Ten Myths about American Education
I have linked you to a page from the Center on International Benchmarking. These are ten commonly held beliefs of the American school system where there is clearly articulated information surrounding these myths. It is a quick and worthwhile read that you can use to educate parents, the public, and even other educational professionals!
Wow--Marc Tucker makes some big, bold statements! Thank you for sharing this video. I appreciated hearing a different perspective. As for the Finland video, I agree that America’s states and our nation as a whole need to provide its teachers with more resources, time, and education, as well as have the community at large revere its teachers for their work and expertise. Also, one of the myths that really stuck out to me was "more education spending will lead to better results". What fascinates me about this myth is who the U.S. decides to allocate funds to—those who have more and achieve higher. Based on your research, how do you feel about these myths? Agree or disagree?
ReplyDeleteThe video with Marc Tucker is very difficult to watch, but some excellent points are made such as the link between SES and academic achievement. However, many of his sweeping statements about the low achievement are based on tests that I personally believe do not fully convey academic achievement. I have also been finding that even though the belief exists that education is directly related to the economy, it is not that simple. Yes, academic achievement must exist but the US is not lagging behind in the global economic market. In fact, many of the Asian countries that out-test us on these assessments actually have what are considered weaker economies. If you are interested in a documentary that will get you angry about school spending you should watch "The Cartel". It documents the misappropriation of public school funds and the disastrous results of this. I am glad you enjoyed the link!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your response. Isn't that the film you told us about in class? If so, I wrote it down and definitely plan to watch it.
ReplyDeleteThis was interesting to read. Great resource! Myth number five stuck with me. It is known that we don't have as much money in our education system as we may like, and the budget is getting cut every year, but it's how we handle the money we have that is important. We can get a large amount of money, but if it is in the wrong hands, the money will be wasted on items or people that are not necessary. If we take advantage of the money at hand and use it wisely, we wouldn't have to worry as much about budget cuts.
ReplyDeleteGreat find Katie. I still need to watch the videos. I was surprised that some of these were not true, especially #7 - Smaller class sizes create more effective learning environments. Interesting that Asian countries have classes as large as 40-50 students, and teachers prefer large classes so as to present more discussion surrounding different approaches to take in comprehending ideas. I am not surprised #5 is a myth, however - More education spending will lead to better results. I do not (nor did not) necessarily view this as a truth, I agree that how much money is spent is less of a concern than how the money is spent. But that brings up the question of who determines what is the best use of the funding... I like the point made about #9 - More charter schools and educational entrepreneurs are needed to shake up our public school systems. This myth poses a dilemma for me because I can see both sides of the argument. Nonetheless, the quote justifying it as a myth is hard to argue with - "The idea of improving them (schools) by funding competition for them strikes them (high-performing countries) as odd."
ReplyDeleteNice find. Very insightful conversations. The ten myths are eye-opening and easy-to-read examination of the "myth" many Americans hold about the nation's education and the "competitors". We can see the arguments of these myths and also need to be aware of that they should be supported by sound research. I think to discuss and understand these myths will help us improve our teaching practice.
ReplyDeleteWow, several of these myths were shocking to me...and I'm a teacher. I can't imagine what laypeople in our society think about education in the U.S.
ReplyDeleteMyth number 8 was one myth that I was happy to read--More student testing is needed to hold teachers and schools accountable. I don't understand how people can think that more testing equals better student performance?! Research and these other countries in the article clearly show that the learning process is more important than memorizing large amounts of material (most of the time), yet the U.S. is requiring more and more standardized tests...