U.S. education

    I REFER to an opinion piece Stephen Roper titled “Pump the brakes” on the PISA test published on Shenzhen Daily on Dec. 20.

    The worth of American higher education, when compared (non-numerically) with other world universities, usually boils down to three words in even the most sophisticated of educational rhetoric, “critical thinking skills.”

    These words are growing increasingly meaningless as no one in America, within education or otherwise, knows exactly what the skills are or where jobs are hiding that require said skills. We assume we need to create “critical thinkers” to help cope with an ever changing, ever complex world, but that changing world hasn’t created industries or positions to employ them.

    We face massive unemployment in America, revealing some sort of elusive, inherent fallacy when all sorts of internationals flock toward our higher education system. One thing we do know for certain is that the future of America’s work is largely woven into the interdependent world economy. This is what Americans should be working with, focusing on positive ends for an interconnected all. Instead, Americans often stomp on the chance to help developing nations develop, or are highly manipulative and restrained in the process of the development. The recent Cancun Climate Talks prove to be excellent examples of this failure, as well as America’s failure to move forward with a green industry with a whole world of people in mind.

    There is nothing to point to American minds as being inherently more innovative than anyone else’s. In fact, there is much evidence that would support the contrary; rote memorization is essential in order for facts to be presented when it comes time to dip in for creative means.

    At this point in history, what America (and the larger Western world) needs to focus on is the seeding of these surplus graduates around the world, helping to develop industries where expertise is actually needed, for the good of all.

    Lisa Goochee via e-mail

    Emergency drills

    I AM very glad to read that training in emergency skills could become mandatory in schools. I applaud the government’s continued support for school safety through its spending of 3 billion yuan last year.

    Given this generous and useful government assistance, I wonder does the government also stand ready to support parents who seek a quality education for their children. Private tuition has proliferated in our education system in such a manner that it has become impossible to get rid of it.

    After school hours students pay tuition for private instruction to improve their performance. The reasons for this are obvious. The schools do not pay careful attention to weak students. The quality of textbooks is so poor in some schools that the required textbooks are not used by the students who must rely heavily on teacher’s note and guides. Where can the parents turn but to government for help to ensure they are getting good value for the tuition fees paid?

    One way to improve the quality of the schools is to ask specialists to administer standard student achievement tests (SAT) that can be verified. The results ought to be posted online for parents to see which schools are providing their child with quality education.

    Robert Sowa via e-mail