Self-esteem: great for DJs, bad for students

[CoolBreeze]

The performance of US students is a major disappointment for the US educational establishment.

There's a tarnished silver lining in the average scores of US students. Those who dismiss competition and proclaim every student a winner or a hero have been very successful, for US students get above average marks for self-esteem and confidence. For example, according to the 2003 and 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), most US eighth grade students are very confident about their mathematics abilities.

Yet they are consistently outscored by Asian students with much less confidence in their math abilities. Clearly lower wages may not be the only reason many US technology firms have moved factories to Asian countries that consistently outscore US students in math and science.

Some say more money will solve the education crisis. Andrew Coulson disagrees.

In an article in the Washington Post, Coulson claimed that the annual cost per child in the poorly performing Washington, DC, public school system is nearly $25,000.

That's significantly more than the tuition of private schools in the area, including the prestigious Sidwell Friends School attended by the daughters of presidents.

http://seguingazette.com/opinion/commun ... 002e0.html