It should be dull and irrelevant. Students should display no confidence in their abilities in the subject. And a healthy dose of low self-esteem goes a long way.
This is the difficulty of relying on test scores to define success in education. It is also the difficulty of making international comparisons. However, I believe there is a point here that I will discuss later.
The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., released a report last week comparing international test scores in math with other educational factors considered very important in American classrooms, including student confidence, relavence of the subject matter and the students’ enjoyment of the subject.
Some interesting statistics:
6% of Korean 8th graders surveyed expressed confidence in their math skills, compared with 39% of US 8th graders. But Korean students far outscore American students in math tests. In fact, the 10 nations whose students enjoyed math most all scored below average on the math tests.
14% of Japanese math teachers surveyed reported trying to connect lessons to students’ lives, compared to 66% of US math teachers. And Japanese students also far outscore American students in math tests. Interestingly, nations who attempt to focus on making math relavent to daily life score worst on these assessments.
As far as confident students go, however, ours do relatively well.
This could be a study in one of two things. Either we can look at the tremendous sacrifice made to succeed at these tests in student confidence and general attitude toward the subject, or we can question the validity of progressive methodology which focuses on confidence before mastery. Or perhaps a bit of both.
The conclusion, however, I cannot argue with.
I think that one of the greatest harms Progressive education has done to our children is the over-emphasis on self-esteem. Eliminating games of competition, downplaying the importance of passing absolute measures of success and even doing away with recognizable grading in order to protect the esteem of the child have taken from them the ability to experience and overcome challenges. With that, it has taken from them the sense of real achievement and the sense of satisfaction (although maybe not “happiness”) that goes along with that.
Related Tags: education, Brookings Institution, test scores, self esteem, Tom Loveless, homeschooling
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>>> Interestingly, nations who attempt to focus on making math relavent to daily life score worst on these assessments. >>>
I think this is b/c the tests are skewed to disallow practical application. Math is easy for me…applying it in practical, everyday life is difficult for me. I struggle a lot to figure out how to set up the problems. I chose the math curriculum we use specifically to address this problem because I wanted my kids to be able to do math in their lives, not just on a test.
Could be…I certainly am not qualified to determine why any of this came out the way it does. There are too many cultural differences and I have never seen any of these tests.
I have a feeling, however, that societies which focus more on practical application are perhaps more child centered, as well. And they may be skipping some things…such as the skills based programs which reduce mathematics to a skill, such as calculator usage, rather than learning the principles and practicing.
Japan and Singapore also do a LOT more drill than we do.
The self-esteem movement in our education system has taken out competition as you said. Nobody is a loser because there are no winners. Because of this students do not care if they fail because it doesn’t matter. They still feel good about themselves because we are all winners.
Many of my high school math students do not care when they fail my class because they tell me that they failed every math class in middle school yet still moved on to the next level. Failure doesn’t phase them because they are immune to it since competition has been removed from their education.
This is very apparent when we see the list of Valedictorians at the end of the year. I have seen 20 students finish at the top of their class because they do not take the time to distinguish one top student.
That does not mean we need to copy the top nations in this study because there needs to be a balance between skills covered on the tests and practical application. However, the math in their math class does not always need to be relevant to their life. Sometimes they need to be able to solve an equation or graph a line because they are asked to.
I so agree with you! I don’t think we should copy these nations, either. The education systems are not comparable for a number of reasons, and there is an important thing we keep forgetting. Test scores mean nothing once you graduate. We may be well-behind other industrialized nations (and even some semi-industrialized nations) on these tests. This has been true for years. And yet somehow, in the real world of producing scientists, inventors, etc., we remain on top.
And top students from all of these nations seek out the United States for their higher education, despite its greater expense than their own systems and those in Europe.
“We may be well-behind other industrialized nations (and even some semi-industrialized nations) on these tests. This has been true for years. And yet somehow, in the real world of producing scientists, inventors, etc., we remain on top.
And top students from all of these nations seek out the United States for their higher education, despite its greater expense than their own systems and those in Europe.”
Well said! Here in Romania, the educational system has a very intense academic program. My son’s best friend is two grades behind yet his math class is more advanced. Children in Jr and Sr high often take extra courses on Saturdays and Sundays. But what is the result? Like you said, where are the scientists and inventors? Does anyone come to Romania for medical care? Computer science is the only thing I know of here that is a competitive field with the US.