I may be wrong about this, but I would like to raise the following issue. Foreign high school graduates consistently beat Minneapolis students (see how I neatly have brought Mpls content to the question) on test scores. I searched long and hard on this but have not been able to find some facts. Isn't it true that Germany and England, and most other European school children undergo a "culling" after about the sixth grade? Then some children are steered towards apprenticeship/vocational programs, others are steered towards general programs and only the top students after the sixth grade are allowed to go to the gymnasium (in Germany) where they prepare for University educations. When European test scores are looked at, are these policies considered when their test scores with Minneapolis <gr> high school test scores? In other words, are apples being compared with apples? Are we spending billions of dollars in a contest we never will win, and wouldn't want to win if it required such culling? Ray Marshall Minnehaha
------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2004 11:48:23 -0500 From: "Victoria Heller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Mpls] Greenspan comments on schools, 2 minutes ago Chairman Greenspan, in his testimony to Congress, just said that American students in the 4th grade are equivalent to their counterparts in other countries in science and math. By the time they reach 12th grade however, American students are at the bottom of the scale. He went on to say that "it is therefore not the students, but the schools that are failing." Much of his testimony emphasized that we had better improve the performance of American children, or face the severe consequence of America becoming unable to compete in the global economy. We are rapidly falling behind other industrialized nations in producing an educated workforce. Commentary relayed by Vicky Heller North Oaks and Cedar-Riverside REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
