Edges on the Learning Curve
Education is the catalyst for success. In America, we like to think that our school system is rigorous in preparing students for college and work. Many students struggle to cope with the American curriculum, so it must be intense, right? Those who can keep up are prone to succeed in our society. If the top Americans lived in China, though, things would be different. Some of these “top” students would find themselves working for minimum wage in dead end jobs. Why? It is because America’s school system is not rigorous. In fact, we barely made it to the top thirty in academic rankings last year. So why are countries like China and Singapore beating us to the punch? The answer is simple. They care more. The schools care enough to invest in better teachers and to teach a truly rigorous curriculum. Parents care enough to enforce discipline and to participate actively in their children’s school experience, and the children care enough to listen. Together, American schools, parents, and children can improve the country’s educational ranking by investing in better teachers, enforcing discipline at home, and creating a tougher curriculum that fits our need to become a serious competitor against Asia.
The best way schools can help improve our academic standing is by investing in high quality teachers. In doing this, teacher salaries will have to go up. As a direct result, there will be more competition for the job position, and people with Ph.Ds. will be motivated to teach. Higher quality teachers will possess more knowledge about the subject than other candidates for the job position, and they will be able to teach at a faster pace. Looking to China and Japan, for example, teachers get paid salaries equivalent ...
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...ing simply by emulating Asia’s procedure, why should we not do so? By placing a higher value on teachers, enforcing discipline at home, and reforming the American curriculum, schools and parents can cooperate to ensure higher test scores than other countries. All of this can be done by changing our mentality regarding all aspects of education, as well as by enacting reforms politically and economically to provide more funding to schools and make it more challenging. Would it not be great if we could look competing countries in the eye instead of looking up to them? As the saying goes, “if you cannot beat them, join them!” Let us join Asian countries and finally share the spotlight by doing what they do best. That is, caring. We need to care about who teaches us. We need to care about what we learn. We need to care about success. And education is the catalyst for it.
How will this growing problem be fixed, not only in the United States but the world as well? One important action is to continue the effort to improve schools worldwide. Schools in poorer areas of districts would benefit from a greater number of better trained teachers and faculty. Other actions to help improve schools would be to add more leadership and extracurricular activities, encourage students to focus and stay in school, and making things such as school lunch and recess better. It is important to have students enjoy being at school and enjoy learning, otherwise they'll lose intere...
In The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way, Amanda Ripley investigates the education systems of three of the world’s highest performing countries offering insight into the components necessary to raise education in the United States from its current mediocre place on the world stage. By involving three teenage American exchange students, Ripley gained access to firsthand experience of the familiar US system as compared to the highly competitive systems in Finland, South Korea and Poland. The author proposes that, although the systems vary greatly, commonalities in cultural valuation of education, rigor and teacher quality have made students from these three countries the “smartest kids in the world.”
Throughout many years, education has played an important role in improving our minds and society. However, what many people tend to forget is that our education is not at the best it can be. Education is defined as receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university. Many people today questions whether or not our education depends on the people teaching it or if it’s the student’s responsibility to want to learn. "To what extent do our schools serve the goals of a true education?" Education helps people learn new things, but it can be changed. Although education helps students learn and plan for the future, it can be improved to help benefit students ahead of time.
Amy Chua (2011) names off three reasons that support her argument in why Chinese children are more successful. First, she mentions that Westerners worry too much on how their child will accept failure, whereas Chinese parents assume only strength in their child and nothing less. For example, if a Western child comes home with a B on a test, some parents will praise the child on their success and some may be upset, while a Chinese parent would convince their child they are “worthless” and “a disgrace.” The Western parents hope to spare their children’s feelings and to be careful not to make their child feel insecure or inadequate, while Chinese parents demand perfect grades because they believe their children can get them (Chua, 2011). Secondly, Chinese parents believe their chil...
Education is one of the cornerstones and pillars to the establishment and preservation of democracy. In history, countless scores of philosophers and political thinkers believed that only an educated citizenry can take on the quintessential task of upholding democracy. Thomas Jefferson, the primary writer of the Declaration of Independence, stated that “an informed citizenry is the only true repository of the public will.” A renowned defender of public education, Jefferson proposed plans for an education system that included grammar schools in his presidency. As a result of these relentless policies for education, the United States expanded on the concept of public instruction through the establishment and upkeep of a practical education system. The United States continued this tradition and established a reputation as one of the best education in the world. Currently, this is no longer valid as other countries such as Finland, China, and South Korea are competing for the dominant position through rigorous reforms that aim to boost student performances (“Best Education”). Meanwhile, the American system is inefficient, inhibited by political obstacles and gridlock while Finland, the top ranked country in terms of schooling, is continuing to improve. According to the PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) examinations that tested pupils across a variety of subjects such as reading, mathematics, and science of 2009, Finland’s students were ranked among the top (“PISA 2009”). The American students were ranked below average for industrialized countries in the world, revealing the reality of the educational crisis in the country. Finland’s education system, compared to the Americans, offers major differences that greatly ...
Practice is an essential component of the development of expertise. Despite the necessity for practice, ethical and practical tensions may arise as a result of it. These tensions are shown throughout the articles, “The Learning Curve” by Atul Gawande and “The Great Forgetting” by Nicholas Carr. Gawande focuses how surgeons have to practice on patients which can sometimes be considered unethical. On the other hand, Carr focuses on how dependence on technology can be detrimental, especially in the aviation industry. In both of these passages, the authors present arguments explaining how practice can lead to several mistakes as well as the loss of numerous lives. However, practice is needed in order to achieve expertise which leads to an ethical
The United States is a melting pot: we have built our country on the customs of many others. We cannot be afraid to revert to old tactics so long as they are successful. Other countries hold the key to success in the education system and the United States must be willing to take note.
The US education system doesn’t have: follow-through. According to Chapter 8 of Outliers, “Rice Paddies and Math Tests,” the research of rice paddies has created a cultural legacy among Asian cultures that leads to more relative success for people from those cultures. Malcolm Galdwell argues “That lesson has
Education remains a cornerstone for society as it has for decades. Technology advances, the economy fluctuates, and politics change, but education remains, not only important but imperative for personal and social growth. Yet, as important as it is touted to be, the quality and purpose of learning is often lost in the assembly-line, manufactured process of education that exists today.
The world grows smaller and smaller as time goes on; maybe not literally, but definitely through some points of view. With everything and everyone being more connected than ever now thanks to advances in communicational technology and with the merging of cultures from all over the world, a suitable form of education needs to become the standard to accommodate such a world. Global education teaches students about the world’s different cultures, traditions, religions, languages and other important global factors contributing to our modern world. According to various recent studies, The U.S. falls behind many other nations regarding their global education standards (Webb). How then, can the U.S. or any other nation with similar education struggles
Ultimately, it is apparent that there are a lot of issues to address in order to establish a successful education. The biggest issue is the affordability of schools because it determines the quality of one’s education. The quality of teachers and the resources available to all students will be addressed once the tuition is affordable because it will close the gap in the accessibility of education within the lower, middle and upper-class. Successful education establishes the path of human and economic development that will promote new industries, technologies, innovations and ideas for a better future.
There are many important things children gain while growing up; the most important thing children gain growing up is their education. The educational skills children learn in school teach them the skills they need to perform outside of the classroom and in the workforce. With education being one of the most important gains in the lives of children, it has come to light how in recent years the United States has fallen further and further behind its peers in international rankings. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 2009 educational scores, the United States ranks “33” (1), which is lower than the 2002 ranking of “18” (CNN). With such a decrease in the United States ranking, parents wonder why American students are falling behind.
The very first important development for a successful country is to have a respectable education system for those who need it from the first day they are born into the world. We have to instill what we want in our people to reflect how we want our development to appear. In China, their school system has more of a strict structure, for example, at Harbin Number One High School. Students begin school at 7:00 a.m., and remain until 8:20 p.m. The seniors, preparing for their final examinations, stay later, even until 10:00 at night.
All in all, teachers need to be viewed as professionals and not as simply pay babysitters because most do care about the students. Teachers tolerate the low wages, long hours and repetitive disrespect because they desired to place attention on student success. Teachers should not enter that career for the money, but for the devotion they will place on the students. Luckily there are ways to make teachers more valuable in society. Teachers should be given the right equipment to teach the subject that corresponds to them, the two-year skill evaluation should be more precise and by surprise, so no one knows. Also, students should be allowed to evaluate the teachers to provide feedback. Also, teachers should be aware of the surrounding cultures. In conclusion, teachers should motivate students to reach levels they themselves never thought they could attain.
We have to admit that humans often need incentives. For most people, money is a driving force which can inspire them to make progress (Barbieri, 52). If by performing better, you could earn more money, I think most people would gladly perform well and strive to achieve better results. Teachers are also human beings, and the vast majority of them would feel the same. Higher wages can increase the enthusiasm and motivation of teachers. At the same time, merit pay can improve teachers’ motivation, not only because of the money, but also because of a sense of accomplishment (Honawar and Olson, 26-27). When a teacher, through his or her own careful research of teaching strategies, passion, and devotion to teaching, help his or her students get better grades and is also rewarded by the schools, he or she will be filled with a sense of purpose. This will make that teacher know his or her effort is worth it, and in following lessons he or she would strive to expend even more energy and time to improving his or her teaching level and quality. Meanwhile, outstanding teachers will also become role models for other teachers who do not get bonuses. In this case, in a school, it will form a healthy competition among teachers. Everyone will be more diligent and strive to improve the level and quality of their