Thanks for sharing. The post breaks down the education shortcoming in the US as one of mainly demographics:
> In other words, whenever someone says, “American schools are failing,” what they really mean is “American blacks and Hispanics score worse than Europeans and East Asians.”
The difference is then attributed to "culture" of the various groups. The post correctly points out differences due to family structure that affect a child's academic potential. But it kind of punts on the educational system being part of that culture:
> Education is not a system. It is not a technique. It is a culture. American education is only as strong as American culture. Systematizing educational techniques cannot take the place of the family values that make for a healthy child and the national values that make for a healthy adult.
I know we can do better and see us going in the wrong direction. Schools are less focused on basic outcomes like how many kids can read and do basic math, and more focused on battling in the culture wars. They forgot the purpose of schools and admitted defeat. Instead of elevating the "culture" that promotes knowledge discovery and curiosity, they resigned to being indifferent.
The last paragraph has certainly not aged well (written in 2017):
> The American Idea equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome. That should be the goal of all American Policy whether it be Income or Education.
https://jameslate.medium.com/america-leads-the-world-in-educational-opportunity-378385dece58
Thanks for sharing. The post breaks down the education shortcoming in the US as one of mainly demographics:
> In other words, whenever someone says, “American schools are failing,” what they really mean is “American blacks and Hispanics score worse than Europeans and East Asians.”
The difference is then attributed to "culture" of the various groups. The post correctly points out differences due to family structure that affect a child's academic potential. But it kind of punts on the educational system being part of that culture:
> Education is not a system. It is not a technique. It is a culture. American education is only as strong as American culture. Systematizing educational techniques cannot take the place of the family values that make for a healthy child and the national values that make for a healthy adult.
I know we can do better and see us going in the wrong direction. Schools are less focused on basic outcomes like how many kids can read and do basic math, and more focused on battling in the culture wars. They forgot the purpose of schools and admitted defeat. Instead of elevating the "culture" that promotes knowledge discovery and curiosity, they resigned to being indifferent.
The last paragraph has certainly not aged well (written in 2017):
> The American Idea equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome. That should be the goal of all American Policy whether it be Income or Education.
Yeah it's a flawed piece. But the main takeaway I got was that white and Asian America are performing really-really well (https://www.unz.com/isteve/the-new-2018-pisa-school-test-scores-usa-usa/) and to say that their whole system is rotten to the core just isn't true.