Why Do American Schools Rank So Low?

I just finished watching “Stupid in America,” a recent 20/20 special on failing public schools that compares American students to students in Belgium. Although I was happily surprised by the content of the episode, I once again found myself wondering why so many people are concerned and yet doing nothing. As Americans, we are given the right to stand up and fight for what we believe in, which I believe is something we all take for granted. The video showed individuals from all over the country, who are outraged with the public school system and how little their children are learning. What these people do not seem to understand, is that they are not alone and there are thousands of others out there that feel the same way. As cheesy as it sounds, I’m going to say it again, “OUR CHILDREN ARE THE FUTURE,” and we must always make them our first priority. Taking money away from schools, should be the last thing considered when making budget cuts. Now I’m not saying that money is the solution to all our education problems, I’m just using it as a metaphor to show how desperately we need to fix our schools.
Going back to the episode, I wanted to address a few points that it brings up. First, why did we score so much lower than the students in Belgium, even though we were confident with our performance? I also forgot to mention that the American students that took the test, went to one of the top high schools in New Jersey and have continuously ranked above average in test taking. With that said, the New Jersey students scored an average of 40% lower on the test than the Belgium students and were unable to answer simple question like what is the Bill of Rights, when asked? The video also showed Jay Leno asking college students, where is the Kentucky Derby held? Sadly, many of them answered incorrectly and it was not a skit.
You would think that even a person that had never heard of the Kentucky Derby, would still guess that it had something to do with Kentucky. In my previous blogs, I’ve spoken about current events, relating education to the real world, and removing standardized tests, but this brings up a slightly new problem. Do American’s not have any common sense, or as many like to call it, street smarts? In my opinion yes, our schools do not teach kids how to survive the real world and most importantly, how to problem solve. This is a perfect example of how vital it is for our schools to re-prioritize what they teach and how they teach it. If we spent more time teaching students how to think analytically and relate what they learn to the outside world, we would not have college students making such dumb comments. It is very likely that those same people, who were unable to decipher where the Kentucky Derby is, attend great schools and probably even earn above average grades.
Again, this is not an isolated problem, it is a problem that stems from the difference between real knowledge and book knowledge. I’ll never forget my friend in high school that was a straight A student, who whenever we went out in public, made a complete fool of herself. She literately, had no common sense when it came to real life situations and would frequently make stupid comments about the most obvious things. As funny as it was at the time, I’ve met tons of people that are exactly the same and I’ve realized this is a much bigger problem than my one sheltered friend. You may be wondering how street smarts has anything to do with how badly Americans ranked compared to the Belgium, as they took a standardized test. Even though I do not approve of standardized testing, I do believe that common sense and problem solving are crucial when trying to find a single right answer from a group. They are also critical in almost all day to day situations in any environment.
How do we teach students common sense in a classroom? We don’t, we take them outside the classroom and give them hands on experience, volunteering, visiting local businesses, and talking to kids their own age with different backgrounds. Most importantly, we encourage children to speak up, ask questions, share their own experiences, and relate new knowledge to as many other subjects as possible. When they are in the classroom, we follow the same guidelines, offering only an outline of subjects and encouraging students to learn from each other and ask questions. Its common knowledge that the best way to retain information is by actively participating in a situation and not just listening to someone else speak.
The reason why students in countries like Belgium and Finland, which is ranked first, do so much better than the US is because how and what they are teaching their children. Students in Finland spend less time in class than any other Western country and remain with the same classmates throughout their learning. So what’s their secret? A recent article pointed out a few major differences in Finland’s education philosophy. Ms Haatainen, a minister in the government stated, “...widening participation in education is the most effective way of finding the most talented students.” and that the economy is best served, “... by having a broad-based, open-access education system.” The Finland Programme for International Student Assessment, “Aims to assess the knowledge and skills needed for full participation in society, rather than mastery of a curriculum,” which is the belief behind their school system. I believe those quotes sum up everything, I’ve been trying to explain about what US schools are missing. Maybe its as easy as analyzing and emulating the schools abroad that have already proven their success.