Since a lot of our
Upper West Side tutors help students in the sciences, we thought we'd share this article about whether or not we are meeting the standards for scientific literacy.
According to the Programme For International Student Assessment (Pisa), the United States of America places itself at the 17th place in 2010 on the yearly educational rating list provided by Pisa. The article below was published by the Guardian in the UK on December, 7 2010.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/dec/07/world-education-rankings-maths-science-reading
As you can see we are parked behind accelerating nations in the east such as China, South Korea, Singapore and Japan. We are especially behind when it comes to mathematics, in which we are below the average. This raises the important question: Are we not scientifically advanced enough? If so, what are we going to do to turn this around. Currently, more people in South Korea have access to internet than we have here in the US. Europe is the leading continent in developing their railway system and they invest far more capital in green energy than we do. The fastest computer in the world you will currently find in China.
If we want to stay competitive on a global plane, the educational system has to improve in our country. The most important intervention has to occur in the public primary and secondary schools. These are the schools that prepare our future generations for college. It is pretty clear that something has to happen if we don't want to end up at an even lower position next year. The emerging markets in Asia are accelerating, do we really want to stay behind and just watch?
