48 Ideas on How to Improve the US

Education System vs Korean System

http://bid4papers.com/blog/usa-education-system/#infographic

June 30, 2014

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South Korea education performance [Infographic]
Expert roundup: how to improve the education system in the US?
From the students point of view
Pearson, an education assessment service, recently released The Learning Curve 2014. With
information gathered by The Economist Intelligence Unit, extensive desk research and interviews
with several of the worlds education leaders, the report outlines each nations ability to prepare
students for the modern workforce.

The Contributing Factors

The Learning Curve 2014 evaluated several contributing factors including (but not limited to):

The amount each nation spends on education

Average school attendance

The salaries and earning potential of teachers

Test scores in the area of math, science, and literature

Employment rates

Average salaries

These factors were used to create a ranking system, identifying the top 40 countries in the world.

Interpreting the Reports Findings

Looking beyond the numbers, there are several important conclusions we can draw from this
report:

Significant financial investment in a countrys education system does not necessarily

produce academic returns.

The countries with the best rankings make basic skill development (like numeracy and
literacy) a high priority.

Non-cognitive skills are equally important. Countries who excelled in the report also
valued communication, leadership, teamwork, global citizenship, problem solving,
emotional intelligence, and entrepreneurship.

Effort is more valuable than inherited intelligence.

Clear, measurable goals and outcomes are essential.

It really does take a community to raise a child; the leading countries relied on the
accountability and involvement of a well-utilized network of people to educate their
students.

Is South Koreas Education System One to Mimic?

[Infographic]
Within hours of the release of The Learning Curve 2014, reports were springing up all over the
world, lauding the success of the number one country South Korea. People are noting the
revolutionary educational system that transformed the country over the last 50 years, leading to
an expanding economy.
Embed:

South Korea does deserve some praise. After all, their students rank exceptionally high in
reading, math and science. Its also noteworthy that nearly 65% of young adults (ages 25-34)
have a university degree. This graduation rate is significantly higher than the average 9 percent
attained by the other nations in The Learning Curve 2014.
To many, the success of South Korea is enviable. But is that the right mindset to have?
Lets take a look at some of the factors contributing to South Koreas success:

The intense focus on education is derived from a need to prepare for the day-long
university entrance exams. Unfortunately, the preparation begins in elementary school.

South Koreans spend more than $17 billion on private tuition, accounting for nearly 15%
of consumer spending.

Four out of five students seek out private education.

Students attend classes from 9am to 5pm. Then, from 5pm to 10pm, students attend a
hagwon, or cram school.

Of those who have graduated from university, only 75% are employed. Of those, 24% are
overqualified for their current job (a percentage that is three times higher than the world
average).

Students report their interest in school and their satisfaction rate as low.

Stress associated with academic performance and career outlook is the leading reason
teens contemplate suicide.

Suicide is the leading cause of death for South Koreans in the 15-24 year age range.

Identifying Areas of Improvement

Many US educators, parents, and students look at The Learning Curve 2014 as a roadmap for
enhancing academic learning, aspiring to be one of the worlds top nations. While the US did
move up four spot in the last two years, there is definitely room for improvement.
While many people agree the US needs to reevaluate the current learning opportunities for
students, the question remains: what are the best tactics for improving the education system in
the US? Obviously going to extremes, as is evident in South Korea, is not the answer. But what
is?
We posed the following question to several educators and education professionals: If you could
name three key ways on how to improve the education system in the US, what three
ways/tips would you choose?
Respondents:

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name
occupation
Jeremy Kun
Graduate TA Mathematician Programmer
Frank Franz
Social Studies teacher James Madison High School
Travis Ward
Physics and Math tutor
Jason Jurotich
writer teacher (Philosophy and English)
Brandon D Stiller Biology teacher at New Trier High School
Laurie Flood
National Board Certified teacher and teacher trainer
Mitchell Timin Ph.D. from UCSD Science & Mathematics tutor
Jake Lopata
Teaches Economics at SUNY University at Albany
Jim Cullen
history department at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School NY
Michael Mazenko AP English Teacher in suburban Colorado
Austin Walters
University of Illinois student studying Computer Science
Ken Halla
Education Technologist Teacher at Fairfax County VA
Evan Winograd AP and SAT II Physics & Math Tutor

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By combining their suggestions, weve come up with several ways to improve the US education
system.
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Respect and Encourage Teachers
1. More respect for teachers. Higher pay, fewer classes, and less classroom time, with this
extra time being used for training and curriculum development. Discipline should come
in the form of training with temporarily reduced class loads. / Jeremy Kun
2. Treat teachers differently. They are responsible for each new generation of learners and
should be regarded as some of the most influential individuals in the country. Teaching
should be considered a top level profession with higher salaries. Teachers would quickly
teach to inspire and so students can learn versus just to retain their job by passing yearly
tests. / Travis Ward
3. More freedom for teachers. Hire the best teachers, pay them well, and let them teach in
the way they best see fit (trust and mild oversight). / Jeremy Kun
The Importance of Teacher Education

4. People need to understand that we are a country of immigrants. Part of this professional
development that teachers in most all areas of the country also need is in the area of
teaching students in their class who are English Language Learners. Studies of teachers
in America show that the majority do not feel they have the skill set in order to meet the
demands of second language learners in their classrooms. / Laurie Flood
5. Raise the standards for becoming an educator. Require more stringent training for
teachers in their actual subject (c.f. the extremely low standards for degrees in math
education). / Jeremy Kun
6. Teachers will need more training in order to adapt to the way of mathematics instruction
that the Common Core Standards and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
suggest. The old way of teaching formulas and procedures is only a portion of the
picture. Students understand the use of these formulas and procedures (and remember
them) when they can derive the formulas themselves in interesting activities done with
manipulatives and visuals to make mathematics real and real life. Then, students need to
utilize these traditional formulas and procedures solving real life problems and have
whole class discussions about their findings. This makes mathematics a field of problem
solving, which it truly is, rather than just a field of disparate numbers. The legacy will be
a generation of adults who can utilize mathematics seamlessly to solve real life problems,
instead of generations of adults who state, I never really understood mathematics, as
we have now. Teachers need time to get the professional development to teach these new
standards and to create lessons that are targeted and relevant for their students. / Laurie
Flood
7. Continuous Education for Teachers. Provide annual seminars/workshops/classes for
teachers. In order to stay competitive with the world, our teachers, the backbone of the
education system, need to be continuously growing and learning new skills and ways to
effectively teach our youth. / Jake Lopata
8. I take a page from Amanda Ripleys book (The Smartest Kids in the World) and say that
we should make it harder to become a teacher, trying to make the profession more of a
first than a last resort. Finland and South Korea, though opposites in many ways, agree on
this. / Jim Cullen
9. Eliminate the bachelor degree for certification and provide internship opportunities
combined with a graduate program for teacher certification. / Michael Mazenko
10. Update and improve teaching curriculums yearly. Use a forum setting among teachers
that teach the same subjects across several school districts. Allow teacher to learn from
each other. This could include summer retreats to learn from and network with each other.
No single teacher following a set strict level of rules from a book will ever become the
best teacher. You need multiple teachers coming together iteratively to achieve the best
level of teaching and improving upon it each year. / Travis Ward
Providing Personalized Learning Opportunities

11. More personalized learning for students. / Frank Franz

12. Move away from standardization and uniformity of learning focused on a one-size-fits-all
system that is excessively focused on bachelor degrees for all as a measure of success and
achievement. In its place, the system should develop and promote career and technical
education at grades 6-10, offering greater choice, including graduation at sixteen for
students pursuing associate degrees and trade certificates. / Michael Mazenko
13. Teachers need to work one-on-one with students to see if proficiency is achieved and reteach if necessary. Reduce class size to make this a possibility. / Frank Franz
14. Learning needs to be individualized both in pace and format. / Ken Halla
The Importance of Basic Skill Development
15. Focus on reading analysis skills. / Frank Franz
16. Stay the course with the Common Core Standards. Unfortunately, there are many
misconceptions out there about the Common Core Standards. These standards focus on
critical thinking skills and learning all of the traditional curriculum (and more) in a
manner that allows students to solve real life problems. This is critical for US workers to
stay competitive in a global workforce. We have barely begun the process in this country,
and a misinformation campaign is forcing some states to rethink whether they will use the
Common Core Standards or not. This is a mistake.Also, there is a view that the Common
Core Standards and high stakes testing are intertwined. The high stakes testing was a part
of the previous standards and No Child Left Behind legislation. This does not have to be
the case if teachers and parents raise their voices against high stakes testing. / Laurie
Flood
17. We need to have everyone using standards based learning. / Ken Halla
How Schools are Structured
18. Students in the States are not pushed to learn, nor do they have any motivation to. Kids in
the US dream about playing football, but kids in Germany what to solve problems (for
example). The culture plays an important role here. We have to make education
interesting again or things will just get worse. / Jason Jurotich
19. Make schools more progressive environments. Allow 4 day school weeks, increase or
decrease the lengths of days, allow students to teach, allow students to rate teachers so
that it enforces teachers to care and have to try. / Travis Ward
20. Reduce the distorting role of sports in school life, which engenders misplaced priorities
for too many people. / Jim Cullen

21. Go completely digital and let the students investigate a lot more. Most of the worlds info
is online and we dont need professors simply repeating it. / Jason Jurotich
22. As teachers and schools have begun to retool to teach the Common Core Standards, there
needs to be a moratorium on strong sanctions against schools that get poor scores in some
areas in the next few years. Teachers and students need time to adapt to the new
standards. In California in the 1990s, we adopted standards that were precursors to the
Common Core Standards. The state gave us a few years to retool in order to adapt to the
new, more rigorous standards. / Laurie Flood
23. Classrooms should be used for discussion of lectures that are on video. Khan Academy
video lectures are an example of lectures that should replace classroom lectures. The
classroom is best used for discussion of material previously seen on video. Testing can
also be done via computer and internet if there is a system to prevent cheating. / Mitchell
Timin
24. Career Exposure. Students need access to the careers that are available in todays
economy. It could be a class, a seminar, a work study, etc but the point would be to
familiarize students with real world careers and jobs that could be available to them
someday. This would help student be more focused on what career or field of work they
would like to pursue when they reach college, saving them time and money. / Jake
Lopata
25. Restructure a school finance system thats based on local property taxes. Its deeply
regressive and, again, out of touch with the rest of the world. / Jim Cullen
Teaching Styles
26. More thinking/analyzing and less memorizing. Innovation and creativity are based on
understanding things, not on something memorized. / Jason Jurotich
27. Have a practical skills program in addition to an academic program. I understand that
this approach is successful in Germany. An academic education is not appropriate for
everyone. / Mitchell Timin
28. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving. Focus on teaching students how use and apply
their minds to tasks or problems. These are skills that are usable in any career field. /
Jake Lopata</li>
29. Teachers then need to move from passive (in terms of the student learner) to facilitators
for student learning. / Ken Halla
30. Make math/science relevant. Example: for the football players, a wide receiver lines up
15 yards left and he catches the ball 20 yards down field. How far did the quarterback
throw the ball? The Pythagorean theorem (and just about every bit of math) can be

applied to common real life scenarios. Not only does a real example make the topic more
tangible, it also makes the topic more interesting. / Evan Winograd
How Students are Evaluated
31. More demanding ways to show you know something. Exams based on memory dont cut
it, but on the other hand, evaluation systems need to be a lot more demanding to find out
what the student really knows. There has to be objective rubrics that allow for universal,
international proof that a student really knows his stuff. / Jason Jurotich
32. Reduce some or most of the high stakes testing that sucks time and creativity from
students who need it most starting in 3rd grade. Weeks and weeks are lost to teaching to
the tesst and then taking the tests. The best performing countries (one example is Finland)
do not spend time and money on such testing. / Brandon D Stiller
33. Decrease the emphasis on standardized testing as a measure of rigor and accountability,
and replace that with support for a childs whole education, including social-emotional
needs. Included in this is devoting funding and resources to providing social supports to
students and families in terms of nutrition, health care, child care, counseling,
supervision, etc. / Michael Mazenko
The Role of Post-Secondary Education
34. Make post-secondary education more affordable so that student loan debt does not limit
students and graduates. / Brandon D Stiller
35. Make scholarships for service to the country more lucrative. If 18 year olds spend a few
years giving back (e.g., in the Armed Forces or AmeriCorps) while their minds mature
and earn all or most of their tuition, room and board, they will be able to afford college
and possibly be in much better position to make the most of their educational opportunity.
/ Brandon D Stiller
Culture
36. The US has an attitude problem. There is a stigma that math (and school in general) is
boring / uncool. For example: http://mathfour.com/commentary/att-in-my-daycommercial-is-killing-math-students this commercial drove me crazy. It took me about
5 seconds on Google to find this article that shares my view. / Evan Winograd
37. I believe education needs to start at an early age in the home. When I was younger, my
family would do math problems at the table and turn it into a game. As a result, I was
ahead of the curve in all of my math classes (Sure, there may be an argument made that I
had a natural disposition to math, but I believe that nurturing a skill at a young age can
help the brain develop to support that skill in the future). As a young student, despite my
parents efforts, I did not read as much as I should have. As a result, my vocabulary, albeit
not bad, is worse than I would like it to be. / Evan Winograd

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From the Students Point of View:
Professors and teachers shouldnt be the only ones allowed to sound off. Students have
opinions too. After all, theyre the ones we are encouraging to do better lets learn
what they need.
Austin Walters:
38. Do not discourage students. Do not assume incompetence or that they do not want to
learn. It is important that every person is encouraged to learn. I wrote about my
experiences here: http://austingwalters.com/please-excuse-my-grammar/
39. Give students some autonomy, which helps support longterm motivation. Perhaps have a
suggestion box, which allows the students to ask questions anonymously related to any
subject (obviously filter out inappropriate questions). Then every friday, or some other
designated date, answer the questions in a fun way. Maybe bring in some snacks and
make it a fun day.
40. Engage students by telling stories and using metaphors. Its important that students stay
engaged and doing so by providing them with funny/interesting stories helps maintain
motivation.
Heres great post on Reddit with several more suggestions from students to consider:
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48. Feed us. Seriously! Youd be amazed at how attentive we can be after a fun sized candy
bar!

What Happens Now?

Where do we go from here? Can the US learn from their mistakes and the examples set by other
countries?
As one of the worlds leading developed countries, the US is always under scrutiny regarding
areas in need of improvement. However, education should remain at the top of everyones
priority list. As The Learning Curve 2014 points out, our children arent the only ones at stake
here; our entire country depends upon a sound and capable workforce.
Its time for US leaders to stop throwing money at the problem and truly seek out a solution.
Lets listen to the teachers, professors, educators, and students who are in the trenches; lets let
them lead us to a brighter future.

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2 thoughts on 48 Ideas on How to Improve the US

Education System

1.

anonymous
November 15, 2014 at 12:59 am
Classes should be smaller. Teachers should be more efficient and teach students with a
more individualized curriculum. Longer classes, with five minute breaks every now and
then. Private classes, like countries in Asia, after-school. They should be only about two
hours, focusing on the strengths and weaknesses of a student. The system should be more
like the educational system in Asia, except there should be a balance between educational
time and recreational time. Teachers should be well respected, and children should be
taught discipline and how to survive in the real world- being smart in school isnt the
same as being street smart.The US system is terrible, and there are many ways it could be
improved. If I were to list all of them, the list would be pages, and pages long.
Reply

2.

jennifer
May 12, 2015 at 12:03 am
Many of these suggestions to improve the future of the U.S. education system are
ridiculous!
The one problem the system has is that politicians who are removed from the classroom
are the ones who are making decisions. Every time there is a change of administration
there is a change in the education of our youth. In teaching there is a saying, This too

shall pass. Nothing stays long enough to education teachers or to see a result in our
children. Also the individuals who think we can compare our education system to other
countries are uneducated morons. In no other country is EVERY child no matter their
ability educated the same. In most countries education is seen as a priority, that belief
changes from house hold to house hold, town to town, district to district. Many of the
parents in my district see school as a daycare service, they send students who are too
young, and who have had no education (preschool or home) and send them because it is
all day every day.
COME ON! if people who are not educators and who are not working day to day with
students are making all of the decisions there will be no noticeable change.