More interesting to note is how well Asian children do in the same schools compared to American children.


>>>We've also raised the stakes on what we're teaching at what age. To give one example, when my parents went to school, some kids took algebra in high school, others had it in college, and many had no algebra at all. When I went to school, algebra was a high school course, with a few kids getting started in 8th grade. Today, most good students get some algebra in middle school. The same applies in many other subjects as well.
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>>Geesh, 35 years ago, I started learning multiplication in the 3rd grade. Now they don't start until 4th grade. Our algebra started in 8th grade if you were advanced, otherwise 9th grade. No algebra in High School is just plain shameful. Not everyone can perform at the same levels, agreed, but ever school does have high achievers who should not be penalized by a lack of proper advanced subjects or advanced track. We actually had to submit a petition with enough students to make a second year Biology class. The school's lame excuse was it would have competed with the Band class. Say what? The Biology teacher was definitely not the Band instructor.
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>I think much can be learned by compare the performance of students from the US with their counter parts from around the world. Particularly comparison from the Japanese, Koreans and the Chinese. If you look at the results, it make you wonder how US remains the leader of the world in anything.