COMPARED GLOBALLY: AMERICAN STUDENTS ARE FAILURES

I'm going to graduate college and have never taken a chemistry class in the US, and while I probably would never have needed it anyway, it says something about our educational system. The summer between my 10^th and 11^th grade year I went to school in Panama, and while they have nowhere near the amount of funding as the US in education, I took chemistry there. I also took physics, biology and theory, and they weren't optional.

For the past four decades, OECD has been one of the world's largest supplier of data on global issues. They've created a snazzy little test, the PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) which tests world-wide students' scholastic performance. Its purpose is to test and compare their performance globally, an excerpt from their website describes what the PISA assesses, "In all cycles, the domains of reading, mathematical and scientific literacy are covered not merely in terms of mastery of the school curriculum, but in terms of important knowledge and skills needed in adult life."

The test assures us that American students will not be able to compete on the same level globally with other countries in the future. According to this, we lack the important knowledge and skills needed in adult life. In 2006, we weren't even in the top 20 of any of the subjects (mathematics, science, and reading). In 2003, we ranked 24 out of the 29 countries compared. It also shows that we have a higher percentage of people with degrees, so in essence, we are graduating more people with less knowledge. We are a nation of "educated" dumb people.

The first PISA came as a huge shock to many nations that perhaps they thought they were doing better than they actually were, and while many countries have taken on the challenge to improve their school systems, the United States was not one of them.

Evaluations of results from the year 2003 showed that the amount spent on education and the ranking of PISA scores were not necessarily correlated either. Countries that spent less such as Finland, Japan, Korea, Czech Republic and Australia did a lot better than countries like the United States, that despite its greater monetary investment in education, scored below the OECD average. The Czech Republic, who spent a third of that of the United States, scored in the top ten, while the US ranked 24 out of 29.

Recently, I traveled throughout Europe with a friend and we felt dumber than ever. It's common, a thing of normality to know how to speak 3 languages, if not more. In the US if you know two you're super smart, three, you're a genius. So, if during the rest of my travels, someone calls us dumb Americans, I can't really argue because they're kind of right. How are we slacking so bad on something so fundamental?

For a PowerPoint on U.S. results compared with everyone else, provided by the OECD, visit this link:

http://www.pisa.oecd.org/dataoecd/10/1/39773685.ppt

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Leyda Hernadez

leyda.h.v@gmail.com

www.makingmovesincollege.blogspot.com

WOULD YOU LIKE SOME SUPPLEMENTS WITH THAT?

When you're not getting all the vitamins you need through the food you eat, you take vitamins, well after writing Compared Globally: American Students are Failures, it looks like we're all going to need some supplements for our education. In college, you don't pay for knowledge; you pay for time, time in class, time in labs, not necessarily knowledge. The greatest gift is not to attend an educational institution, but something you already have…the ability to read and become accessible to infinite knowledge. You're probably thinking reading books, are you serious? And yes, I really am.

Words and books are what make civilized men, what founds great leaders and philosophers. The ability to read is unappreciated by those that do not realize its worth. It is not fair to fall from greatness because we remain ignorant to the fact that the greatest power is not money or assets, the greatest power and the greatest nation will be an educated one.

The institutionalized system of education is not free, but the ability and availability to acquire knowledge is free to whoever is willing to seek it. I have learned more from readings than from the hours I have spent in a college classroom.

I am not advocating that books replace institutionalized education... just that people are ignorant to the fact that the system teaches you what is required to pass tests, which is minimal, and for the most part, people remain satisfied with what little they know, while a world of knowledge is available to them that they never bother to discover.

Look in your wallet and I can tell you there is one flashy card that is missing. It's your library card! So get one of those bad boys and overdraft all you want. This is one card that will give you gains instead of debt, I swear. Let the supplementing begin!

Another good place to go is the Itunes Store on your Itunes, search a topic and when the results come up, click price, so that the free options are on top. Their resources include lectures, tutorials and subscriptions.

The Major Advantages to Reading More Books and Why 3 in 4 people are Being Shut Out of Success gives you plenty of reasons to pick up a book, included are: you learn at your own pace, it improves your vocabulary, and it builds your expertise.

I would love to hear your comments and feel free to subscribe to be kept posted on new articles.

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Leyda Hernadez

leyda.h.v@gmail.com

www.makingmovesincollege.blogspot.com

MOVING UP THE LADDER WITH WORDS

The need to develop marketable skills for the working world is imperative, and speech writing and public speaking is definitely a good one to look into. According to the Book of Lists, public speaking ranked as the number one biggest fear. Yup, it scored higher than death. Pretty serious, huh? So with so many people scared of public speaking, great speakers are pretty well esteemed.

Susan B. Anthony is a great example of the power of speech:

"Susan was very self-conscious of her looks and her speaking ability in her youth. She resisted public speaking, fearing she would not be eloquent enough. Despite these insecurities, she became a renowned and outspoken public presence." "…was a prominent American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights movement to introduce women's suffrage into the United States. She traveled the United States and Europe, and gave 75 to 100 speeches per year on women's rights for 45 years."* Mind you, there were other women that supported woman suffrage, but it was Anthony's speaking ability that landed her a place in our history books.

So stop fearing it and embrace it, public speaking has many benefits that can help you zip up the ladder in your organization and career.

1. Broadens your abilities. When it comes to your career, you have to promote the product you have: you. And what makes your product so special? All the wonderful skills you have to offer, but with all the skills in the world, if the one skill you lack is to be able to tell people how wonderful you are, that's a big negative for you. Speaking eloquently helps to improve all communicative skills as well as gives you confidence.
2. Stand out. "Oh, pick him for the presentation, he speaks the best." It made sense at school and certainly makes sense in the workplace and it allows for opportunities for advancement down the road. Being able to speak eloquently and interestingly about something will certainly put you higher up than someone who stutters or fumbles their words during presentations. You'll be picked to give presentations, an activity that is reserved usually for management positions, and pretty soon management will notice. Plus, writing and even executing an impressive speech for your stage frightened CEO or boss, will definitely gain you respect throughout management and the workplace. A speech puts you in the public eye, the more you speak, they more people pay attention, not only to you but to your abilities.
3. Opportunities Galore. It expands your networking possibilities as you become more visible and exposed to persons of note and you'll meet a ton of more people than if you were only sitting in the audience. Speaking on a topic or issue brings not only to light the issue, but if you speak well you'll be linked as having an expertise in that realm, and there will always be plenty of speaking opportunities to continue your quest to the top.

So like Susan B. Anthony, stand up and speak up, and start making your way up...to the top.

Here's an example of really bad speaking abilities to give an idea of what you wouldn't want to sound like:

Miss South Carolina, Lauren Caitlin Upton, may not be that dumb after all, she was an honor student in high school, managed to get signed to a modeling contract, but thanks to her poor speaking abilities, she certainly won't ever land any kind of management job or a job that requires talking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUElcQoPToY

* Quoted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_B._Anthony

Related articles:

Benefits of Public Speaking

Public Speaking Benefits: How Public Speaking Skills can Help Your Career

Don't Sabotage Your Speaking Skills

I would love to hear your comments and feel free to subscribe to be kept posted on new articles.

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Leyda Hernandez

leyda.h.v@gmail.com

www.makingmovesincollege.blogspot.com