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Old 2012-04-18, 12:03 PM   [Ignore Me] #152
Figment
Lieutenant General
 
Re: Santorum Drops Out


Originally Posted by Malorn View Post
That NYT article cites Finland as one of the best countires.

According to Wikipedia Finland spends about 2750 (in dollars) per capita on education.

The US spends 3240 per capita

So we spend more and get less (according to the article's analysis, but I take NYT articles with a grain of salt).

Clearly throwing money at the problem doesn't solve it, which any intelligent person would already know.
No, which means there's also a good possibility that there's a difference in system.

http://www.fdupillar.com/?p=196

As this article suggests, the pacing in the US is slower. That corresponds to what classmates of mine (who did their final year in the US) said: when they took the last year of high school in the US, it was three years behind our own class - the only new thing they learned was Spanish, since it was the only thing they never had taken (wasn't taught at our school, though some other schools have Spanish, Russian and Chinese as optional langauges).

Another thing is that it suggests the US system is very inwards oriented (US focused), which means knowledge of the outside world is poor, whereas in pretty much all other high ranking countries, a much wider perspective is given.




If you once again excuse the comparison with the Netherlands, our school system is focused on seperating students by performance levels on the previous school. To get into a specific higher level school, college or university, your grades have to match requirements.

This means that not everyone of the same age attends the same schools and classes, but rather they're grouped together so they can be taught by the same teacher on the same level and a different focus, without having to wait for those further behind to catch up. Pacing between the different schools differs greatly. What some schools do in 4-6 years, others do in three and then have 3 more years of advanced classes. Someone who is a bit slower learner can progress and advance from a lower class through the different schools if they meet requirements.

As I understand it, in the US it is the opposite in public schools, where everyone gets the same level of education, regardless of personal performance.
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