Blog 12: Finland's educational success story: Less testing, more trusting

In forty years Finland has reformed their whole education system. It used to be considered a homogeneous with mediocre schools now it has one of the best education systems in the whole world. In 2000, Finland surprised countries around the world when their 15-year-olds scored at the top of an important international exam called the PISA (the Program for International Student Assessment) and they have stayed near the top ever since then while the United States only scores around the middle. An official from Finland’s Ministry of Education and Culture, Pasi Sahlberg, came to Seattle this week to talk about Finland’s success.  Pasi Sahlberg’s advice was stop testing so much, trust teachers more, give less homework and shorten the school day. Finland has improved their education so because they are doing things totally different from the United States. Although every country cannot be like Finland Spielberg believes that they could inspire other countries to consider new ways to achieve their educational goals. Finland relied on the cooperation among the teachers and schools instead of testing the schools and having them compete against each other. In Finland teachers come up with their own curriculum and design their own test there are no national tests expect one that is required at the end of high school. They really put faith and trust into their teachers and principals to do their job. Another major difference is that Finland students don’t start school until their 7 while we start at 5 in the U.S. Teaching a much respected job in Finland just as much as doctors and lawyers and their teachers don’t earn much more than U.S teachers but it still attracts the nation’s top graduates. Finland succeeded by taking ideas from the U.S and other countries so we should be able to learn from Finland too.

I think the U.S should look at other countries education systems and take some ideas from them. Our education is far from perfect so we could always use some extra help to further improve our education because this will be beneficial to the whole country. We can’t expect our country to continue running smoothly if our citizens aren’t on the same educational level as other countries around the world. Finland really stood out because they did the opposite of what most countries are doing and they were successful. Most countries would rather do what the others are doing than to be different and try out something new. They don’t want to be considered failures if the new ideas don’t work so they just go with the traditional systems which could be preventing them from doing better.

 http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2019676789_finland14m.html

Blog 11: Concordia University students want probe of foreign-student recruiters

         This article tells about how students from Concordia University have begun to ask Canada’s international education industry to stop using recruitment agents because foreign students there have been complaining about poor conditions in their home-stay arrangements. Some students from China said they planned their accommodations in Canada through a man named Peter Low, who is supposed to be a director of the Concordia China Student Recruitment Partner program, and said they were promised furnished rooms and meals but this is not what they received.  This week at a protest Nadine Atallah the vice-president of Concordia’s Undergraduate Students’ Association, said “Some of them don’t get enough food. Their access to hot water and use of kitchen are restricted, and they can’t have visitors.” “In one incident, a student was accused of stealing forks, knives and cups, and had to pay the landlord $150.  After she paid, the landlord said more went missing and asked her for $1,240 or to get out.”  It is said that these issues came to light after three Chinese students went the university’s housing and job bank for help. An article was then released in the school paper telling how the Chinese students were being taken advantage of. The Chinese student  told the school paper how he paid $900 a month to share a crowded house with 12 other people and for breakfast, lunch, and dinner they only received two pieces of bread with margarine or a hot dog. Another student named Lydia Li from Shanghai told the Star she paid $900 a month to stay in a house with a family of three and two other students. Li said “There’s only a bed in the room, no chair or desk. We didn't even have a lock on our doors. All we had were sandwiches with jam. We don’t know where to complain. No one is taking responsibility and we feel betrayed by Concordia.” A member of the university’s Graduate Students’ Association thinks that these problems are growing as Canadian universities began to use more recruitment agencies to help them compete in the international education market. However Christine Mota a spokeswoman for Concordia said no international students had complained to the administration about these issues. Mota said the administration plans to create virtual and on-site orientation sessions, in Mandarin, Arabic, Farsi and other languages, that will include information on housing and their rights as tenants. It will also make available a Mandarin version of the pre-departure guide for foreign students. Christine Mota also emphasized that Low was not a Concordia employee; he is a contractor who represents the school at international education fairs and marketing seminars but Li and other Chinese foreign students believe that Low is a Concordia employee because of his Concordia email address and they did not have to pay him an administrative fee for arranging the home-stay.

          I have noticed it is becoming a more common problem for international students to be mistreated and taken advantage of when they go to another country to study. More and more students are beginning to come out talk about the terrible living conditions and being starved. There should be some type of laws put in place to prevent this from happening or they should have random check-ups where someone randomly stops by the place the international students are living to see how the living arrangements are.  Peter Low also needs to be investigated and possibly removed from his job if he is actually an employee or Concordia instead of just a recruitment person for them.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1284993--concordia-university-students-want-probe-of-foreign-student-recruiters

Blog 10: "Overseas students 'starved'"

According to the article “Overseas students 'starved'” the demand for International higher education is predicted to increase to 3.7 million students in 2025 from 2.2 million students in 2005 but there has been a steady decline in international student enrollment in Australian schools since 2010.  The International Education and Research Industry Action Plan found out NSW is in danger of losing its appeal as a destination for overseas students. It reported abusive host families, unsafe rental accommodation, expensive public transport, and the claim that students are being underfed by host families and students were living in overcrowded rental accommodations, illegal boarding houses and significant distances from their campuses due to shortage of accommodation in Sydney. Also it was reported students are being put at risk of assault walking home from their campuses to save on transport costs, as they are not eligible for concession cards. A member of the task force, David Bycroft, stated that NSW would be more attractive to international students if the recommendations were met. Bycroft said "What students are looking for is not just education but a lifestyle experience and a big part of that is accommodation and transport," "The number of international students has declined and we need to address that. Clearly there is responsibility on the government to improve transport and accommodation issues. “At the moment they are factors that would be contributing to less students coming to Australia because other countries are improving on those areas. We have to keep up with the rest of the world." The state government is supposed to provide a response to the recommendations in November.

If Australia takes the recommendations into consideration and make some changes I think the international student enrollment will began to increase again. I also agree with what David Bycroft said most students go study overseas for the experience they don’t go just for the education because they can get that from a school in their own country but they shouldn't have to put themselves at risk to abuse to learn about different lifestyles. There should be some type of repercussions for the host families that were mistreating the students because they shouldn't have signed up for the program to be host families if they didn't want the students to be there. As far as the overcrowded unsafe rental accommodations there should be some type of laws or regulations against this so the places could be fined or completely shut down.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/overseas-students-starved-20121029-28dvx.html

Blog 9: Pakistani Students Continue to Stand Up for Education

Another Pakistani girl, Hina Khan, began to speak out publicly about the threats she has been receiving for attending school. Khan who is only 17 has been an advocate for education, especially girl’s education, and now she cannot leave her house because of death threats. According to the Human Rights Watch they recorded that Pakistan is one of the most dangerous places in the world to attend school. In July, a woman's rights activist was murdered for her work on girls' education and in December a teacher who supported children's and women's rights was gunned down on his way to school. Three days after the horrific attack on Malala Yousafzai, three students returning from university had acid thrown on them. This is getting out of hand and these instances show the urgency of the campaign to support Malala and the 61 million girls and boys she stands for who are not able to go to school. A spokesperson for the UN Special Envoy for Global Education said “I believe we must collectively realize a world where all children can go to school and learn. A world where school is a safe place and where no one is threatened for wanting an education.” Citizens from across the world are standing up and signing a petition at   www.iammalala.org to ensure that all children go to school. The goal is to deliver over one million signatures to President Zardari on November 10th, one month after the tragic shooting of Malala, and show him that people from across the globe and within Pakistan want change.
I think it’s really important that people continue to sign this petition and not just try to forget what happened to Malala Yousafzai. It really a sad situation that students and teachers have to put their lives in grave danger every day just to go to school. Now that more media attention is being put on the issue hopefully that will push other countries to try to help end the problem. Children should not have to be afraid to get an education because that it what will take you far in life.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gordon-brown/pakistani-students-contin_b_2011262.html

Blog 8: Europe Urged to Revamp Education

Many European countries are going through economic hardships right now, so they have decided to cut some of their spending on education. Many of the teachers and students in Spain, Italy and Great Britain are protesting against the harsh cuts in educational funding. Some of the ways Great Britain has cut some of the financing is by introducing really expensive tuition fees at universities.  This means that potential students will have no other choice than to either take out loans or put off going to college until they can afford it. They also have to consider the fact of if they will be able to repay those student loans after they graduate. A report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said that now is the best time for the governments to restructure their entire education sector but they also stated that they believe some countries are going about the change in the wrong way. The O.E.C.D. believes that secondary school teachers should be very well paid to attract the best, and universities should be run more efficiently. Secondary school teachers in Asia are relatively well paid and enjoy a higher social standing than those in Europe. It is rare to find any Asian government cutting back on education, regardless if it is in a financial crisis or not. Education is considered sacrosanct to Asian countries and the key to the region’s competitiveness. On the other hand, governments in Europe are cutting away from the education budgets instead of using the financial crisis to revise funds to education as part of a renovation of the system. I believe the European countries shouldn't cut their education budgets. Many countries are struggling and going through really bad financial crises’ right now but education is what will drive the economy back up in the future. You cannot expect your country to do better if the people aren't well educated to better themselves so I believe the educational budget cuts could potentially lead to other problems. They are many other areas where a nation’s budget can be cut before they have to cut educational funds. I think it’s obvious that education builds up your country look at Asian countries and how successful their country and economy is, maybe all the other countries of the world should take some notes from them.

http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/15/europe-urged-to-revamp-education/

Blog 7: Gunmen in Pakistan shoot teenage advocate for girls' education

           This week a girl named Yousafzai was brutally attacked this week. Yousafzai is a well-known advocate for girl’s education. She spoke out against Taliban destruction of girls’ schools in Swat and atrocities committed by the insurgent group’s fighters and in December the Prime Minster awarded her the country’s National Peace Award for Youth. Local witnesses said she was inside a school bus that was taking her and other girls home from their school in Mingora, when a gunmen approached on a motorcycle. They stopped the bus and began to fire at Yousafzai, injuring her in the head and neck, and then sped off; the little girl beside her also sustained gunshot wounds. She was rushed to hospital where doctors initially said her injuries were not life threating but later when she was taken to Peshawar’s military hospital where the doctors said was in crucial condition. A military official who had to speak on the situation anonymously said the bullet went through her temple and struck her shoulder. A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban took full responsibility for the attack on Yousafzai it was said that she was targeted because she was speaking out against the group and encouraging girls to adopt Western norms.  The President Asif Ali Zardari also released a prepared statement about the attack. “Young girls like Malala Yousafzai symbolize the quest for knowledge of the girls of Swat,” Zardari said in the statement, adding that militants “would never be able to shake the resolve of the nation through such dastardly acts.”
            I think this is a sad situation a little girl gets attacked just for promoting education for girls. Yousafzai was simply trying to get a good education and help other little girls be able to get one and she gets shot in her temple and shoulder. This situation needs to get investigated more and the person/people responsible should be held accountable for their actions. Just because they don’t support girls getting an education doesn't mean they need to attempt to kill a young girl. Even if she survives there is a possibly that she could still have some type of brain injury or other serious side effects from getting shot in her temple; that’s why the person should not get away with this.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/10/gunmen-try-to-kill-teenaged-swat-activist.html

Blog 6: US, British universities top in academic excellence report

 The United States and British universities have always been leaders in higher education but now Asian universities are moving up. The US kept the number one spot having 76 of its universities in the top 200 with Britain right behind.  Universities in China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore have all had sudden increases in their academic performances which it believed to be evidence of a power shift from west to east. Although the United State and Britain still dominate both have suffered in overall loss in position on the top 200 list because the Asian school are moving up so rapidly. The huge investment that was made for top research universities across Asia is finally starting to pay off. The ranking system also warned that Britain schools were slipping down due to budget cuts, higher tuition fees, and global competition. Outside of London, Oxford, and Cambridge the British universities are slowly collapsing.
Reading this article really showed me lot because it was said that Asian students are extremely smarter than the United States students but our university rank higher than theirs, so while they may be the leader in the elementary through high school education its clear we the leaders in higher education. I don’t believe that the Britain and US are necessarily slipping on the charts it just seems that way since Asian schools are finally move up they are just pushing some on the other schools down so it makes it seem as if the school as doing worse than they were last year. Each one of the areas needs to continue to give money to fund education because this is what it going to drive the future of the world.
 

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/education/article3964192.ece

Blog 5: International Students: Prepare for Additional College Fees

This article tells about how the cost for international students to study in the United States is expensive and still increasing because of some additional cost that colleges charge.  International students do not qualify for federal aid and they are normally charged out of state tuition but to add that some universities implement an international students fee that could be anywhere from 50-500 dollars a semester. Ohio State recently enforced a 500 dollar international student’s fee that is supposed to go towards pre-departure orientations all the way through arrival at Ohio State and improving other resources that they would need while they are on campus. Another surprise cost that many international students do not realize they have to pay for is student health insurance. In many other countries students do not have to have any type of health insurance but in the United States it is a strict requirement that all international students have a form of health insurance whether it’s the school’s insurance or personal insurance, without this they would not even be considered legal.  Although it is expensive and the universities try to make sure their experience is worth the money many international do not get their money’s worth.  Some international students do visit the offices and take advantage of the services they are paying for many of them do not. They would prefer to find out things from a friend or think it does not affect them.

I personally think that it is already expensive enough to study aboard so students should not be charged an extra 500 dollars for international student’s fee. I could understand paying an extra hundred dollars or two hundred but 500 dollars is too much. The extra resources international students would need should already be included in the price of tuition they have to pay. It’s all these hidden fees that discourage many students from even considering going to another country to study when this could really enhance your college experience.  

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2012/09/27/international-students-prepare-for-additional-college-fees?page=2 

Blog 4: Segregation Prominent in Schools

Segregation is still prominent in schools today. After all the civil rights movements so that kids could be considered equal and go to school together it still continues today just not as heavily as it did years ago. Latino children are still segregated in California, New York and Texas. While blacked kids are still segregated in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Philadelphia and Washington. According to the report more than one in seven black and Latino children attend schools where less than one percent of their classmates are white. This report was just released in 2009 the last year in which federal statistics are available. The Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles report stated 43 percent of Latinos and 38 percent of blacks attend schools where fewer than 10 percent of their classmates are white this was just released Wednesday. Segregation continues to grow in schools even though it was outlawed years ago.  Many education advocates believe that teacher evaluations have to lot to do with it. Teachers are evaluated on their students test scores which keep a lot of teachers from wanting to teach in high minority, high poverty areas because they are known for having lower test scores and then the teacher could be fired over this. Some advocates blame the Obama administration but others support charter schools and feel like they are benefiting the community even if they are not completely racially integrated.

Although segregation will probably always remain a problem in schools I feel like they should focus on the areas where it is most prominent and start making a change there. When you go to the source of the problem it is easier to solve than starting elsewhere then trying to move in. Teachers should be accountable for the student’s grades but if it is already a low performing area then the consequences shouldn’t be as harsh and they should give them a few years before they really start blaming them for the students low performance scores.


http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=DA-SORT&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&userGroupName=gree35277&tabID=T004&searchId=R1&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=2&contentSet=GALE%7CA302800635&&docId=GALE|A302800635&docType=GALE&role=

Source: New York Times

Blog 3: Education No Guarantee for Success

In this article it talks about how in the current state of our economy education does not guarantee that you will be successful. It is still a well-known fact that if you get a college degree you generally make more in hourly wages than a person with just a high school diploma but the salaries for college graduates have not increased since 2000. Many of the salaries have actually dropped since then. “Employees with a four-year college degree earned about 75 percent more in hourly wages than high school graduates. Workers with postgraduate credentials earned 30 percent more than workers with a four-year degree. In 2011 the unemployment rate for college graduates 5.2 percent was less than half that for people with a high school diploma 11.1 percent.” With that being said a college degree does help but it does not guarantee anything. Many college graduates are working but they are not making the wages they deserve or their job doesn’t even require a degree.  Another problem that exists which has a huge influence on your income status is your parent’s income status.  “Only about one of six children born to parents in the bottom fifth of the income distribution remained there as adults if they obtained a college degree, the report concludes.  But by contrast, nearly half of the children of low-income parents who don’t complete college remain stuck on that bottom rung.” This is an issue because lots of families cannot afford to send their children to college but if they don’t their children probably won’t end up with a decent job.

This article really opened my eyes to the issue of college graduates obtaining jobs once they have completed school. I knew that many college students were not making the wages they should rightfully be making with their degrees, but I did not know that it was not expected for the jobs and income growth median to get back to the level it was at in 2000 until 2018. That is a huge generational gap decline. We need to find ways to generate more jobs in our economy so they wages can increase and we can get back to where we were in 2000 then further improve from there. 

http://www.nationaljournal.com/thenextamerica/education/education-no-guarantee-for-success-20120914 

Blog 2: Muslims From Abroad Are Thriving in Catholic Colleges

This article talks about how Muslim students from all around the world have begun coming to the United States to attend college. According to recent studies Muslim students prefer to go to a Catholic university than to go to a traditional college. The enrollment rate of Muslim students into Catholic schools has doubled over the past decade but what is even more surprising is that the rate of enrollment for Muslim women has more than tripled over the past decade. One of the students Maha Haroon, a student at Creighton University in Omaha, said “I like the fact that there’s faith, even if it’s not my faith, and I feel my faith is respected.” Many of the students feel like they are more accepted there and like the added features of same sex floors or even same sex buildings which many other schools do not offer. Some schools even make special accommodations from their religious holidays and their traditional preprayer washing of hands and feet. Although the women are sometimes asked if they are hot with their head covering on or why do they attend a Catholic school the overall environment is more warm and friendly than a traditional college campus.

Looking at this from a micro-perspective I think that Muslim students going to a Catholic school makes them feel more at home because most students there are probably very religious regardless of what religion they believe in. They also do not have to worry about being teased or talked about because the rituals they have to follow related to their religion. If I was a Muslim student I would probably choose to go a religious affiliated school also because I would feel like the professors and students would be more understanding of me and my beliefs since they take classes to learn about a wide variety of religions. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/03/education/muslims-enroll-at-catholic-colleges-in-growing-numbers.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=education&adxnnlx=1346961619-nEGZLdezOlafXSCUv2XRmQ

Blog Entry 1: hunger strike over patriotism class (2:37pm 8/31/2012)

A hunger strike led by three teenagers is in full effect in Hong Kong protesting against Chinese patriotism classes, “national education courses” that the government is encouraging students to take. The teenagers became their three day hunger strike on Thursday afternoon sitting right outside of the government headquarters and they are camping out there until Saturday afternoon when many other people are expected to join and rally hoping to convince the government to cancel the course. Parents, students, and teachers are against this the government implementing this “national education course” because they feel as if it is brainwashing the kids the support to Chinese government in everything they do. “Critics say the lessons gloss over events like the bloody Tiananmen crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 1989, and the mass starvation and extrajudicial killings of Mao's Cultural Revolution.” Although the course is only voluntary right now many teachers are not planning to teach it because they do not support these issues being discussed with young kids but by 2016 the course will become mandatory if the issue is not resolved now before the new school year begins Monday.

I think the government should not try to force this course into the school system. Although it is important for kids to know about the history of their country including the terrible things they went through they could find another way to educate the kids instead of forcing a class to be taken. If a student is not interested in a course they will not do well in it so if this course becomes mandatory instead of voluntary this could potentially have a terrible effect on their education system. Teachers and parents don’t even support it so they should really rethink this whole course and come up with a better solution.

 http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1223231/1/.html

http://www.timeout.com.hk/big-smog/features/53046/students-on-hunger-strike-against-national-education.html