International Takeaways

My takeaways from the comparisons of educational systems in various countries went in two different directions. 

1.       I am inspired to continue to hone my craft in the same way that I say teachers doing so in the videos we watched.  I was impressed with the collaboration and reflection that took place in Finland and Singapore.  I have long desired to be a part of a collaborative community of teachers.  The feedback and insights you can gain from others are invaluable.  I think that in general, teachers in the United States like to operate in isolation of each other.  Since I am teaching at a new school this year I will be certain to seek out the teachers who may wish to be a part of such a collaborative environment.  I will push for the opportunity to video tape each other and breakdown our teaching and look for ways to improve.

2.       My second takeaway was a negative one.  There seemed to be such a stark contrast between Taiwan and Finland/Singapore yet all three countries out-achieve the United States on the PISA and the TIMMS.  I started to look for pieces of the educations systems in each respective country that seemed to be consistent from high-performing country to high-performing country and were different than United States.  The one thing that stood out to me was the emphasis on education within the culture of the high-performing countries.  This worried me.  Taiwan achieved great results even though the only major similarity they had with Finland/Singapore was the importance of education within the culture.  This is something that no policy can have an effect on in the United States.  Culture is something that takes generations to change.  I fear we are almost “topped out” educationally with the culture that we currently have.