24 Countries That Have Smarter Children Than America

Business Insider ^ | 12/07/2010 | Gus Lubin

[Yulee]

Amen. Also, many children in some of the countries don't attend school, because the only education available is private and paid for by the parent. Of course if the parents have to pay, they are more interested in the outcome. I've always felt that US students were at a disadvantage in these report, simply as you state they only test their brightest, and we test everyone, even the learning disabled.

[achilles2000]

It hasn’t changed. PISA, however, isn’t part of NCLB. Participation would have to be voluntary by homeschoolers, which isn’t going to happen.

[achilles2000]

The overall percentage in France is about 10% and 6% in Germany. The numbers are lower elsewhere, but rising across Europe. Regarding the UK, your figure is off by more than an order of magnitude, but the percentage is below France, Germany, and some other countries.

Moreover, the fertility rates of the Mooselims exceeds that of the native population. Consequently, the number of students from Mooselim families significantly exceeds the Mooselim population as a percentage. In addition, the advanced European countries have seen a large influx from much poorer Balkan and Eastern European countries.

Leaving all of this aside, our best students have done worse in math and science comparisons than our average students. Moreover, as Thomas Sowell has pointed out, the ABSOLUTE number of students scoring above 600 and 750 on the SAT verbal tests declined by almost 50% from th e60s to the 90s. This is why the SAT was renormed in 1995 - to “hide the decline” ;-)

The main problem is the government school system.

[crusty old prospector]

I would like to see the standardized test. Science questions probably are concern climate change, polar bear extinction, green fuels, and social justice.

[OldDeckHand]

"Regarding the UK, your figure is off by more than an order of magnitude,"

Says you. You're entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.

United Kingdom Census 2001

The wiki page is well sourced with links pointing to the UK National Statistics website. If you have any documentation to prove that I'm "off by more than an order of magnitude", I'd love to see it.

[ConjunctionJunction]

:D

[achilles2000]

You wrote: “The UK, as an example, only has .025% Muslim population.”

Now, really, you should realize that .025% can’t possibly be right. The percentage as of today is probably just about 4.5% or so. But, note at the incredible rate of increase stated in the following Times article.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5621482.ece

I’m not trying to give you a hard time, but the Britain I knew when I lived there some years ago has largely ceased to exist because of a deliberate policy under Blair to “diversify” the population. Glad to be of service

[OldDeckHand]

"Now, really, you should realize that .025% can’t possibly be right"

Yes, that was a typo. It should have read, 2.50%, per the 2001 National Census figures.

[PghBaldy]

Your link says 3%, not 0.25%.

[achilles2000]

Fair enough. As you can see, the Mooselim population has increased almost 100% since 2001.

Thanks for the clarification.

[wardaddy]

Just anecdotal observation but having had my kids in a posh public school for 3-4 years in the Belle Meade-Green Hills area of Nashville where they used to bus in about 20% black inner city kids for “diversity balance and lottery based school choice” that the problems come from first these three issues:

1) No male head of household who has a genetic bond to the children...preferably the father or maybe grandfather and often it’s not the mom either but grandma and great grandma and aunts and zero stability at home.

2) Little or no parent involvement. We used to pay to come pick up the black adults in the home...for lack of better word...and with few exceptions they never wanted to be bothered with it. Stark contrast with white parents and most orientals and asians who were arguably at times a pain in the ass they were so involved....but being involved on balance is crucial...ask any teacher/principal

3) Ghetto culture...living in an environment where poor behavior is accepted and many things tolerated which are so detrimental to kids just kills them...it’s a shame and that fault like all of these lies squarely with those who encourage and tolerate it.

I do think that mean IQs play a part but that is another issue . The problem for now is just sub par performance in general. I have no experience with the large Mexican-Hispanic population here but they appear to do marginally better on these fronts but still lag.

One last note....the ghetto kids were exponentially disproportionately disruptive and took up a lot of administrative time.