The American education system is a product, in many ways, of other school systems. At the turn of the 20th century, the American school system was modeled after those in Germany, Scotland, and Prussia. At the time, these systems trained students to about an eighth grade level, and one out of five students extended their learning to become professionals.
Although the world has changed drastically in the last century, the American education system has not kept pace. In the global knowledge economy, only one-third of the class of 2011 were proficient in math, science, and reading.
Recently, legendary journalist Dan Rather spoke to the Asia Society annual education conference. He acknowledged that the audience knows a lot more about education than he does, but watching the video blog post below, you can see that he makes a good case for the United States to once again look outside its borders and reflect on lessons learned from highly successful education systems around the world.
Part two will follow on Thursday.