by Zachary Z., 6th grader<\/p>\n
Many students in the United States did not score very well on recent international exams, particularly in math, science, and geography. That\u2019s according to a recent study by Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA, which ranked American students number 30 in math and a low 18 in reading. The United States has consistently been outranked in semi-annual exams by countries such as China, South Africa, Japan, South Korea, England, and France.<\/p>\n
I often wonder if that\u2019s because many students have trouble focusing in class and are not studying as much as they could be for tests and quizzes. Although the U.S. government\u2019s education system deserves some of the blame for these low test scores, more attention needs to be paid to how kids are being taught and how this is contributing to weak student skills. We should be reading more about what\u2019s going on in the world. For example, many people will hear on the news about something going on in South America, yet they do not even know where South America is. This becomes embarrassing to our country. People who move to the United States work hard to learn English, but many Americans who are already here may not even know where the country these immigrants are coming from is located. For example, if somebody from Argentina comes to the United States, they will work hard to learn English; however, many Americans do not know where Argentina is.<\/p>\n
In other countries, multiple languages are taught, and their citizens become fluent in more than one language. For example, in many African countries, they learn Swahili, Afrikaans, and English. In China, they have four big languages. They are Cantonese, Mandarin, Portuguese, and English. In America, many students are exposed to only one other language, likely it is Spanish. I say exposed because most Americans don\u2019t learn how to speak Spanish in elementary school; at best we are just exposed to pieces of the language.<\/p>\n
Recently, the Programme for International Student Assessment held an examination which many people from numerous different countries took. One question, probably the most embarrassing question for many Americans, was, \u201cWhat is the temperature in this image?\u201d The image showed a thermometer pointing to 81 degrees. Obviously, the answer is 81 degrees. However, guess what the most common answer from Americans was? Hot. That is proof that America is not doing enough to educate its citizens..<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s talk about the education issue. One reason why Americans score lower may be because \u00a0public schools are unionized. Unions are not necessarily a bad thing. However, what can happen is that teachers can go on strike causing students to be out of school. For example, take the Chicago teachers\u2019 strike in September, 2012. However, the larger problem with unionized works is that once teachers have tenure, some may not be as inclined to work so hard. Like I said before, unions are not a bad thing. Fieldston\u2019s teachers are part of a union. When was the last time you saw Fieldston\u2019s teachers strike?<\/p>\n