Why are so many countries ahead of the US in Math and Science?

Because someone has to grow up and become a garbage man, and there's a lot of garbage.

We get what we pay for.
It might be time to start paying better teachers the salaries they deserve so "underachieving" teachers aren't the majority in our schools.
Better teachers' salaries could be funded not by taxes but by creating an independent task force that rescues the state's wasted funds being squandered by overpaid politicians.
This way the schools only pay for "over-achieving" teachers that have to maintain above average knowledge in their subject. That above par knowledge would then be passed on to the children. After we ween them from caffeine and sugar of course.

there was an american man who went to the hospital,
and ask to the doc for a brain transfer,

the doc say

100gr for a british brain pure blood will cost 500 $;

japanese scientist brain, 100 gr, will cost 400 $;

100 gr of an american brain will cost 2000 $

so that the patient ask WHY ?!! that's not fair,

the doctor reply:

"Do you have any idea how difficult to get 100gr of American brain"

...safety and discipline also play a roll.

I see a fundamental inconsistency with our cultural society that began in earnest ten years ago that coincides with the problem. The dynamism that marks western society has been replaced with stagnation. We seem to have lost our way when it comes to knowing and being who we are. It is cultural disintegration.

Studies in anthropology reveal that cultures recognize shapes and symbols that have served them well. These shapes are elevated to a status in which they become integrated into a culture. The Torajans, for example, build their homes in shapes that look like upside down boats. The story passed on to children is one that ships carried people to and from the stars. Other examples permeate other cultures - stars, box-shapes, crosses, rods - all have come to be symbols that integrate a culture in a way that manifests passions throughout their people, and are visible in their art, their engineering, and in their prized possessions.

In the western civilization the equivalent possession that displays a persons passion is the monitor screen. The symbols and the shapes keep changing. Western civilization is a dynamic culture to the degree that it is change-dependent. The computer brought the most advanced lifestyle change to western society, and brought the longest period of economic growth the world has seen. Looking beyond the computer is a task for the imagination that is difficult to match, but we need to get back to that task before we begin to redefine our society as stagnant.

Today, we need to recover the pieces of our culture and attempt to put humpty back together again. This effort should begin at the ground up. That means a restoration of our educational system and a revolutionary integration of the educational environment.

These five points, I propose, are essential to students, and when implemented will make our children the leaders to take the world down path to the next fulfillment:

1. Health - We want our children ready to start a new day in the morning. We want children that are properly fed, free of communicable diseases. We want everyone to have the esteem to see themselves as members.

2. Enthusiasm - We want our children to be positive about their future. We want children to know that they will all be participants, and not spectators.

3. Focus - We want children to be able to identify problems that inhibit focus, and to be able to put aside distractions while working.

4. Priority - We want children to be able to identify priorities - the things that matter most - and give them the ability to deal with important matters in sequence.

5. Perseverance - We want our children to know that they won't succeed the first time every time, but they will succeed the last time every time.

Together, these five points, and the four good words - empathy, opportunity, synergy, and community will bring about the education revolution to make the west competitive in the way they have been in the past.

Empathy is the medium of the web of society that unites us.
Opportunity is hope with wheels on it, enabled by empathy made by synergy.
Synergy is the integration of people into a positive community environment.
Community is the web of empathy that is the manifestation of all our efforts.

The key is integration. This is not to say we don't have rights as individuals. Individual rights are essential to maintaining health within a specific tier of nature. There is a way to maintain individual rights in a way that does not sacrifice our manifestation of society, and that is where we should focus our pursuit.

This is a Double Edged Sword:

The purpose of a school is to expose students to all they can become within the nation. I really do believe teachers here in the U.S. should visit schools in other countries. A love for logic and science is also typically fostered in kindergarten through elementary school.
Where as in the U.S. we emphasize reading comprehension which is actually much harder to pick up without a good base in logical comprehension and deduction.

The difference however is really in the kind of student your teaching.Here comes the other side. In the U.S. by the age of 18 sometimes even by the age of 26 we're expected to be able to take care of OUR SELVES.

This isn't true in other countries, the majority of families in other countries expect you to take care of (pitch in to) the family by the time your 15 (in cities) and 13 (country side).

Now you're not just responsible for yourself, but the well being of the whole family, grand parents, parents, and siblings.

So by the time THESE children are in highschool they know the value of a good job. Not only that but they know it is important they find a PROFESSION, which requires them to simply do better in school. Now they have a sense of direction. A key element by the time you reach college.

its simple. education is no longer a priority, its barely even given lip service. teachers are undertrained and underpaid, people are rewarded for 'being' instead of 'doing' we got into a mindset of limiting competition for fear of crushing the more emotional child but lost the art of instilling motivation to excel instead of just garner kudos. science isnt nearly as glamourous as paris hilton, miley cyrus' opinion on the latest jo bro single gets more media coverage than new medical, space, or math discovery, literature is reduced to sequel producing pablum.

TV Genres of today, lack of expert teaching, and prescribing of inhibiting synthetic drugs are just a start. I can't end this without out say malnutrition as well.

Lagging Education + Christianity = Bad Math/Science Performance

I think Malcolm Gladwell has a fantastic answer to this question. If I recall correctly, in his book Outliers, he examines how a great majority of Western culture places shortcuts and "doing the minimal to yield the maximum award" as the priority. However, he examined how some Asian/Eastern cultures pride themselves in hard labor (e.g. 14 hour school days and year round school years), whereas a common Westerner reaction to this type of work schedule may be, "gosh . . . I need a break . . . how am I supposed to do that?"

My comments are not intended as judgment, only to point out different cultural preferences. Each have their pros and cons.

of all scocial programs in america EDUCATION should get more funding than aything else, instead of cutting education to fund profit wars and subside failed coorporations. as it is today, america spends less on education than all other 1st world countries, and more on military than ALL other countries combined... so of course we're all undereducated and jobless... that is unless you're in the military, which is exactly what the GOP wants.

who needs math when you are a military thug and goon? really? when all I have to do is follow orders, why bother learning anything?

Sorry ass Union Teachers that can't be fired. Teachers now days don't even teach the just tell the kids to open a book and do pages 23 thru 28. I would be willing to bet over half the teachers are not qualified to teach.

Here's the problem in my opinion: currently in America, we've got kids who aren't concerned with education. They're simply don't have the maturity or the foresight to see how education will help them in the future, and as a result, they have no interest. This generation has so many things going for it in terms of technology and communications that it SHOULD make getting a quality education easier than ever, but instead we see something else: distraction. There's never been a generation with a much "going on" as this generation has. They've got so many activities going on from sports to friends to online/tv/video game entertainment that there's no way to pack it all in. So where does the motivation/drive go? To the fun stuff obviously! Certainly not to school or anything else that no longer seems important in light of the all these new alternatives. Kids before haven't had that.

There's another thing that I think is extremely impactful in our lack of education now and that's that kids haven't been thrust in to the mindset of "being adult" as quickly as they are now. I feel like kids now, especially in high school, are under a lot of pressure to get in to an adult mindset in how they relate to others, what their goals are, and what their priorities are. Even when I was in high school a few years ago, it always felt like school was just that annoying thing that kept us away from our "real" adult lives outside of school. There's an important process of maturity that should happen during those formative school years that I feel like is missing or at least rushed now. It certainly was missing from my middle/high school development. It's something that I've basically had to go back and relearn since I graduated. I've had to take a step back and say "my job right now is to prepare myself for the real world, and as much as I'd like to think that high school or even college is the real world....it's not." When I figured that out it gave me so much more motivation to do well and to not feel like school was getting in the way of my real life instead of the other way around. I feel like it's truly an epidemic in the mindset of students and it's something that teachers and the government simply don't seem to be grasping. No matter how much money the government tries to throw at schools and no matter how interesting the teachers try to make their lessons....it absolutely won't make a difference without a fundamental change in how students view school. If they don't view school as part of their life rather than a hindrance to it, nothing will ever change.

So there's my soapbox. Anybody agree? Disagree? Have thoughts?

And it doesn't help when the Chemistry teacher is also the basketball coach.

It's simple - because they invest more on education and because they have better educational systems. Money is tied to students and teachers are well paid and accountable.

Something as simple as class size can be a big difference maker. Here we barely have money to hire new teachers so class sizes sometimes exceed 30+ students. I remember a lot of my high school classes had close to 40 students each. This affects the quality of the education and affects the teachers' ability to personally help students learn.

But then again, the first thing we cut when we want to save money is money for our public schools. We never seem to cut back on spending for warships, planes, tanks, and bullets - but we never have a problem cutting back on teachers and books.

You get what you paid for - and in our case it's very little.

dont know :s

If the government is paying all your bills, you don't need an education, it's a waste of time. If you have to make your own way in the big wide world, an education comes in handy.

The Department of Education! When you have illegal, unconstitutional institutions centralizing power, the people suffer. For instance, if we took back all the tax money that is stolen from us for public education, we would have plenty of cash to hire private tutors for our children that could teach them math, science, instruments, languages, whatever.

It is proven that home schooled children are the highest achievers and most sought after by Harvard, Yale, etc. There are plenty of other factors and solutions, but it always starts from the top. It is also proven that ever since the Department of Education was enacted, the level of American's educational status has plummeted, just like the value of the dollar ever since the Fed. Our founding fathers were against tyrannical government institutions such as these...you should be too!

kids dont understand the purpose of doing well in those areas , being good in math and science very often simply means that you will hit the prerequisites to graduate or get into a college , i didnt know in high school what kindof job i could get , testing cultures of bacteria and using bunsen burners in science class , maybe a job working at a pharmaceutical company? but is that a realistic option for your average kid?

When i languished for hours struggling with algebra , i asked myself why are they teaching us this shit , we'll never need to know this to buy groceries or do our taxes and i still dont know who uses it and for what.

If someone said learn C+ or C++ theres a purpose behind it , i could get a job doing a great many things with programming or tech support.

Nowadays education is a great financial burden , if you want them to acheive more than the bare minimums in math and science , you better damn well show them what kind of opportunities excelling in those areas can bring and why they have to know it , instead of just googling it on there iphone when they need the answers in real life.

Another reason why we need to abolish the public education system. Just a failure that has become burdened through bureaucracy and unions. The main priority of teachers is no longer to teach but to not make the parents angry.

Good Question!

Why? Because they pay good salaries to teachers who have to achieve a high standard before being hired. Because they invest in education. Because they are not trying to dumb-down their young so as to fill the ranks of their armies and have a large pool of canon fodder to draw upon since they don't wage illegal wars of pillage and slaughter. Because they don't have staggeringly high military budgets so they can afford good education, affordable and even free universities, public health-care systems, etc.

Because most students (at least here in the U.S.) hate math and science. And that's because it sucks. Especially when the subjects are being taught conventionally. Neither math or science are my strongsuits, and I have absolutely no interest in learning anymore in either of those areas, simply because I have no need for them. Now if there are students who would like to pursue a career that involves either of those two areas, then sure, require them to take a math and/or science class. But not everyone will. And therefore I believe it should be a choice. We don't all need to be "well-rounded".

Year round school and longer school days would help. With Math in particular, one loses progress if one goes without study. Students spend much of the Fall relearning the Math they have forgotten over Summer break.

We are running public schools on a 19th century agrarian calendar while living in a 21st century world. The reason children were given summers off was so they could help bring in the harvest in the fields. How many kids do you know that work in the summer to bring in the harvest?

As for science, America's stubborn insistence on clinging to ignorant religious superstition breeds a toxic anti-intellectual atmosphere that permeates American culture, and makes scientific study and progress suspect.

By the same token, it is important to recognize what America does right. Many American students excel at creative problem solving and critical thinking. While many students in the rest of the world, particularly in Asia and India, are taught using barbaric and archaic teaching methods where memorization is prized above understanding.

The bottom like is money. To attract the best people, teachers must earn a decent salary and social respect. Right now teaching is often the refuge of the mediocre and unmotivated University student, looking for a stable job..

Right now the best and the brightest go into finance, produce nothing of value, and learn the fine art of committing white collar crime without getting caught.

How can you retain good teachers when you pay them shit salaries?

Just wanted to say I participated in the town hall hosted by Al Gore today and it was too short. ;-). Good to see those students from around the world who were interested in math and science sharing their ideas.

Well the first thing to address in terms of Math in America, the Metric versus the Empirical system. The fact that this has not been dealt with is a dead giveaway that the U.S. is being arrogantly stubborn, clinging to out-dated methods for some sake of pride.

The root to the problem of Science in America is pathetically obvious--- Religion. Evangelical Christianity to be more specific. The religious demagogues are having a hard time selling their bull-shit when they send their children off to schools that won't play along with the self-righteous delusions. It is astounding that the United States even considers debating evolution, when the rest of the world has accepted it and moved on, including the Catholic Church (Oct. 22, 1996).

The rest of the world is moving past the U.S. because it is a young country, still figuring itself out. There are so many groups trying to define America as one way or the other. What we end up with is stagnation, whether its bureaucratically or culturally. This is bigger than any one person, group, policy, or genre of music. The great melting pot of the world has just got one two many nuts and toxic hazards thrown in. Coming out of the industrial revolution, people all over the world were fixated on taking short cuts and making life as convenient as possible. The U.S. seems to have benefited greatly from the development. But "seems" is the key word.

Has everyone really benefitted from artificial flavors, virtual realities, and plastic everything? Sure these are great luxuries in life, but are we better off? Math and science are weak subjects because people aren't willing to do the critical thinking it takes to understand the reality for what it truly is. Its easier to make believe that celebrity gossip matters, nascar is a sport, the universe is less than 10,000 years old, there's a human-like being in the sky that pays attention to everyone, and the next music festival is more important than anything else. What it really comes down to is that... America, your integrity is showing.

wow..this made me want to study math seriously. i think i am the only person who hates math so passionately! haha but ultimately i have to do it

It is a simple plan to have more blue collar workers to fuel the economy, so that the rich and educated can easily control the masses. Too bad nowadays, the youth is starting to care less about material wishes and most have realized the value of knowledge.

I see two reasons for this:

Anti-intellectualism in America and;

a system of values that worships money, materialism and wealth in lieu of the pursuit for knowledge.

Our children are embracing the values that are pitched to them daily by a culture driven by greed, rampant commercialism, monetary wealth and a corporate structure that often views science as a stumbling block to profits. If our culture was driven by a pursuit of knowledge, more people would enter the sciences. It's not and the result is reflected in our school systems.

want to save our educational system??take the bleeding heart liberals and their ideology out of the system..

When I attended school in America, they didn't even try to be discreet about the fact that we were being "educated" for the TAKS test (that is, the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) and the SATs. They'd mention it often in class. In fact, they may as well have just said to us,

"Students, I am about to cram this chapter of your Algebra II/Physics/Biology book into your brains quickly, not so that it may be used later on in your life when you become a(n) (insert scientific occupation here) or so that you may understand the world that you live in a bit more, no. It is so that you will pass the standardised test that's coming up in a few weeks."

Basically, we were educated temporarily. Once the test was over with, we forgot the information that was crammed into our minds.

I wish that bubbling in answers was a vocational skill/science, because that's really all I've got to show for the "education" I "recieved" in America.

Problem becuase our education system is a drastic failure. Screw the healthcare overhaul what we really need is an education overhaul. check out CDA Charter Acadamy in Idaho, they run on 75% of the funding that any other school would receive and they pay their teachers the best in the state and are never short on books. Granted they have one of the greatest accountants known to man, but still if they can do it why cannot everyone else, and trust me there is no lacking in skills of the teachers or their results.