By Fareed Zakaria
Arguably the most important and innovative idea proposed by President Obama in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night was his call for high-quality, universal pre-school education.
“Every dollar we invest in high-quality early childhood education can save more than seven dollars later on, by boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, even reducing violent crime,” Obama said. “In states that make it a priority to educate our youngest children…studies show students grow up more likely to read and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, form more stable families of their own.”
He’s right. Most Americans would be surprised to learn that the United States now does worse in terms of social mobility than many European countries – especially those in Scandinavia – as well as Canada. What does this mean in practice? It means that a poor child born in the United States is much more likely to remain poor than one born in Canada or Denmark.
The Pew Charitable Trust’s Economic Mobility Project found last year, for example, that “more than 40 percent of Americans raised in the bottom quintile of the family income ladder remain stuck there as adults, and 70 percent remain below the middle.” OECD research, meanwhile, found that while “at least 40 percent of the economic advantage that high-earnings fathers have over low-earnings fathers is transmitted to their sons,” the comparable figure for Nordic countries, Canada and Australia was less than 20 percent.
More from CNN: Reduce poverty by promoting schools
The main reason for this, I believe, is that many of the countries with higher mobility invest a great deal in children of all backgrounds, early in their lives, in terms of daycare, nutrition and education. And what the research increasingly shows is that if a child has missed out in the first few years of life in terms of nutrition, in terms of attention that adults pay to them, in terms of cognitive stimulation, then it is very difficult for them to catch up because they have been so disadvantaged – some of them neurologically. Countries with strong programs for the very young, in contrast, tend to have an advantage.
But such investment doesn’t just bring dividends for individual children – it also means there is much less of a burden placed on the school system. In the United States, many schools find themselves overstretched as they try to cope with the educational and behavioral problems of children that were severely disadvantaged from the outset.
So the answer, at least in theory, seems pretty clear – significant investment in early childhood health and welfare. The question, of course, is how do you do this in a smart way? That is why it is worth looking at some of the programs that have worked in Scandinavia, Canada, and even the United States. And this need not be a partisan issue in America. It might surprise some to hear that one of the most effective (and some might say European-style) models for early education comes from the deeply Republican state of Oklahoma.
It’s true that previous attempts at education reform such as Head Start have had mixed results, and we should examine why. But in taking this issue on, the president has gotten to the heart of America’s inequality problem.
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For many generations now there is talk by all , including presidents and their wives ,about improving the US educational system but more and more illiterates are being graduated from our high schools or with no skills of any kind in a society that puts emphasis on college education . Where will the jobs come for this mass of overeducated humanity ? We have at least 24 million unemployed now and our economy is sinking ,countrary to the lies the media spreads weekly. Don't we need plumbers, tool makers ( if the offshored jobs ever return ), AC repairmen ? Less talk and more action on all fronts is what this country needs.
"Contrary to the lies the medias spreads weekly". No, our economy is absolutely not sinking. What is sinking is any notion of the equality that we once had. Corporate profits are breaching all-time highs, and yet virtually none of it is "trickling down" to the common people who actually make it happen. Our productivity levels are near the highest in the world, and, again, the common people get no benefit from it. But according to Republicans, this isn't a problem, the problem is all of these worthless, mooching, losers who can't take care of themselves. "Losers" who work 40+ hours a week at close to minimum wage, and can barely make enough to keep their head above water, while making their employers millions. Millions that are then written off to some tax loophole or another so that they don't have to give anything back to the society they are abusing for their own profit.
Well said, JonR. The rallying cry of independence, working hard, etc., is used to distract people from the basic unfairness of the current situation. The system is rigged to prefer those who grow up rich and with connections, and working hard no longer has much of anything to do with whether you succeed or not.
Your employer riskes his money (not yours) and pays you a salary attempting to make a profit. Some make it and some lose all they have and go bankrupt. You take no risk, you just do your work and draw your salary. So when one of the entrepreneurs does make a go of his company and gets rich you feel like you deserve a piece of his investment. It is obvious you have swallowed hook line and sinker the garbage the democratic party is spouting. If you want the big bucks invest your own, motrgage your home, your childrens future and borrow all you can. You say you don't have it to invest, get the contracts to sell your product and the bank will loan you as much as you need. Stop crying, some people are just unwilling to risk everything on their ideas and want the secure job.
The "Losers" that repubs are talking about are the people who are sitting on there buts and collecting check after check from the goverment. And the goverment gets that money from the "Winners" that are putting 40+ hours a week.
The uneducated, illiterates are often not capable of doing much more than working at low end jobs like dishwashing and other unskilled manual labor jobs. These are not the AC repairmen, tool makers or plumbers, which require high school level skills (whether they got the diploma/GED or not) and special training.
The unskilled manual labor jobs are largely gone to automation, so there is almost nothing for those without basic education.
When it comes to education, there must be a cultural honor component. Does a society honor the effort of obtaining a diploma or degree? Many ideals are just notions, until there is a stable and honorable environment. For example, it may be tough to convince anyone about the existence of water, if we lived in the middle of the sun. Observed system stability and physical law are dependent on one another. Chaos has an effect on law.
Abraham was a man of great honor and worthy. This is why he was chosen and I am inspired by his honor. This honor is most prevalent in Mohammed.
Yes, let us all honor this caravan-raider, this torturer, this peodophile, this example of the perfect Muslim man.
I will step in on this one as a good example of a cultural clash. The west has done away of the concept of honor since it includes the notion of rank and priviledge conferring power and a defining concept of the European asristocratic culture that the nation rebelled against and still stands apart from. Also tied up in the concept of honor is a moral and ethical code that JAL is referring to and best embodied by virtuous religious figures. Sadly the west has also moved away from valuing this as well as religion in favor of a moral laissez fair which is a reflection of an increasing individualism as opposed to a community mindset. This is disturbing in that what replaces it is a cult-like phenomenon where popular individuals despite all of their flaws take the place of religious ones as cultural icons to be emulated. Deterioration of civil behavior must then inevitably ensue which leads to disturbingly ugly posts like the one by doughnuts. For example the honor code emphasizes respect for individuals (and often more respect for individuals of privilege which includes elders for their perceived wisdom) which is something glaring lacking in the post by doughnuts and many many others.
Indeed inequality is a potential time-bomb, which can spark social unrest. Better go for mediocrity than creating disparities, in which a small elite outshines the masses.
America can't learn anything from anyone. Time to give up and turn the country over to people who can. Americans need to be herded like cattle.
America has plenty of flaws, empress; however, anyone who speaks freely in this world should thank Americans for the privilege; because it is the US that has to come out and sort out all the idiocy perpetrated by Europe, Africa, the Middle East, etc. I’m in favor of the US fixing its wagon by sitting back and spending the money on it’s local issues, versus attempting to solve the problems of the rest of the moron world.
agree. but then it has been world leader for ages. if it quits, the power vacuum could lead to chaos.
You could start by getting the government and state out of the education.. Actually, America can get their heads out of their a$$es and realize that the government has wrecked education system...
I don't agree that getting the government out of education is the problem. If the governments of other nations can run education well, then it seems to me that gov't is not the problem. What the issue I see is that this insistent need for private schools. What we need is to invest more in education and cut some back in the MIC.
The US already spends more per student than every industrialized nation except Switzerland - over $91K between the ages of six and fifteen, yet gets worse results than many countries that spend much less.
The issue is not "investing" in education, it's getting bang for the buck that we do spend. While we bemoan the near-illiterate state of our high school and college students, let's not forget that our current set of teachers came from this same population. There's nothing magical about an education degree that separates it from the other grade-inflated degree programs that move the unworthy through the system without really teaching the student anything. In the old days we called this "the blind leading the blind."
Rather than standards for students we should be demanding standards for the teachers. Putting three children through what is a very good school system locally still opened my eyes to the quality of education been delivered for our tax dollars. Emphasis on touchy-feely concepts like self-esteem and other Ed. School favorites in favor of the Three R's are what's got us to where we are now.
The lessons we can learn from other countries is not what they do, but how they do it. I'll bet Switzerland doesn't worry about their students' self-esteem as much as whether they know the material.
After resigning from higher education five years ago I have come through various channels to agree with the following Washington Post statement written by a high school teacher as a warning to university professors: "During my years in the classroom I tried to educate other adults about the realities of schools and students and teaching. I tried to help them understand the deleterious impact of policies that were being imposed on our public schools. I blogged, I wrote letters and op-eds for newspapers, and I spent a great deal of time speaking with and lobbying those in a position to influence policy, up to and including sitting members of the US House of Representatives and Senate and relevant members of their staffs. Ultimately, it was to little avail, because the drivers of the policies that are changing our schools—and thus increasingly presenting you with students ever less prepared for postsecondary academic work—are the wealthy corporations that profit from the policies they help define and the think tanks and activist organizations that have learned how to manipulate the levers of power, often to their own financial or ideological advantage."
As a current secondary teacher, I appreciate your efforts. I agree with your perception completely. While I do believe that I have one of the most important jobs in this country, I also am subject to so many mandates created by individuals who have no education experience. After 19 years, my students' abilities have diminished not because of education's failures but as a direct result of society. I am asked to teach ALL students-students who have learning deficits, socio-economic disparities, social issues, second language learners, inadequate support at home...... I still love my job; however, I am intelligent enough to realize that ALL students can learn, they just don't learn at the same pace. Comparing our students to those of other countries is assanine; the education structure isn't the same. The pressure to pass students and to have high graduation rates is ever-present. Heaven forbid I tell a parent that his daughter is "average." Society has created this monster of "everyone succeeds" and "everyone gets a trophy." That sends a distorted view of life to kids.
I continue to teach, though, because I am idealistic in that I hope I make a difference, if even for only a few.
Ah, the fault lies with the wealthy corporations again! Those very corporations that need the educated workforce, are clamoring for STEM graduates, lobbying for access to educated workers (Bill Gates, Zuckerberg, etc.) are working against their self interest just to spite public school teachers.
Don't fool yourself about Bill Gates. he is happy to import the educated workers he needs on visas from other countries. Meanwhile, in our own country, Applwe has set up grants for schools to have lots and lots of iPads. That sounds great, except that teachers are spending time that they should be spending teaching basic skills like reading and writing on teaching students how to use iPad apps. In order to master the apps, they use stripped down knowledge level information that doesn't improve their STEM skills in the least. All they are really doing is grooming hundreds and hundreds of students to WANT iPads and apps. It's just a huge money-making scheme! My children go to a school that was awarded the iPad grant this year. They were so excited that they were going to get to use iPads to learn math and science, but even my children will tell you the iPads don't help them learn skills; they just make school more "fun" and less boring. The teachers hate the iPads because they steal so much critical learning time too. It is a travesty. We are fortunate that I can afford to stay home and educate my children at home. They will not be returning to that elementary school next year.
George Carlin said it best
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/15/how-to-beat-inequality-2/#comment-364298
The Federal Government programs worked out well for the Indians, didn't they?
Availability of high quality preschool also helps the families of poor children. Parents are able to hold stable jobs without worrying about daycare. They can learn childcare skills by seeing how the professional staff works with their children. The books and other enrichment activities that the preschool children are exposed to can benefit their brothers and sisters. The ripples will go wide.
http://teachloveofreading.blogspot.com/
George Carlin on Youtube: George Carlin: The American Dream...
Just how many things do you not want to have to worry about? Childcare, school education, getting a job, getting a contraceptive......
Perhaps removing Unions and he Department of Education from schools would be better for our kids than to start overseas?
The Prek issue is valid but more so is the lack of time spent in instructional time. In NJ instructional time is only 5 hours and 38 minutes and the lenght of the day is 6 hours and 28 minutes. The educational system in the U.S. has been destroyed by teachers unions. Every week is a holiday, half day, snow days, delayed openings early dismissal. The fact is nowhere in the world do people educate thier kids this way and we have fallen to 23rd place an absolute educational disgrace. The time off is staggering at a full 16 weeks all to the detriment of our children.
Robert, you are absolutely correct. All of those countries mentioned...Scandinavia, and Canada, have school days that are about an hour longer, and a s chool year that is , at minimum, 30 days longer than the USA. In the USA, school days are short, and school years are REALLY short. About all a teacher in the USA can do is briefly explain a lesson, and then dump the real learning onto the child as homework. American children have far , far more homework than kids in those other countries.
Part of the solution would be to lengthen the school year but the teacher unions will fight tooth and nail to keep their 16 weeks of vacation. They obviously are not all that concerned about results.
The length of the school day and length of the school year have basically been the same for generation after generation. People seemed to get an education in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. What has changed is the amount of kids growing up neglected in poverty and broken homes. A kid who goes to school willing to learn will get an education. A kid raised by animals who refuses to give effort or behave won't learn, regardless if you keep him in the class for another hour a day or for another two months a year.
You do realize that the countries who perform best on international tests are those countries with strong teacher unions. Finland has a shorter school day and does not give government controlled, standardized tests. You need to get around more before you espouse your ill informed opinions on the rest of us.
RL- I lived and taught in Central America as well as here in the US. There were no teachers' unions, the schools were dirt poor and the students would run circles around the students here in the United States. Something is terribly wrong with what we are doing here. As far as I am concerned everything should be on the table, even removing unions.
Kathy,
I live in Germany. The German school day ends at 1 or 2 o'clock. There are 4-6 weeks breaks scattered throughout the year, including a "ski break" when the schools sponsor ski trips for the kids for a week. All high school students are required to take a course in Christianity. There are no band, no sports teams, no basket-weaving courses designed to "build self-esteem"
In the US school where I teach, students are in school an average of 193 days per year. The longest break during that time is 2 weeks in December. My opens on 22 August and finishes 17 June. It is forbidden to teach any religion in our school. My students take courses such as "Creative Thinking" Parents who have limited education are free to tell any teacher what they don't approve of.
So there are 50 minutes of down time per day? You do realize students need to eat, use the restroom, and maybe even get some recess...right? As far as your 16 weeks of "time off" is concerned, it sounds like you have no use for children being anywhere, ever, but inside a classroom. Maybe you believe they should spend the rest of their lives in a cubicle, with no wasteful "time off". You should try reading "Hard Times" by Dickens. You sound like Mr. Gradgrind.
The President's call for better pre-school education (it stops being "pre" when implemented doesn't it?) is a lot like his call for high speed passenger rail transportation. It might be a good idea to have good elementary and secondary education and good regular passenger rail service first.
In my opinion by improving preschool and kindergarten, the other grades will naturally improve. It is difficult to improve from the top down, since and improved high school or middle school will have to put in extra effort to make up for the shortcomings that already exist. Yet, if you improve from the bottom up, the middle and high school levels will already have a solid foundation to build off of. It is like building a house. Do you start with the roof, or the foundation?
Lets not forgot all of the countries that route their kids into professions at a very early age. They assess the kids, and then drop them into a proven path and essentially SEGREGATE the kids into social buckets. You guys are the plumbers, you're the doctors, you're the janitors, etc... But not here in America...noooo, EVERYONE is reduced to the pace/ability of the lowest common denominator so that EVERYONE passes and gets a shot at being President.
That's simply not true. Countries don't "segregate" kids at an early age, they simply expose them to different disciplines and then they can choose what they like. At least that's the system in Western Europe. Let's face it, America has been behind Western Europe and Canada in social mobility for a while, so this whole argument that "anyone can become anything in America" is just a worn out cliche that isn't even true anymore.
Our country's oft touted embrace of the ideals of social mobility and equality could become compromised by the widely held beliefs that the overall economic pie will continue to shrink and that the rich can only get richer at the expense of the middle class.
The United States won't learn anything from anyone until we stop believing the greatest country in the world fantasy.
It would be interesting to see US education statistics compiled by state. Many US states might be ranked as high as the best performing countries.
Part of it comes from the culture. Here we seem to value those who can put a ball in a round hoop or catch an oblong object, rather than math and science teachers. Places like Korea have an ingrained culture that the teacher is at the same level as a king, and father. However, before all is doom and gloom, the United States is still the place where most foreign parents would want their child to go to University. If you asked a parent in nearly any corner of the world, would you rather have your son/daughter study at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, Cal Tech, Duke, etc. as oppose to the universities in their country, I can bet that you will have 100% response of yes. The problem mainly is we need to have more Jaime Escalante's (stand and deliver) and less of the Judd Hirsch's character from "Teachers". Where simply passing kids through the system equates to doing their job. It also has to do with how a family (parents) view education, children will rise to the level of expectation.
I have background in education but not very much in PreK. My question I imagine is not super complex, and I think Fareed kind of addressed it here. Since his address, the president and the media have said that those who attend preschool do better in the long run and contribute more to our economy. I can't and won't debate that.
My question however, is whether or not preschool is the determining factor. I would imagine that on average those who go to preschool also come from more stable home environments with parents who invest more into their learning. In these situations, I would guess that their are several factors that contribute to a child's growth, not JUST preschool.
I am not attacking the president's plan, but at first glance I don't see it being the silver bullet it is being sold as.
Thoughts?
There could be an argument as well that less pre school and more direct time with parents before kindergarden would result in a child doing better in th elong run.
I agree with what you say. There is some very interesting research I read a while back about the challenges of education in a diverse environment. The long story short is that in addition to having resources like early education, you also need the willing participation of the families being educated. Families that find other ways to survive outside of mainstream American life have to be approached differently and invited to participate, not as outsiders but as co-owners of the system. Too much to post here, thanks for adding intelligence to this conversation.
I like the idea of high-quality, universal pre-school education, however you need to upgrade the public school system before that can work.
My kids had 1 and 2 years of pre school. When they got into kindergarden where bored and unchallenged. During many talks with the teachers involved it was made clear to me that "our system is designed for kids who do not go to pre school" thsu kids who do are bored and misbehave.
I have a niece who is an elementary school teacher. She graduated with honors after receiving a full scholarship to college. She was awarded teacher of the year during her first year of teaching 4th grade. She has been teaching for 5 years. She gave it up last year and became a librarian. The reason? Parents and the administrators who sided with them. Parents who insisted that she give out A grades for lackluster work and administrators who were petrified that if she didn't pass every kid in her class, they would lose government funding and grants. She was threatened with not only her job but in one parent's case, being sued because she made a child sit out of a game the class was playing because of the child's behavior with the other children. The stress level she endured may have contributed to a miscarriage of her first child. The reason other countries have much better educational statistics is that children are expected to do their absolute best when they are in school and nothing less will do. You bring dishonor on your family in many Asian countries if you go to school poorly prepared and those teachers are not afraid to do their jobs. Parents also don't demand that children receive a grade for poorly executed work. Americans for too many years have spent their time telling children that "you're special simply because you're you". Now we are reaping the rewards with an educational system that is in the toilet, adults that are poorly prepared to enter the adult world and a economy that will never thrive until we can get past all the years of expectations that every child will enter an Ivy League school, graduate with top honors and get the corner office with the million dollar view immediately out of college. This country was built on the backs of immigrants who were not afraid to get their hands dirty. Unfortunately, no one these days wants to get their hands dirty and that's why we are falling apart.
Your description of your neice's experience is worth a thousand ACCURATE words. I teach, and I know first-hand that what you stated is true. At times, I wonder why each individual on the tv reality show "The Biggest Loser" doesn't lose weight at the same rate, why they can't all be in the same physical condition at the end of the series, and why they don't have 150 contestants (that's the number of students I have a day) at the same time. This is what society seems to deem appropriate/reasonable in a classroom setting.
I agree so much with what you say. My wife is a teacher too and we talk about this a lot. The fact is, everybody is afraid to get sued. Being so, school is NOT what we remember as kids. Researchers at the University of Purdue identified the precursors that lead to intrinsically motivated students. In research I conducted among close to sixty teachers and staff in a large elementary school, not ONE class room used any of those few factors. In fact, this "normal" school was devoid of any factors that lead to intrinsic motivation. I spoke with my wife about these concerns and she pointed out the matter of law suits. Teachers are VERY educated, but often times have their hands tied with regard to doing what they know will work.
As long as we keep paying people to be irresponsible, they will be irresponsible. As the article says – mixed reviews of Head Start's results.
When Vietnam fell, the US allowed many of them to enter this country (by the way they jumped ahead of the line). They did not speak English. They did not know a whole lot about the history of culture of this country. They were for the most part poor. Because they were poor, their children attended some of the worst performing schools in the state they lived in. Yet many of their children not only graduated high school but went on to get college degrees. How did that happen?
Just why does Farid not mention residential segregation and consequent school segregation where kids from poor families are forced to go to substandard schools of inner city? Not allowing these poor kids to go to better schools in other neighborhood and get exposed to the things middle class and rich students learn and do would do a lot to remove the intergenerational perpetuation of poverty. But no, the democrats just want to seal the fate of a child born in the wrong neighborhood. A preschool in the wrong neighborhood will be just as bad as the K-12 in that neighborhood and will do nothing to get these kid out of poverty
It starts with how engaged the PARENT(S) are. If a child isn't receiving encouragement at home to excel in school, no amount of early education will overcome that. In some societies, education is more highly valued than it is in America. In America, I suspect a surprising percentage of parents would like to see their kids to excel at basketball more than math.
I have to agree because middle class and upper class parents know and understand the value of engaging their child from the moment they are in the world. They talk with their children, read them stories, take them to the zoo and the museum (building schema), and encourage their children to explore and learn at every opportunity. Consequently, their children are exposed to the richness of spoken language, better understand how language, sentence structure and syntax are formed, and they have better vocabularies. These children are prepared to learn well before their pre-k year of age. A child growing up in poverty will typically encounter few spoken and read words on a day to day basis. Children in poverty frequently do not have access to books at home and don't always make it to a library. Their parents are more likely to be functionally illiterate themselves, and therefore have a low opinion of the value of education, which feeling may be inadvertently transferred to their children. Are their children able to learn? Absolutely! All kids can learn. However, given the deficit of language and enrichment that exists in these children by age 3, long before they begin pre-school, they would still have a lot to overcome. I believe the "mixed" results of head start are due to the differences in the expectation and ability to read and learn of the parents whose children participate in the program. Those parents who themselves are better able to read, learn, and communicate are more likely to produce children who are like them. Those who are at the lowest end of the ability spectrum, and often they are the same people at the lowest end of the socio-economic spectrum as well,are likely to produce children more like themselves. Consider this...a four year old child in an upper middle-class family is likely to have a larger vocabulary than a PARENT living in poverty. Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself:
http://www.gsa.gov/graphics/pbs/The_Early_Catastrophe_30_Million_Word_Gap_by_Age_3.pdf
http://www.equalsoc.org/uploaded_files/publications/BeckerSocialdisparitiesinchildrensvocabulary.pdf
There were no preschools or kindergarten in the 50's. There was no Department of Education then either. Yet the education recieved then is far better than it is today. Even with the rulers across the knuckles for misbehaving. The problems we have today are with society, family and personal values, not schools.
I'll respectfully disagree Dean, at least in part. It's true that people have adapted. Modern life has many more resources for getting what one needs without having to go through the education system to get it. We have been successful and basic survival is not too hard here; food, water, shelter and s*x. It IS the job of school and society at large to teach children to aspire to more than those base level needs. Unfortunately, we the people are failing. It's OUR job. Children will not teach themselves to aspire to higher order thinking.
I would like to have access to this research.
Asachildofthe late 50's and 60's, the United States were theleaders of the world technology. Our schools taught "old math" and we had a prosperous economy. In fact, the majority of ourconsumer goods, from TVs to refriderators, were manufactured right here. But then your liberal progressives and unions started corrupting our school systems ad legislation and we have become a second string shadowof our former self. And now comes Farid Zakaria with yet another Euro-Progressive idiology? FUFZ
Throwing money at the problem really doesnt solve the underlying problem of parents just not caring about their kids education. Have a child come into school at cant even read their own name says a great deal about the home life of that child.
Another worthless article. Zakaria just gives the same old excuses, and recommendations that work only in states with predominantly white populations, like Oklahoma.
"It’s true that previous attempts at education reform such as Head Start have had mixed results, and we should examine why."
No "mixed results", Head Start is a complete $150 failure over every decade your cowardly politicians have been willing to waste your money in (http://blog.heritage.org/2010/01/15/head-start-a-150-billion-failure/ ). The reasons why are known but it is politically incorrect to discuss them – such as the catastrophic illegitimacy rate, especially the nearly 75% rate among African Americans, and all that entails. There is also the very significant & persistent IQ gap that correlates with the persistent black – white academic gap but that, of course, is NEVER to be discussed. The only thing really discussed is how much more of your tax payer money is to be wasted.
We are #1!
We are #1!
being #1, obviate the need for us to understand any of the other numbers.
The same is now happening in some European countries where social disparity becomes evident. The kids from lower income areas have disadvantages in getting access to better education. Learning a trade is not always a solution as jobs become rare. Unions have never been a problem in most European countries. Teachers are valued much higher than in the US. Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark have systems totally alien to the US, especially Finland. Educational systems closer to the US system have more or less failed as well, for example Germany. It is absolutely ridiculous that an apprentice for a Bakers' job in Germany now requires a high graded High School diploma. 20 years ago becoming an apprentice was based on hands-on skills. So, where does that leave the 60% of kids in Germany that do not get a high school diploma, because they attend trade school? Jobless, helpless and frustrated. The selection to become a 'employed citizen' in Germany is decided in 4th, latest in 5th grade. After that you are just following the preset tracks. There is not much chance to change your fate. Many kids from poor families do not have access to higher education. Despite the common claims, it is not for free and many cannot afford the expense. Many more just do not have access to the system. Go to France and see similar things, or to the UK. If the US wants to make a difference it is only possible through common effort in society as a whole. Government needs to take a leading role, but in the US such a thing is doomed because of the construct of the 'USA'. That is an issue Nordic countries don't have to deal with, or South Korea.
Other countries will give students poor grades and may actually fail them!
Can you imagine the horror and chaos that comes from having to earn a grade?
The main problem in the US is that schools push students into academic paths only, not technical ones. In Europe, where I live, Czech Republic to be exact, once you leave what we Americans call junior high (about 8th-9th grade) high school branches out into several different options, such as technical school, health school, business school, hospitality school, IT school, labour school, and university-aimed school. I had consistent problems with math at my high school in Virginia, did well in other subjects, but in the end dropped out in the 11th grade simply because I couldn't advance to my senior year, got discouraged with it all and went to work, which I enjoyed (I did return to school in terms of university, which, while I was again facing MATH, was sucessful in the long run and completed a BA in Social Work after finishing my military hitch) but I still think if I had gone to a school that didn't require subjects that were so baffling, namely math, I could have began university earlier, although I am quite happy with my career I have now, a writer and journo, but I did waste a lot of time before it. I challenge the concept of "European schools are communistic", so strongly flogged by the GOP types, and simply ask, why is it that European nations, such as the enemy of the Republicans, France, do so much better with quality of life statistics? Yes, there is unemployment in Europe, certainly, but the protests you see in Spain, Greece and elsewhere are not because of where they are now, but out of fear they'll turn into another America, with no health care for so many, no pensions, no workplace safety, soaring crime and destruction of the middle class. Make no mistake about it, the Republicans want to reestablish what was fact for so long, people who are poor, sick and powerless. Don't let that happen.
Parents have a responsibility to demand a quality education for their children... which is work and involves a lot personal time and energy directed towards that goal. At least that is what my wife and I found raising our children. We even went to the point of having been a part of an "insurrection" which resulted in several teachers being fired for incompetence. Parents can't just sit back and assume that their children are being well-served by their local educational system.
The main reason other countries can provide more opportunity for all citizens to get ahead is because they tax wealth, not just wages. They also maintain a minimum wage above the poverty line and provide universal health care. The children of poor Americans are pretty screwed from the day they are born, and will continue to be until we start taxing the rich again.
Ray Meyer, Colorado
Our neglect of early childhood education in America is the reverse side of our attention to less worthy things (We can all name a half-dozen without much prompting.), a clear choice stemming from VALUES. There's lots of research about the number of words that children enter kindergarten with. Those who've been read to and talked often have thousands more words that kids who have been babysat by a TV and pretty much left to themselves. Do they ever catch up? That's almost impossible. Mr. Obama would have done well to cite some of the eventual consequences of this deprivation. Again, research findings. Head Start has been treated like a throw-away program by Congress for 10+ years. It needs to be funded like Medicare. Essential. Something we all agree we can't do without! You don't know enough about Head Start? Read the research about it. Kids entering kindergarten after participating show all the earmarks of their more privileged peers. Create a better program if you can. But here's where we can begin. Just put more funding in. Oversight? Sure. Accountability? Go for it. But what we cannot afford is to study the alternatives while millions of kids get stuck without the help they need right now.
"in taking this issue on, the president has gotten to the heart of America’s inequality problem" ....
hardly that, fareed, hardly that. why stop at pre-school? why not look at how much being born to a healthy family with a healthy set of parents providing a healthy amount of care, involvement, safety, nutrition, and attention affects future earnings potential. you will be amazed at what you find – i promise you. and, to lead you to your most likely conclusion once the evidence has dawned on you, why not impound every newborn immediately after birth and throw them all into baselined, centrally controlled incubators at least until they graduate high school, just to level the playing field for everyone?
This article ignores the importance of a strong family life to the success of any child. More and more, we expect our schools to take the place of the family as the caretakers of children. If a child has a single, unwed mother, or there are substance abuse problems in the home or other social problems, the child has a much lower chance of success, regardless of the educational system. Blaming lack of mobility solely on the educational system is shortsided and ignores the true cause of our society's difficulties: the disintegration of the family.
Our education system is fine. If kids want to learn, they have the opportunity. The problem is we have huge groups of people who don't value education. The water is there, if the horses don't want to drink it.........well, the world needs ditch diggers.
Most of the kids having trouble in school have parents, usually single parents, who can't be bothered to make sure they get to school every day, and on time. They don't make them do homework. They don't teach them any social skills. They allow them to run wild at every public event they take them to. Too many children in America today are simply wild animals wearing clothing. (I know that is not politically correct to say.) But teachers do try to tame the kids and teach them something. Sometimes they are even successful at it. They get paid low salaries to do so and are insulted by parents and politicians at every turn. I have no idea why anyone would want to be a teacher in this country.
I read an article in Time magazine a few days ago as well as another article quoting a University of Texas psychologist Elliot Tucker-Drob study that say very HIGH quality preschool has been shown to make a difference in the most disadvantaged segment of children in the long run. However its effect on academic ability of middle to upper class children are much less. The scientists' opinion was that a bad home situation becomes a smaller problem when your kid goes to a GOOD preschool. When you have a good home environment, the preschool does not matter that much. By supporting universal preschool, you are essentially diluting the quality of the preschools spreading the scarce rescource to those who don't need it (middle to upper class families). In effect we are attempting to remove the underpriviledged children from their sperm/egg donors for maybe a few hours a day at least. And these children can get the 7 times benefit quoted. Sad but real. However such a program will not get broad political support because most people will not benefit from it. That is why politiician pushes for universal pre school to get voters' support, thus watering down any benefit the most needy can get.
In my personal experience it seems to be true. I am the primary teacher of my children pretty much throughout the elementary school years. They will not miss a thing from not attending preschool. They learned more from me than any school anyhow. Throwing money at them does not reap much benefit. Whereas I have seen so many children with no family support that those few hours might just give them a fighting chance.
I found that very sad and disappointing.
Translations.
UNIVERSAL PRESCHOOL:. We want the government to raise our 4-year olds and we will force parents to submit to this. It does not matter if the parents are caring, concerned, involved, and highly educated.
INVESTMENT: We will force parents to not only submit to this, but to pay for it.
TRANSFERENCE OF ECONOMIC ADVANTAGE: Children who grow up in healthier cultures grow up healthier. Those who grow up in sick sub-cultures are more likely to have problems in life and in achievement.
A SOLUTION: We will attempt to fix this by yanking all of the kids out of their homes and placing them in unnatural environments like 10 to 30 kids in a classroom with one adult for the entire day.
40% OF THE BOTTOM QUINTILE: 8%
Note that 60% of those raised in the bottom quintile do NOT stay there and 30% of them move to the top half of the economic distribution. That is amazing.
I'm all in favor of our society (not necessarily our government) doing things to help out the socially/economically/culturally disadvantaged, but forcing everyone into preschool is does not seem to be consistent, to me, with the freedom we want in this country. When it may hurt outcomes and lessen the positive influence of healthy families, it seems even more contrary to what is desired.
I experienced the following when I taught in high-school; it is so true – depending on the location of course. "In the United States, many schools find themselves overstretched as they try to cope with the educational and behavioral problems of children that were severely disadvantaged from the outset."
Your school should have initiated a good firearms training program for the kids. Teach them gun safety, and the fun of target practice and hunting techniques.
WHITE ON WHITE CRIME NEVER DISCUSS NEVER REPORTED ON BECAUSE OF WHITE RACISM IN AMERICA!!!!!
This is one area I am offended by President Obama. I was single father that took very good care of my son....He Graduated first in his class and today is working and marry and a father of a son. A grandson I love to death..... My mother has two brothers both have been marry over 50 years and are wonderful black fathers. My mother father worked 40 years at General Motor and 25 years at Reedman Motor......Marry 55 years to my beautiful grandmother ...to her death!.....There are great black fathers and I am one! During the 2008 election for President ,,,,Senator Obama address and demonize black fathers....Senator John McCain said NOTHING to white fathers.....The number of white deadbeat fathers are greater then of American fathers.
Also white women between the age of 13 to 35 have the highest numbers of abortion in America. 60% of white baby are born to white single mothers. 65 % of American receiving welfare are white! America has a problem...NOT JUST THE BLACK RACES!!!!!!!!!
White on white crime is destroying the very fabric of our nation and producing an entire class of white career criminals. While the media is quick to report every little statistic and/or event relating to the black on black crime phenomenon, the words “white on white crime” are spoken with a frequency of slim to none, and slim disappeared when he was two months old, murdered by his depressed mother, wrapped in plastic, and buried in the backyard.
Day in and day out we see the phenomenon of white crime in the news. A schizophrenic white mother kills her children because she thought that Jesus was talking to her through the can opener telling her she had to do it in order for them to make it to heaven. White kids arm themselves to the hilt with shotguns, assault rifles, and pistols in order to kill as many people as possible as part of their school project before they commit suicide. A couple of white guys who have spent a major portion of their lives in and out of jail are released and go to a posh neighborhood, murders a doctor’s wife and their two daughters and then sets the home on fire. A man holes himself up in a church one Sunday morning and starts trying to take out people who come to worship before being taken out by snipers. A white woman breaks into a home of the couple that adopts the baby that she surrendered to Child Protective Services. A wrestler murders his family before committing suicide himself. White people are too absorbed playing video games to feed their children. A white woman leaves her baby to die in the car left if the sun with the windows rolled tight because she wanted to get her hair done. White pedophiles attack little white children. White teachers have affairs with their ten year old students. Catholic ministers are assaulting their young parishioners. A white man commits treason and outs an American spy in order to score political points. All of these are instances of the always overlooked phenomenon of white on white crime.
Day after day our news bombards us with instances of crimes that receive local and national attention. Because white people in America are the dominating race rarely is the word white or European made in reference to a Caucasian that is the subject of a story. The anonymity of being the default keeps the fact that the phenomenon of white people committing crime as little more than a perchance event. Little stigma about their community as a whole is based on their individual actions. White people are given the benefit of the doubt that they are of good character and their integrity is above reproach unless or until proven otherwise. For many white people, even when they are proven to be of less than honorable character, people are still reluctant to perceive the criminal as a criminal. However, when the subject of the story is African, Hispanic, or some other ethnicity, the leap to the status of criminal is one very quick, short hop.
Indeed, many white people pay absolutely no attention to crime or other manifestations of less than decent behavior in their neighborhood until someone of another race arrives on the scene. Crime is a natural characteristic of people of color. In fact, William Bennett, who was the education secretary under Ronald Reagan, the drug czar under George Bush Sr. and a staunch Republican conservative, used his radio show to make the suggestion that if people wanted to reduce crime they could abort every black baby in the United States. However, although it might be reprehensible to some people and totally impossible to pull off, if one was truly interested in reducing crime to an even lower level here in the United States, all one has to do is abort every white baby and exterminate every white man and woman. But to seriously make such a suggestion invites ridicule, hatred, and possibly invoke the ire of some latent white criminals.
The white criminal mindset needs to quit hiding behind its generic veil of anonymity. If the various agencies that want to make sure people understand that people of color are committing crimes, then what is good for the goose is also good for the gander. White people need to be identified as contributors to the crime phenomenon at each and every time one of their clan makes their unfortunate choice. The term “white on white crime” needs to be bandied about at every applicable instance just as the term “black on black crime” is invoked in every applicable instance. Once we have the opportunity to be actively reminded of just how much the white on white crime happens in relation to its black on black crime counterpart, chances are we would see that black on black crime isn’t as out of hand as a lot of people would like to make it appear. Black on black crime is a problem and it needs to be confronted. But the fraud that black people are somehow more naturally prone to be criminals more so than good wholesome white people needs to be exposed for the racial propaganda it really is.
I am not an American hence I have no in depth knowlede on the issue and moreover no right to interfere.
So I will be takiing almost an eutopian approach to this issue. I love Ayn Rynd books, especially the "Atlas Shrugged". I have taken one principle from this book as a fundemental principle in my life: Whatever his/her capacity is, if a person fulfills his/her capacity, I respect him/her and take him/her as my equal. If he/she honestly aims to take action to fulfill his/her capacity I help him/her. If a person does not bother to do anything to improve himself and continues to live off other people, I disregard IT and leave it to be what it is.
This approach brings up a working and productive foundation while eleminating any differences.
However this may be only for personal use and can be extremely idealistic for nations.
Sorry if I can not express me'self or respond as quickly. However I moved out from İstanbul to the 6th largest city of Turkey. I just could not get my Istanbul telephone transferred to my recent address within this 20-25 day period although I went through the prosedures. Rural life in Turkey has its plusses and minuses and internet do not have the same speed with goat manure to make connections. But remembering that Romans did not last eternally since rural folkes could not come to the city center to vote and USA escaped breaking up just because railroad was founded...Well I hope you'll forget my speed in responding
What, exactly, is so "innovative" about this? It's not just an obvious "solution," but it's been tried unsuccessfully for decades now; the Head Start program is simply the most recent abject failure in this vein. It's all based on a patently absurd premise that, somehow (magically, I suppose), all people are equally intelligent and have the same potential.
No one likes to mention this but...Europe: majority white. USA: majority white but not at the 90%+ range. Listen, this is not a racist thing, but only a blind man/woman would not notice how there is a strong lack of educational drive in the African American and Hispanic communities, it is percieved to be white. Also, the Euro countries are majority one nationality, in the USA we have lots of variety, which means different factors. Howerver, point still stand, Europe > USA
Of course we should start out everyone as young as possible on welfare programs, so that the masses will be happy to be wards of the state. Any anxiety that you feel about this arrangement may be caused by the disadvantage of a behavioral problem. Try this new medication called Soma.
It isn't about the parents' education level, it isn't about how much money you throw into program after failed program. It is about FAMILY involvement. My wife's family in the Philippines where there are NO programs and families have to pay for each class and each test in a school that may be not much more than a few boards for walls and a sheet metal roof in some places. Yet they have a higher education rate than "first world" USA. Why?
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