is that for every 4 kids in 6th grade, 1 gets to reach graduation and that 1 is not guarranteed of graduating.... so where do the other 3 go? They go to professional schools and into other dead end educations with no hope of ever going to college, kicked out of school in 9th grade when they reach 18 (after failing 4 or 5 times in their school years, and yes, you got 18 year old attending the same class as 12 year olds down there and a bunch of abuses go on as a result).
So the rosy picture of Euro educational system does not show the quantity of kids that are aborted. So do they perform better than US counterparts? Well, we would hope so after such Darwinian selective system, since they virtualy abort from society the other kids!!!
So American schools are democratic and should be kept that way. Euro schools are elitists, using sometimes PhD. level profs in Junior High to detect the smart ones from the ones to be aborted. The whole thing is planned out this way. Truth? Who cares for truth, "idiots" cannot sit in juries in Europe... as the system is highly elitist but dysfunctional in fact.
What do American schools need? Well, certainly not the Euro model as this author seem to imply. What American schools need is a return to the cherishing and protection of truth, and the usage of curriculae tailored to such goal, power at the service of truth, and not truth at the service of power.... now ever wonder why Euro trash is so anti-US and anti-Israel.... why am I not surprised... these people are hungry for power, and fascist power hunger and coercive contradictory social engineerings provide them this opportunity to exercise what attitude and worldview they have been brainwashed in school to adopt.... and once that attitude is ingrained in them, those kids feel insecure once the power is taken from them or social engineering is stopped or the search for power is told to them is bad.... so they cling to power like it is their only mommy and they either poor oil out of their brains or the society will suck their blood out, just like in the partial birth abortion... ya, sure, it takes a village Hillary, a village of pagan fasco-communists living in daily fear and insecurity like animals.
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What do American schools need? Well, certainly not the Euro model as this author seem to imply. What American schools need is a return to the cherishing and protection of truth, and the usage of curriculae tailored to such goal, power at the service of truth, and not truth at the service of power.... now ever wonder why Euro trash is so anti-US and anti-Israel.... why am I not surprised... these people are hungry for power, and fascist power hunger and coercive contradictory social engineerings provide them this opportunity to exercise what attitude and worldview they have been brainwashed in school to adopt.... and once that attitude is ingrained in them, those kids feel insecure once the power is taken from them or social engineering is stopped or the search for power is told to them is bad.... so they cling to power like it is their only mommy and they either poor oil out of their brains or the society will suck their blood out, just like in the partial birth abortion... ya, sure, it takes a village Hillary, a village of pagan fasco-communists living in daily fear and insecurity like animals.
Fascists love to preach and teach socialism to advance their elite fascist positions of power over their sheeple. This is right out of the playbook of the first Fascists. The Nazis of Germany!
Europe has a lot of societal problems, not the least of which is their abandonment of Judeo-Christianity. Their hatred for Israel is preposterous. Given their history they should be supporting Israel ten times as much as we do.
Yes, you are correct in that the point of an education is truth, not indoctrination. That is the meaning of the word "educate," i.e. "to lead out of."
Your report on the nature of European education is eye-opening. The selective elite are indoctrinated to exercise power, not for truth, but for might.
No wonder it breeds totalitarianism.
I agree, if a child decides to go on a fast track to college while in High School, he or she can take calculus and physics courses that are above that of in Europe. When comparing grade 12 in Europe and the US, the people doing the comparing are comparing apples and oranges.
I disagree, truth is of the essense in this and truth is earned very early on in school. Breeding people with an attitude for power as opposed to truth is the starting point of brainwash and dependency. This is what they do there, I have graduated from the top curriculum in a French High school and I still suffered up until I join FR from the attraction to use power, plans and "intelligence"/spying to provoke social changes instead of orienting toward truth, justice and the fact that every single being is a potential witness to crucial expertises. Such is not the case in Europe, the expertise is from a teacher who hides and conceals information in order to dominate intellectualy the class.
Well, this is the result of social engineered schools in the US. American school is like the internet: either you choose there to do the best and you can get to college when 15, or you choose to slack off and watch "porn". Truth is not bread by having the perfect school plan, but by promoting truth, and that starts with school choice but also ends with defunding schools that create lies through passive knowledge erosion that you suffered, or, worse, through active indoctrination and power hunger that top fascist schools in Europe promote, end of story.
Yes, it sucks to have your skills erorded and to be uneducated, that does not prevent you from reading books or educating yourself about the truth, but the power top school is even worse and unforgiving against dissent, because the sheer load prevents the kid from knowing something else but what he is shoved down his or her throat.
Since that time though, our schools have fallen to the level where 12th grade in the US equals 5th grade in Europe!
As I said earlier, this is an exercise in comparing apples and oranges. If we compared the kids abandoned in the Euro school system to those in the US, their grade level would be far worse. In 6th grade in Europe you have 16 year old kids for goodness sakes.
My personal experience was that the IISD's primary schools were a disaster in the mid to late seventies. I can remember teachers keeping a paddle on the chalkboard to keep order. This terrified me as I never caused trouble but it didn't seem to stop rampant student misbehavior.
Plenty of hostile and indifferent teachers as well.
Junior High and High School during the early eighties were just as bad. Twenty-year old textbooks and materials. Barely controlled chaos on campus. Lots of drugs and fist-fights.
I'm glad your experience was positive but my years in the IISD were a demoralizing affair.
Also, I had a couple of people that I knew who waited until their children were 7 to start Kindergarten, I thought this strange. Is that common?
Much of the reponsibility for the education of your children lies with you-the parent. My daughter just started Kindergarten this year. I am amazed at the amount of parents who are consistently tardy. Also, they get a homework folder and have 3 assignments a week and have to return the folder with assignments on Friday. I find it incredulous that many parents have complained and whine that it "is too much" or "too much responsibilty at such a young age".
With parental support like this, no wonder so many children get left behind.
North Texas was still a conservative backwater at that point. By the mid-seventies the drug culture was going strong.
Thanks for the reply.
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