What is the best international model for education reform for the United States?

To answer this question you really have to know our culture and our limitations when it comes to change. We have briefly studied the education model of four extremely successful nations. Finland, Singapore, China (Beijing), and South Korea have all developed and fostered very successful education programs. They are all making gains in the fields of education where the United States is falling behind. We need to ask a couple of questions. What are we doing wrong? Which model can we most successfully emulate?

First, let me say that I think we are doing a lot of good things in our education system, but it’s the areas that we are lacking in that seem to stick out. So, what are we doing wrong? Well, I think there are a few areas that we need to focus on right now. To start, we are obsessed with testing. I believe that it would create immediate change if we removed our focus on high-stakes testing. Next, the quality of education that a child receives in the United States is completely different depending on the school that that child attends. The amount of money spent on students each year can vary from $6,000 per student per year, to over $20,000 per student per year. Finally, not all U.S. teachers are properly prepared to teach after receiving their degree. Some education programs are far better than others.

Where do we go from here? Who can we emulate? China, South Korea, and Singapore are three nations that I think would be very difficult to emulate. The extra time and effort that students in these nations put forth would be nearly impossible to replicate in the United States. I don’t see two-thirds of our high school children attending Cram schools, or our parents putting the kind of pressure that those cultures put on their children’s education. Finland, however, provides a model that could work in the U.S. We could better educate our prospective teachers. We could put more emphasis into how we fund our schools. We could stop focusing all our energy on standardized tests. It only takes one state to be the rabbit. Who’s it going to be? If one state steps up and shows success, the rest will follow.