Why is it that American Education Grades 1-12 is so far behind from the rest of the world?

Question

For example, in El Salvador kids usually begin learning Algebra 1 in the 4th or 5th grade while kids here in America usually start learning it in 9th grade and some even fail it and have to retake it in 10th grade. In summer 2008 I am moving to El Salvador to complete the 12th grade and I am so worried the kids in El Salvador are so far ahead from the ones here in the USA. The only advantage I probably have over them is my English nothing else. Why is it that american education is so bad? Are the kids to blame who usually join social cliques like rocker, prep, ghetto, emo etc. or are the teachers to blame who some don't teach at all and are more worry about getting a raise. or is it the American Education Curriculum?

Answer 1

Several others have given well thought-out answers, especially when they say that you could spend years studying this question and still not have a definitive answer (there are scholars who study this question extensively and they don't always agree).

My own two cents worth:  America is one of the few countries in the world that attempts to educate its entire population to a 12th grade level.  Most countries either don't have all eligible students attending school (especially in very rural, poor areas), or segregate students at some point to attend either vocational training, apprenticeship programs, or college-prep schools.

Another issue is the fact that we DON'T segregate kids based on ability, socioeconomic status, race, gender, ... .  If you compare test scores of kids in predominantly white, middle-class schools with students in other countries, the US ranks right up there, either at or near the top.  When you throw in the scores for students in poor, urban schools, we drop WAY down.  This has less to do with student ability and more to do with funding and administration - kids in (relatively) wealthy, more racially heterogeneous areas generally have more resources available and more parental involvement (both factors in school success).

Think of it this way - if a single mother is working two jobs trying to make ends meet, there aren't enough hours in the day for her to be very involved in her kids education, too.  On the other hand, a child with one parent at home has much more oversight and therefore, does better.  These, of course are generalities, but statistically, they hold up.  I'm not knocking or "praising" one group or the other - these are simply the facts.

I wouldn't worry too much about being behind.  If there are some things you have "missed", you sound pretty smart and can certainly make up for it pretty quickly by studying hard.

Answer 2

I'll tell you why the U.S. is not as advanced as other countries when it comes to education...we have fully intergrated classrooms and count everyones grades.  Other countries do not intergrate their classrooms and they do not put everyones grades together.  Let me give you an example.  In America, if you have a severe learning disorder you can be mainstreamed and put in a regular classroom.  In other countries learning diabled students are put in seperate classrooms where they can be given different attention.  On top of that, we count all kids grades equally.  This year I have a student in my class who just moved to America at the beginning of this schoolyear.  She speaks absolutely no English but is going to have to take standardized tests this  year.  She'll have to take a standardized reading test, writing test, and math test (the math test is all word problems).  Her tests will be averaged in with the rest of the students scores even though everyone knows she will fail because she can't speak or read English.  Other countries do not intergrate students like that and they also do not average their test scores together...ergo, chance for a better education.

Answer 3

My son is getting some Algebra in the 5th grade (in the US) - but I'm not sure this is a good thing.  It seems like we have accelerated all the curriculum - for those students who mature more slowly (particularly the boys), this means we are pushing stuff at them before they are necessarily ready to learn it.  Finland has the highest rate of educational success in the WORLD and they don't start kids in school until age 7 (compared to 5 in the US).

They do two other things very differently than we do.  First, they intecede EARLY when it's clear a child isn't succeeding, and they take more of an individual approach.  Second, the teachers are organized and managed more like an old fashioned 'craft' system (like the middle ages).  There are 'masters', full teachers and something like 'apprentices'.  A lot of time and effort is spent in training the teachers even after they are teaching - by having the 'master' teachers work with them to improve their technique.  They believe better teachers = more successful students.  And it seems to work.

Answer 4

This is a complex issue and I think there are many contributing factors.  First I would like to comment that while many children do not formally take a class called Algebra 1 until their early teens, Algabraic skills are taught from kindergarten on.

One big issue I see in American education is the poverty gap.  Children from homes in generational poverty are coming to school completely unprepared for learning and our system does not leave time for catching them up.

Another is the way our culture has changed in the last 50 years.  Parents have stopped being parents.  Some still discipline their children, but there are many who don't.  Parents like to blame anything other than their kid, or they just don't know what to do.  Unless the parents are able to control their children, the children will never respect authority which is necessary for their education.

Too many bad teachers.  Because teaching is a government job, it is very difficult to get rid of teachers.  I think they need to implement a new program for evaluating and outing bad teachers.  In every school every teacher and administrator knows who the burned out tired and bad teachers are.  If princpals had the power to say "listen, your performance is slipping, you've got one year to straighten up or your out"  and the the balls to say it, we would see education improve.

Another problem is all the curricula, testing, placement and pacing decisions are being made by people who are so far away from the realities of a classroom.  I believe in testing and accountability.  However, I believe most in a teacher and a school's ability to determine what is best for the children they are serving.  Many times we push kids through the info so fast they do not truly understand it so that when they get to more difficult applications, they do not have the fundamental understanding that they need.  (My 14 year old niece does not understand place value or why she has to carry or borrow).

Answer 5

You can see how the US fairs compared to the rest of the world by researching the results of the TIMSS study. Here is a link to country vs country results in mathematics:

http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2005/cha...

El Salvador is not on the list, so it is hard to know if they are actually ahead of the US in comparable student scores. The introduction of algebra in early grades cannot be the basis of comparison because you do not know how formal the introduction is. Most currciculums in the US also have introductory algebra concepts in elementary school.

Many of the the nations that have scored higher than the US in the TIMSS test have policies that weed out low-performing students from school access. This impacts their scores in two ways. In the most obvious way, the US scores represents an average of all students while some of the other nations are an average of only their best students. Secondly, because in many of the best performing nations there are examinations necessary before a student may enter the next tier of education (from elementary to middle, middle to high school, high school to college) there is a great deal more emphasis on doing well in school. In our nation you often move forward merely because you had a birthday, not that you mastered material.

Good luck in El Salvador.

Answer 6

I can't say anything on the subject of El Salvador but because I'm german/american and have spent the last 3 yrs of my school life in germany (im a junior) and now Im spending 4 months in an american school, i can say my opinion.

People are the same everywhere (americans are neither stupid nor lazy) but the problem is in the education!!

a) eg in europe, kids can't choose their classes at all up until 10th or 11th grade. they have a wide variety of subjects that are mandatory( mine were german, english, french, math, biology, chemistry, physics, sports, philoposphy!!) and we had eg only 2 periods of chemistry a week, not 5 as it is in the usa. so you had a lot of subjects parallel, and not all the same subjects all in one day as in the us.

b) more depth coverage. in germany time is taken to properly cover the material and make sure that the kids learn it. eg in the usa i took ap bio and we did the cell structure, biochemistry, Darwin and evolution, metabolim, and the cell cycle all in 2 months!! you think anyone is gonna learn anything? these are enough themes for one yr!!

c) discipline. in the usa kids just come to class and just sit around. german schools expect you to be on time, prepared, and w homework. american schools arent really enforcing those rules.

d) eg, germany starts teaching a 2nd language in the 3rd or 4th grade, america starts this in 9th grade??

Answer 7

Not sure where you are getting your information from about kids doing Algebra 1 in 4th/5th grades when typical information available about education in El Salvador says it's inconsistent from one school to the next but tends to be poor in general. Also, just because kids may start algebraic stuff in grades 4 or 5 does not mean that it's mastered any sooner. That is, math doesn't have to be followed in the sequence offered in American schools, so just because someone is starting algebra sooner doesn't mean that they've mastered all the rest that comes before it in American schools.

Answer 8

Here's a perfect example of why. My sister is a teacher of 4 year olds in a public school. The county has one curriculum. The state has another. They don't agree! When the state comes to observe, you better be following their curriculum. When the county comes, you better use the county's! They don't know if they are coming or going.

They also get too hung up on stupid things like timing. My sister is told that she has to teach subject A from 8:00 to 8:45. She cannot move on to another subject at 8:30 if they are finished. If they are NOT finished at 8:45, too bad. You have to move on to subject B and stick to the schedule set forth. It is so stupid. If they'd shut up and let the teachers actually teach instead of laying down a million stupid rules, our kids would actually be able to learn.

Answer 9

In a private school I went to they learned French in 4th and Spanish in 5th.

That didn't happen until 9th in public school.

We do it to keep pace with the slowest students, because TIERED education is illegal.

It considered BIGOTED against RACES

Also the IDEA behind school is to keep kids out of college and the work force until age 18, because 16 crowds things too much.

School is a poltical entity designed th slow things down to the level our society can absorbe.

Answer 10

Well, I don't know if your information is correct or not as far as El Salvador being ahead, but I do know that a lot of countries ARE ahead of he US.

There are many factors that go into this problem.  You could spend years researching and then maybe you'd BEGIN to understand.

However I want to note a few things.  Just because kids START Algebra 1 in 4th or 5th does not mean they will finish all Algebra 1 concepts in 4th or 5th grade.  The homeschool curriculum I use introduces Algebra in Elementary (I think it actually starts with basic Algebraic concepts in 3rd grade), however this does not mean that my 3rd or 4th grader will have mastered Algebra 1, or my 6th grader for that matter.  It just means that they have been introduced to certain ideas and principles so when they do take Algebra 1 the process won't seem so foreign to them.  When will they take a full Algebra 1 course?  Somewhere between 7th and 9th, depending on when they pass a placement test test for it.

I would agree with you on one point, that the American school system is a mess, and needs to change.

Answer 11

They have increased the speed of the learning prossess but they think it is a stress for americans to learn that much.

Answer 12

Ok i can sum this up for you very easily and clearly. Most kids who attend highschool or any school, are fairly stupid. That does not MAKE ALL kids stupid.

Many Americans are lazy and fat. But that does not MAKE ALL Americans lazy and fat.

The ones that are smart and bright go on to own companies, become doctors, lawyers, ect... The rest end up on welfare, or in middle american jobs.

The smart ones usually get good jobs that pay a lot and send their kids to private schools. They usually wait till they are older and finacially stable to have kids.

The stupid ones usually get pregnant in highschool, then drop out, and have kids who will be stupider than them, and the cycle continues. Standards become lowered because their kids are even more stupid, and for the state to receive funding tests need to be lowered for them to pass....

Its a system that if you work hard and learn, you can make some money, but if you dont have the drive nor determination, and your family is lazy, your pretty much doomed, and less likely to drop out and work at McDonalds, or end up on welfare.

Answer 13

public school

Answer 14

This is utter rubbish.  I've lived in Central America for 36 years and can tell you firsthand that the public education system  in El Salvador is not only underfunded and understaffed, it's also inaccessible to most of the children in the country.  Only about 1/3 of the kids ever start high school.

There's a private school option, and a fairly good international school in San Salvador, but in no way is El Salvador education comparable to that available in developed countries, or even to neighboring Costa Rica.  This is due in part to a 12-year long war within the country, which ended only in 1992, and also to the poverty of the population.  Education in El Salvador has always been available only to the privileged.  

I have no comment on the US public school system, but I know that the author of the question is totally ignorant of the state of public education in El Salvador.

If you question my accuracy, read the report I cite below.

Answer 15

My opinion is simple. The public school has forgotten how to educate. They simply begin to indoctrinate from the first day of kindergarten. The school system simply spoon feeds the facts and says don't go look it up yourself. They expect the kids to learn every thing on the standard test and if its not on the test you don't need to know it. That was what the school system in my parish is like. They have simply forgotten the fact that when it comes to education everything needs to be questioned by a child. How else will a child really learn if they are not challenged to question? If you are spoon fed that for instance evolution is fact and you are not taught to question or research it then you are going to believe it even if at home your parents say Creation is the only way life could exist. Then you end up confused and don't know where to find your answer. Science should be questioned over and over especially since that is how you prove a theory to be fact. I chose evolution and creation because it can be explosive. But even in subjects that are definite like math the schools must teach how to get to the answer not just given it. A child must be given the tools to figure it out.

Answer 16

Coo-ee! Where have all the teachers gone from in here this morning? They're never short of an answer when it comes to home education. Now there's a question they could rightfully contribute to and seems they're not to be seen for dust!