Education Around the Globe
by Jaymee Pride
Education has always been important to the success and
fulfillment of individual personal life goals, but it has become imperative for
the success of a nation’s future society.
Interestingly enough, even though the United States is a world power,
the country isn’t doing so well in the educational field, although it has all
of the resources available to do so. On
PISA exams (Programme for International Student Assessment) the United States
ranked seventeenth overall out of sixty-six countries.
The PISA exam is taken globally to
measure the skill of students worldwide in literacy, math and science. A few countries among the top ten are
Shanghai-China, Finland and Japan. All
of these countries are smaller than the United States of America, yet they are
seeing far better scores and are ranked higher on national as well as
international exams. The education
systems of Shanghai, Finland and Japan differ greatly from each other; but the
US could take away some strategies from each country.
FINLAND has been the most talked
about country when it comes to education.
In the 2009 PISA they ranked first in science and second in math and
reading, the only country ahead of them was South Korea. Finland is a small country with a population
of around 5.4 million people and spends thirty percent less per student than
the US, yet still manages to have some of the highest test scores in the world.
Finland began its educational
reforms about forty years ago in an attempt to industrialize after World War
II. Their educational system is quite
different from the western world. In
Finland, children don’t begin school until the age of seven so they have a
chance to be a kid and learn through experience. The academic abilities of students are not
accounted for in the first six years of their educational careers and the only
mandatory standardized test in Finland is taken at the age of sixteen.
There is much less pressure put on
Finnish students because their goal isn’t to compete but to better
themselves. Homework isn’t given until
teenaged years as well. One of the more
interesting things that Finland implemented was smaller class sizes and more
teachers. Classes have less than twenty
students and on average three teachers.
Two of the three teachers instruct while the third helps those who are
having difficulties.
Overcrowded classrooms pose a
challenge for American schools who usually average one teacher per class and at
times, upwards of twenty-five students.
In Finland teachers are also just as prestigious as doctors of lawyers,
because their job is just as important.
The wages for teachers in Finland are much better than those for
American teachers. Teachers are
responsible for the future of their nation, in theory. The kids they teach are the future of their
nation. The children also treat them
with the respect that they deserve as well.
All Finnish schools have a student
welfare team made up of the principal, classroom teachers, special education
teachers and the school nurse and psychologist.
They meet frequently, usually every other week to discuss problems and
students that may need interventions.
Academic interventions are put into place at the first sign of trouble
so the student isn’t struggling to keep up.
It is also very rare for Finnish students to be held back or move up a
grade. Finnish education is funded 100%
in full by their government, which is a big deal. In America at the beginning of the recession,
education was one of the first things to which spending was cut. Overall, Finland’s education system is so
successful because everyone involved works together to reach the high standards
they set.
JAPAN has a educational system that
contains lots of regulations. Their
Ministry of Education keeps a close watch on ciricculum and textbooks to maintain
a higher standard. The Japanese
educational system, like Finland, underwent reforms after World War II.
The amount of years students were
to attend mandatory schooling was made longer and is similar the US system of
elementary, middle and high school and then university if desired. The population of Japan is one of the best
educated in the world and enrollment in high school is about ninety-six percent
nationwide.
The approach to education in Japan is very uniform,
standards are set high and are expected to be met, which puts pressure on
students. Many students in Japan are
competitive and are compelled to do well in schoool. Japanese students have an ambition that may
go unmatched by any other country.
Teachers are respected and thought of highly as well as all other
authorities and elders. A lot of focus
is on sciences and technology as Japan is a very industrialized country. Much of Japan’s industry is in the manufacturing
of automobiles and consumer electronics, those companies include Canon, Sony
and Toyota. Much of Japan’s success is
due to the fast-paced nature of their culture that requires their students to
meet the high standards set for them. If
they don’t, the nation of Japan would loose the position it holds in the world.
SHANGHAI in China has also been at
the top rung of the educational ladder. The
system in Shanghai pairs high performing schools with those who are not quite
meeting standards. The stronger schools
equip the lower performing school with a management team that works with
teachers and helps give strategies and help with lesson plans. In Shanghai high schoolers have nine hour
days with breaks for exercise in-between lessons.
The Chinese culture places a great
value on education, but the high standard that exists in Shanghai isn’t the
same all over china. Shanghai is an
industrialized area with a population around twenty-three million people and
there are resources available that the rural areas of China do not have acess to. Shanghai’s success rate is also high because
the students have a passion for learning and desire to better the society in
which they live. In the future it would
be great to see the rest of China with the resources to replacate the system
that has worked so well in Shangahai.
If the United States used bits and
pieces from each of the high performing countries like the smaller class sizes
and early intervention in Finland, the high expectations that Japan has for
it’s students and the value that Shanghai has for education it would be possible
for America to make the list of high scores on the international
assesments. It also wouldn’t be a change
that would happen within a few years, achievement and success on that level
takes commitment. The countries talked
about above with the highest scores on international exams began their reforms
at times when they were faced with great challenges after war and economic
collapse. The US shouldn’t wait until it
is completely leveled to the ground to face a problem that is as important as
the entire future as a nation; America needs a successful reformation in
education soon, before it’s too late.
Source(s)
I used facts, figures and statistics from:
ncee.org
washingtonpost.com
something.org
Edutopia- youtube.com
AFTHQ- youtube.com
japan-guide.com
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