Front page NY Times story about Shanghai’s test results on the international test, PISA. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/education/07education.html?pagewanted=2&ref=global-home. Having just visited Shanghai, where I saw the incredible bustle of millions of people (on the day we went to Expo, the World’s Fair, they clocked a million visitors–THAT DAY!), this is a stunner.
Our guides told us that students in China work very very hard. Indeed, the results show it.
What always shocks me is that news stories like this one focus on schools–higher teacher pay, etc. They don’t even mention the influence of home–parents who are gung ho for academic achievement. Honestly, that is the elephant in the room, as far as I’m concerned. We need to be honest here. Bring parents along as critically needed partners for education–as they do in China, Finland, etc. Without that, all the money in the world will not get us back to the top rung.
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