By Ya

September 24, 2008 10:54 PM | Link to this

I would like listen to The news

By Worried DPS Parent

September 23, 2008 12:08 AM | Link to this

Oops… part of my last comment should read: “…do so at the tertiary (i.e. degree) level.”

By Worried DPS Parent

September 22, 2008 6:43 PM | Link to this

Laura: it seems to me that most all students who come here to further their education do so at the secondary (i.e. degree) level. And as for immigrants, I’m a Brit but I still got caught up in the whole “American Dream” ideal of the C18th & C19th immigrants but, I am sad to say, the luster of the US is slowly dulling for me through all of the political wrangling and mismanagement.

By Worried DPS Parent

September 22, 2008 3:53 PM | Link to this

Caught part of a repeat of the program last night. Very interesting, but I was tired from a long weekend and not really focusing, so am looking forward to catching it in a future re-run, or possibly buy the DVD. The program’s website is “http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wherewestand/”.

By Mary

September 22, 2008 2:52 PM | Link to this

Laura, because they want to immigrate into our country where the standard of living appears to be for the moment coasting on an extended high. But stay tuned for the possible great depression, etc. We appear to be coasting downhill - in part due to our education system helping dumb down our culture.

By School Supporter

September 20, 2008 9:03 PM | Link to this

Hi Laura, The show didn’t beat up on US schools too much, but pointed out other nations have improved faster. Example: the Finnish exchange student at Olentangy (just north of the Columbus beltway, 12,000 students, $70K median income) will need to repeat her junior year when she return to Finland. Also see the Singapore math post here: http://www.stateofohioeducation.com/2008/09/6th-grade-mathematics.html

By Laura

September 17, 2008 6:22 PM | Link to this

If American schools are so awful, why do so many students from other countries come here to further their education? Why do so many families do anything they can to immigrate here?

By purplerose

September 17, 2008 7:11 AM | Link to this

Hello, Kind of hard to comment on TV since Time Warmer is out of power.. No service since the storm.lol

By School Supporter

September 16, 2008 11:29 PM | Link to this

I just watched this on 16.3 (ThinkTV Again). Four Ohio schools/districts are featured. I don’t see why Belpre was chosen: 1145 students with 45% economically disadvantaged—why hasn’t this district consolidated? The show appears to contradict Governor Strickland’s contention that high-scoring nations train students to do well on tests while American schools produce innovators. Instead, American students looked lazy in comparison—while Ohio takes no action to catch up with the Finns and Chinese. Although the show structured itself along key questions, it didn’t leverage the best information available to address those questions. Need more funding? Well, we can’t convince voters that the district is already doing the best they can with what they’ve already got… If the future of the nation is at stake, it would be helpful to know what to work on: amount of time at school, curriculum, teacher preparation, student behavior, teacher pay, etc. The Teacher Advancement Program at Pleasant Hill and the community-sponsored rennovation at Belpre were encouraging. Geoffrey Canada from Harlem clearly made the case education as a civil rights issue—and the need to have hire/fire authority. Here the show missed a chance to feature teacher peer review as an alternative to Canada’s approach.

By JT

September 16, 2008 3:00 PM | Link to this

Scott, have you heard anything about calamity days for this year? It seems that many districts will be out for the week. Just wondering.