This article is spot on in a lot of ways. I have been teaching for over 20 years, with a lot of data driven and proven success. But the current landscape in education, as it is mirroring society as a whole, is enabling and coddling. Students have an overall lack of respect for education and educators. They find no issue with skipping school, failing to do homework, or cursing loudly in the halls. They anger when asked to put away their cell phones, and they are unable to stay on task long enough to actually use technology that gives them internet access. Education is in a change for the sake of change movement. Administrators and politicians read a book written by some "expert" who typically has spent little to no time in an actual classroom, and then adopt those ideas as the new big thing. Look at the data folks...we keep FALLING behind in test scores and competency standards. MAYBE, we should look to what we were doing back when we were one of the best...maybe that is where the answer lies.

The most important thing is how to motivate students! My from experience i suggest that praising is a good strategy and above all tell them you are hear to learn and nobody is going to fail....Then look at the magic...:) Even under performing students will performing better than average.

There is no "best" way to teach. There are far too many influences in every part of the world to try to suggest there is a "best" way to teach. Social, cultural, economic, political, and other factors help determine how a teacher is allowed or required to teach. In US minds, some of these have no business in the classroom, but until we get our politicians out of our classrooms, we need to be quiet about that. Any great, even good, teacher can work with and through any barriers because of his or her content knowledge, passion for education, and yes, love for his or her students. The better any teacher knows the students in the classroom, the better that teacher can encourage and motivate them to learn, even in the most restrictive and/or deprived situations. None of us should judge anyone else's way of teaching or learning. None of us should tell anyone else how they ought to be teaching. We should, in my opinion, be encouraging and supporting each other as collaboratively and non-judgmentally as possible. Education is one of the most liberating and potentially subversive activities in which anyone can be involved. The support we can give teachers might be actual resources, both physical and virtual, professional development, online or f2f PLCs, or simple opportunities to collaborate and share ideas. Let us give teachers the support they need to be the best possible teachers they can be and do so without judgment.

I am Italian and as a child I attended for one year a Japanese school. In my experience, Italian schools are more close to the supposed Asian model than the Japanese public ones - in Italy we were supposed to memorize a lot of information and spend most of the time on books, while in Japan primary school includes a lot of hours of music, arts, practical exercices and so on. So I think that all this "Western vs Asian model" talk is displaced. The Italian system is all based on traditional teaching, yet Italian students perform poorly. What's the secret of the Asians then? I think previous commentators already said most of it. Very much has to do with the external environment and the fact that children in Asia take extra lessons after attending school in the morning and at 9 or 10 are already worrying about admission at the University. I can also suggest that learning ideographic writing is a tremendous exercice for the mind and memory. However, Asians are no supermen. Although I had problems in other subjects because of the language, I was a top performer in Mathematic at the Japanese school and I won two prizes for Japanese calligraphy (strange but I swear is true, have still my drawings at home). And one can see that Asiatics lag behind when it comes to complex, creative tasks - in the social sciences, my current field of work, Asiatic contribution is minimal, and I know from colleagues in the natural sciences that Asiatic lab researchers are good at working under supervision but unable to take initiative. That said, I agree with the author of the article that kids should be taught to be serious and disciplined, and using memory and training concentration is part of it.

Chinese students learn the facts and can recite them, but they have a very difficult time applying the facts to any kind of critical thought or inventiveness due to the emphasis on rote memorization.

Agreed but they are supplied with the sort of 'basic training' that we have been increasingly neglecting. The modern methods described for the west work IF your students have the proper base. But only the best students are able to come upon that solid base before excelling in (e.g.) Intel or Westinghouse science competitions, etc.

Then again, this is just another version of the winnowing process that is more obvious in Asian and continental European systems.

American schools are still the best. We take all who come. Are schools are more diverse than any other nation. Many of our schools suck yet even our worst schools still turn out effective citizens. Our best schools are equal, if not superior to any other their foreign counterparts.

Sure China has great test scores, but they have a super high suicide rate. Also, if China is so great, why do they keep stealing from American companies?

Many Asian countries take and keep only the best of the best, and although this sounds great on paper, it is are beast of moral abandonment when you have a child with a mild learning disability. So, China doesn't educate the disabled, as where we do and I know from 15 years of teaching children with special needs, that they are throwing away some of the most eclectic minds a nation could ever ask for.
In closing, America, we ain't perfect, but we take everyone who comes and try to lead them to become effective citizens.

I love it!!! "ARE schools..." ....are still the best? Obviously not!
Classic.... And that's just the first of many.
No way will I let my daughter suffer through the U.S. education system like I did.

Your grammar skills are thrilling, but like many critics, you offer no solution. But if you are a PhD. then you must have succeeded in spite of the education you suffered through?

Continuous rise of China seems to be inevitable as doomsayers (China will have problem, will slow down internet will change it to democracy, etc) stop putting their hopes on stopping China.

They were, guided firmly by communists, supposed to remain poor and hungry, not being able to take down a satelite, land on the Moon and have, due to so massive exports, 4 trillion of US-denominated reserves, while lifting hundreds of millions of their citizens in a very short time to decent standard of living (in that sense achieving even more than America used to be a leader in).

The fact that you use "ain't" proves that America's schools are not the best.

Scott,
Your refutation of my opinion is stellar, and your erudition shines through.

The US ranks in the bottom half of a new international comparison of the
efficiency of education systems across OECD countries – lower than
Japan, Korea and many northern European countries.

Most of the countries above the US take all who come.

So I'm not sure how you can say that American schools are 'still the best'!

Richard,
Many European schools take all who come and many of those same countries are mono-cultural. Finland, the number one school system in the world, is a mono-culture.
Korea, I can't comment on as I am not aware of programs for the disabled, but at the same time, they too are a mono-culture. Japan, has a good approach to working with their whole student population, but Japan is a Templar of mono-culture.

Some countries have cities where the school system has a more diverse population, but no one compares to the U.S. Only in the U.S. can you go to a rural school in Georgia and find a sizable none native ethnic group.

You can throw out any nation, and they simply don't compare.
If you want your child to be prepared for the modern business world, you move your family to an area in your state with the best schools. I for one will stick with a mediocre district + enrichment activities provided by my community and family. My child will be exposed to children of many different cultural and racial backgrounds thus making them more comfortable with the diversity they are to find in the business world of today and tomorrow, for the days of mono-cultural business hegemony are waning.
I am no expert though, but I do believe it is so much easier to attack our education system and call for its end, then it is to get involved in change, invest your soul in the life of a child that is not of your own blood, and be an agent of change.
I can't make our system great by world standards, but I can make a child's education great by my efforts.

So, you yourself provide repeated and very relebant evidence and examples in support of assertion that the supposed "strength in diversity" is PC nonsense as homogeneous (mono-cultural) societies and countries, such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and now China (where Han people dominate), Finland and (still) the rest of Scandinavia are successful, in education and economy alike because of such marked homogeneity.

Homogeneity represents shared and internalized value system, temperament, behavioral tendencies, etc., apparently all important to success as a country.

So what is the solution for the U.S.?

Heh, Finnian, I'm all in favor of supporting local schools. I've been a teacher all my life!

But I think we need to stick to the evidence. There are dozens of countries (Germany, UK, France, Netherlands ..) that deal with diversity, and seem to succeed quite well. So I don't see the need to overclaim the US system, especially when it has so many areas needing development (such as science education and physical education, where it performs badly).

But I do totoally agree with your final point - we all need to do our best to every education the best that it can be!

Just because you can succeed with diversity does not mean that it's not an impediment to the process. It just means that proper accommodations have been made. In many places they likely haven't and therefore still create obstructions to learning.

Richard,
Many European nations deal with diversity, but that simply can't compare with the U.S.. I can't speak to how well these nations deal with diversity but I do know that France, Germany and England have sizable minority groups that they have failed to integrate into their societies. But even if that were the not an issue, think about student population size. Are student population is greater then the overall population of some European countries.

Lets ignore, diversity, socio-economics, special education, language barriers, and overall student population for a second, and compare best schools to best schools. I live in Illinois, and our top public schools easily match up with their international counter parts; in fact some of those schools have many foreign students in attendance. So when the playing field is leveled, and it seldom is, we can compete and are on par.

Lets compare the bottom performing schools. Here is where we fail as a nation. Our poorest performing schools are plagued by violence, drugs, gangs and poor leadership which extends into the classroom. But even our poorest performing schools still turn out strong citizens, mind you in lower numbers.

If you are going to compare us to the world, then you must take in to totality of our system. No nation deals with the numbers, the diversity, the ability range and socio-economic range as we do. Hence why our system rocks. Sure it has major problems, but what nation doesn't?

That said, I am no expert. I love kids; I believe there is such a thing as hope and so I pour my efforts in to building better futures for every child who comes through my door.

What, what makes you believe or assert that "France, Germany and England have sizable minority groups that they have failed to integrate into their societies"?

Specifically, Germany a) has in essence one significant minority, Turks, who came as guest workers and who are not overly religious Muslims. They - compared to some enclaves in France and UK, where Muslims are significant presence - are rather well integrated in any way one might think off.

On other hand, how is integration of our 13% of population, Blacks, going after century of all kinds of efforts and programs and half of century after the 1960 legislation and set asides programs and quotas?

We see it, regularly and daily in metropolitan areas across great parts of the country.

Again: homogeneous societies do not have lower, actually higher degree of success in educational or economic outcomes. There is precious little to "strength in diversity". Only when we consider number of olympic medals or commercial success of spectator sports (NFL, NBA, etc.) But this is not the economy and quality of life for 90% of people.

I think you may want to talk to Muslims in France and Germany. I have, and many do not see themselves as having been accepted by their fellow countrymen. If our education system is so bad, why do so many people want to come to this country?

I am not an African-American, but to say that everything has been great since 1960's civil rights legislation was passed, I think that is a wee bit of a stretch. I think diversity has served our nation well. At least the guys at Google would say so.

But you have yet to lay a solution to our nation's ills, so you leave little to refute?

The onus for accommodating should squarely lie with immigrants. Many do not wish to do this. They should not be trying to remake the culture of the country to which they are coming. In most cases, the culture they bring with them will be vastly inferior(in my opinion). This is supported by the fact that so many would not be immigrating if not for the relative failure from whence they came.

I can't really speak to your opinion. I would say that many immigrants were not fleeing their culture but the socioeconomic realities of their homeland. The Irish, the italians, Pols, Czechs, Indians and countless others, came not because they were fleeing the shattered remnants of a failed culture so much as they fled war and oppression of their homelands. We are and land of immigrants. Homogenous we will never be.

Also, you really can't compare today's immigrants with those so long ago. It is not an apples to apples comparison.

Is it not likely that the culture of origin created those economic realities. I know that it is in many instances. We don't have to be homogenous but if we want to maintain a level of culture there must be shared set of core values. Imo ymmv

Is the point of education for people to do well on standardized tests? Are we sure we want the authoritarian/conformist culture that these students come from? I want my democracy and to eat it too. Nothing less will do.

I researched this years ago. The reason why these students exceed over western students is CULTURAL. And furthermore, the teenage suicide rate in Asian countries is higher than in the West.

i am most interested in this, ma'am. wondering if you will bother to explain CULTURAL? what cultrual factors contribute to this result? Will appreciate(i am a teacher,too)

Roy Merritt provided a good answer.

Unlike some, Far East Asians and Indians also have the ability to postpone gratification: They work above average hard, every day and for years, supported by even poor parents in a belief that doing well, even extremely well in school is the most reliable way to do well in job market.

Unlike many minorities or even too many whites, these Asians do not believe that life or school attendance is "fun".

They are looked down at - as Tiger Parents and as "nerds" - until those fat admission announcement envelopes arrive. At that point they being perceived as "lucky" and quotas and tricks to limit their admission rates are being implemented.

Cultural being that Chinese and Japanese young people are instilled from childhood to respect their parents and elders. There is a training from the time they are infants to please their parents and those placed in charge of them. Everyone wears a uniform and there is no difference whether you are wealthy or poor. I watched a Korean young man in New York sleep on a bag of rice in his parents store and he worked 16-18 hours a day for little or no pay, simply to see his parents succeed in business. That is what cultural means.

Well, that really makes some sense. thank you!

Here is a first step in helping our own to isecure the foundation of effective teachers, teaching.....college preparation! Training a teacher should include apprenticeship from day one, at a college specifically for teachers, with laser-focus on achieving expertise in one select subject area or chosen major. This takes time. Veteran teachers with the same major should be part of the process through seminars via the Internet. A teacher should benefit from the experience of others before having to learn on their own techniques that can only learned hands-on. There should be teaching during this apprenticeship in schools before graduation, not just before or afterwards. Team teaching should be encouraged and implemented to greatly reduce having to be "a master of no subject". Blooms Taxonomy of Learning needs to be excavated and implemented. While there are many strategies, there needs to be a core to adhere to, and that is it. Group problem-solving, open-ended inquiry, discussions, field trips, and many, many others can enhance variation,sustain interest. They can test the successful application of the learning process in real life situations to make it relevant to living.. Perhaps if students knew beforehand where the teacher was going with the lesson would help to keep them involved. Zillions of run-off sheets thrown at them over the course of their education could be turning them off, whereas an outline drawn up by the teacher for the lesson at hand could have blanks filled in during the course of the lesson. The finished product would cover the main concepts heading and supporting precepts. The format specifically could address Blooms Taxonomy steps that go beyond just knowledge of- . There is so much teachers can do beside filling in endless paperwork, and we don't need to go elsewhere to find out we already have here. That is why others travel here to study.. We only need to look around for those who are really interested in teaching, support them in their pursuit, and address the issues that conflict with it.

If we want to have "Asian" levels of success in our schools, perhaps we need to adopt some of the other models in Asian schools.
1) School day: Many students in Asia attend public school for about six hours, like American kids do - but then go on to take another four to six hours at a private school.
2) School week: Many students in Asia go to school six days a week, instead of just five.
3) School year: Many Asian schools have mo0re than 180 school days, and have shorter breaks between terms.
4) Parental Support/Discipline: Students in Asia who misbehave in school are dealt with severely by the school and by their parents. Students who misbehave in American schools are often aided and abetted by their parents.
5) All vs. Some: Students in Asian schools are grouped into different tracks, and only the best are kept on a "university" track, while others go to Vocational/technical schools or other places. In America, we try to keep all the students in the same schools - no matter what their abilities and perfomance are.
5) Attitude: In Asia, education and educators are valued and held in high esteem. In many parts of American culture education is reviled, and America does not hold educators in high esteem - wanting teachers to be babysitters and servants, rather than educators..

My hypothesis is that if you change those five factors, we;ll get results, no matter what teaching style our teachers use.

Your #5) is why they preform better on tests. We compare ALL of our students to their elite. "All vs. Some: Students in Asian schools are grouped into different tracks, and only the best are kept on a "university" track, while others go to Vocational/technical schools or other places. In America, we try to keep all the students in the same schools - no matter what their abilities and perfomance are."

The same, i.e. not mingling high and low academic achievers together like we do in our high schools - is also true in Germany and other European countries.

Here, in US, under puprorted "equal opportunity" we keep students with wastly different academic abilities, post K-12 outlook and objectives together in one high school.

Both academically able and not so able suffer: Trancy and drop out rates, lowered selsesteem when compared to honors, AP etc. students. And high achievers suffer too, having environment pulled down with manifestation of lower expectations, problems attached to that.

AS our K12 is financed mainly through local property taxes and we are notoriously sting to pay them as "government is always bad", separating kids say starting with 6th grade will cost more money (new facility) and it is a no go.

So the results will continue to be bad: globally less competitive academic results and globally uncompetitive blue collar workforce.

An eclectic approach to the use of various methodologies is prudent and necessary, especially, preK-4th grade. The focus on learning modalities has more to do with facilitating better engagement by the students. Using only one modality in class is a good way to lose 20% of the class or more. The coaching approach to a class, like coaching a soccer team, helps the teacher recognize the strengths and weaknesses of the students. I'm sure there are great teachers in China, but just as in the soccer coach example, each new team(class) has its own special challenges. The teacher/coach that adjusts to the new students also lends the teaching of flexibility to the students so that the students may weather new challenges and experiences. And, let's be real honest, not all students are bound for Phd.s at M.I.T. That's not expecting less, that's understanding reality.

While American parents threaten to sue schools if the homework assignments take" too long", Asian parents enroll their kids in private schools for hours after public school gets out.

Of course students who get ten to twelve hours of academics in a day will beat students who only get four to six hours.

Do we really want to "beat" them if it means ten to twelve hour days for our kids? That is not healthy for growing minds/bodies. Is a person with a higher test score the smartest and/or the most innovative? I've worked twelve hour days as an adult; it leaves no time for anything other than eating , sleeping, and showering. I couldn't imagine doing that to a child.

Why are so many, "innovation" a creativity supposedly nurturing K12 and college system of ours unemployed as jobs are moving overseas? Lot of our supposed "creativity" and "ingenuity" is going away and doesn't matter. And we are just at the beginning of US - China switch of the roles.

? Your reply is hard to understand. It is poorly written. Please improve your writing skills. Anyway, the jobs are going overseas because the labor costs are 50-90%less in other countries. That's Economics 101. As wages rise in China, manufacturers have started moving production to other countries that are cheaper. Manufacturers don't need a lot of people to be innovative or creative. They only need a few, but they can't make new products without those people. China steals ideas from the US and then manufacturers them cheaply. China then sells those products all over the world. Without the US, China loses it's biggest market and it's source for new innovation. Anyway, manufacturing is moving back to America. Business owners have found that Americans are much more productive. An American worker may cost 4 times what a Chinese worker does, but he produces 3 times more in the same time period. If you factor in transportation costs, and cost of doing business (reliability of production, shipping costs), it is better to produce in America. Just wait until we have 5 million illegals made citizens. We will have plenty of cheap labor. Bye Bye China!

I think what Sky Surf is implying is that our current economy was supposed to thrive on the Creation of technology and science. Unfortunately, this is not happening since our students under perform those in other countries for various reasons.

@Guest If what you imply is the way for us to get ahead, we will pretty much all be hating life. Have you paid any attention to the lifestyle of the average Chinese? Many of the workers are committing suicide constantly from being overworked. So you are saying we should live like that? Import so many immigrants that our standard of life will be comparable to that of 3rd world countries. Please do more research.

Our only chance at maintaining a solid lifestyle and prominent position in the world is with science, technology and math. To be pre-eminent in these arenas we would have to hit them hard. Unfortunately, our latest bent towards socialism/communism will likely continue our focus on moving standards down as opposed to up.

Another very important thing to remember is that not all students are still in school when they are seventeen and taking those international tests. Here in the US, at least, we try to keep most students in the system until they have received a high school diploma, so our students' abilities and background knowledge are all over the map, while those Chinese students are destined for universities and have been on an academic track for years. They are also skilled in the "memorize and recite" format of the tests. Of course they're going to do well!

Personally, I do best with online/distance learning, sitting in a quiet library, and teaching myself from books. I'm a visual/kinesthetic learner but also introverted. I've taught myself advanced math and chemistry from books and just showed up for the tests and aced the classes. I hate being in a classroom and having someone parrot back to me the information I just read in a book the night before. Learning is the student's responsibility. The teacher should be there to enforce and guide but ultimately the onus is on you. I hated school but have enjoyed college, the online portion of it :)

A truly good teacher can do great things, I've seen it first hand. They can motivate, inspire and show you things in a light that would never have seen on your own. Unfortunately, the impetus for most teachers is not on teaching. It's not their fault, the system isn't set up to reward good teaching.

Attitude towards learning is not discussed here, but extremely relevant. My guess is that a variety of teaching methods would work in China, or any country where education is seen by the masses as a means to a better life. We take education for granted in the U.S. and most of our young people don't equate their educational learning experience with their future earning potential. If they did, any system would work.

There is a huge factor that will determine whether any kind of teaching is going to be effective or not - and that is the behavioral norms of the students in the class.

If students are not willing to pay attention or take notes, direct instruction is just a teacher talking and nobody listening.

If students are motivated - either by a desire to learn, or a desire not to be punished by their parents when they fail a quiz or test - they pay attention.

The teacher and the teaching methods used are only part of the equation, and yet that simple fact is constantly ignored by these :studies".

Another factor is exactly who is taking these tests. In the US, all students take the same standardized tests. We've mostly done away with tracking, and even students with learning disabilities often take the same tests. But yes, behavioral and motivational differences are huge.

At most schools, over 90% of the disciplinary issues are caused by less than 10% of the students. Can you imagine how much more instructional time there would be if that 10% were removed so they couldn't disrupt the learning environment?

Absolutely right. However, our society doesn't want to address this issue, probably because our society makes no allowances for those who are disruptive, even those who are disruptive on a regular basis.
Society has failed to come up with an alternative place for these children. They cannot be kicked out of a public school unless they display a weapon. There are no places for them to go outside of the school system.
If the behavior is repetitive and serious enough, and there is enough paperwork that has accumulated, the student MAY eventually be sent to a guidance counselor. Parents may be called, conferences held, etc. Unfortunately, even parent notification and conferences rarely result in a satisfactory outcome, since (1) parents expect the school to handle it, or (2) the parents themselves are at the root of the problem, or (3) the parents don't follow through with helpful hints that the teacher provides.
In other cultures, students are brought up to value education and view it as a privilege. In our culture, too many students view their education is as chore that has little meaning. Maybe our students lack the maturity to realize the opportunity they are given while in other countries the students are aware of the importance of being successful in school.

Great teachers get great results. But not with every kid. There are some kids that simply don't want to learn, because most of the classes are boring and uninteresting. But our educational system refuses to accept that. One of the biggest problems is, there's little incentive to learn. Adults see it as a child's job, just as their job is to make money to support their family. But children don't want a job, especially one that consumes their entire day. When you're a kid, all we see is people forcing us to do things we don't like, and you're not going to get great results when you're forcing kids to do things they don't like. So work on making education interesting. That's the only way to increase kids learning better.