Recently, Newsweek published its list of “The best countries in the world.”
Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, Australia, Luxembourg, Norway, Canada, Netherlands, Japan and Denmark occupied the top 10 spots, respectively.
The list was based on five categories: education, health, economic dynamism, quality of life and political environment.
Conspicuously absent was the U.S., where citizens tout their country as “the greatest nation on earth.”
Unfortunately, that expression is now less of a national treasure and more of a self-righteous, blindly nationalistic refrain. Canada, the victim of so many jokes, is, according to Newsweek, a better place to live than the U.S..
The same goes for Japan, an American military protectorate.
The most pertinent question is: How have we reached this point?
One of the categories that stands out in Newsweek’s article is education. If the United States is losing its place at the pinnacle of international society, surely education can serve as a clear foundation for the problem. In the past decade, the United States has increased funding to schools dramatically.
No Child Left Behind, a program created by the George W. Bush administration, simply threw money at the broken public school system.
Why, with so much money going to education, have we fallen short of producing measurably better student scores? With American high schools ranked ninth in terms of percentage of adults with a diploma, and college diploma ranking at seventh, our educational system is clearly in disarray.
Given the exorbitant amount of money we spend on this category, it is safe to say the system is inefficient.
Americans must become aware of the ugly truth. We cannot continue to blame teachers and principals for the current state of affairs.
Plenty of money has already been wasted trying to address these issues, despite a lack of conclusive evidence to support their existence.
Perhaps there is a larger problem, a much more fundamental, nearly unmentionable issue — a lack of student motivation.
In the U.S., our assumption has been that student motivation is the responsibility of teachers. This is a misconception, because teachers do not have that kind of control over their students. In reality, motivation is weak because students do not like school, do not work hard and as a result, do not do well.
It would be a stretch to blame the entire state of the nation on our educational system, terrible though it may be. Instead, student motivation is really just part of a larger problem — a breakdown in traditional values.
When I say traditional values, I am most certainly not talking about religious values, abstinence or anything remotely related to morality.
Instead, the breakdown has occurred in a different place — our work ethic.
For the past two decades, the American dream has changed from having a decent job, a family, health care and a semi-early retirement, to getting rich quickly no matter what rules must be broken or what senator has to be bought off.
And for the past two decades, the hill upon which Reagan’s “city” rests has slowly eroded.
In an early August speech, President Barack Obama said Americans “Won’t settle for No. 2.”
Can they settle for 11th? This is the reality of our nation’s place in the world. America is a nation that believes in gross wealth gained at the expense of the poor.
In a time where the government should be asking us to make sacrifices the “greatest generation” would have silently shouldered, we will vote for whichever candidate promises to make it easier for us. And who will pay for our ease? Young Americans with poorer education than the U.S. has ever had.
If we intend to conquer the great problems of our time, we must face them with the spirit of our grandparents and great-grandparents.
American pride was not given to them. It was earned in historic battles against racism, communism and radical nationalism. In order to prevail, America will have to give away its toys and greed for its future. We won the Cold War, a series of battles over values.
Can we win this war? Only with a great deal more sacrifice than we are currently willing to make.
A version of this article appeared in the Sep 16 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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Relatively speaking, yes. We are experiencing globalization, and Ganesh in India is willing to work 10 times as hard for half the pay. Once he can afford an Iphone, however, he will want more money to pay for it...and things will balance out. We just get the transition period. I think our generation, if not..the next, will be the ones to wake up and realize that we are no longer handed the golden key to prosperity...that we must once again pave that road that our elders had so many years ago in forging a nation that created a new era in mankind.
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I hope concerned Hokie is right. My only worry is that it will be too little too late. Life used to be much harder in this nation (for our parents and especially grandparents). They spent decades figuring out how to make it easier through mechanization and technology. Today, it comes too easily without thinking about it. Often I see folks waiting for the elevator in my building when I can go up the stairs before the doors open for them. The fact that something "is hard" is a game-stopper for most folks. The path of least resistance is now mainstream and will leave us all lost. This is why Ganesh (referenced above) might just run circles around us once he does desire more money.
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i think now is the time to act on this problem before its too late......and people shouldnt blame teachers for they do there best to teach..it is up to the students to learn..........but students are lazy and just dont care......and thats the problem no matter what a teacher will do its up to the student to take the knowledge they have recived and hold and never let it go!!!!!
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The older generation blaming the younger generation is one of the great American traditions we still have. It brings a tear to my eye to see it done so well. The author completely neglects to tell you that the Newsweek article was written by a lib as a smear against America's capitalist tendencies. Another problem with the article is they never tell you what they measured to determine the rankings. If it was based on economics, military strength, charitable outreach, university education, tolerance, or cultural diversity America would be #1. The United States doesn't take care of you from cradle to grave so maybe because we allow people the freedom to make bad choices in their lives Europe beats us on the social issues. All I can say is Europe's more socialist approach worked great for Greece.
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Amen to the above, however I think the lack of student motivation (including myself) is because we are still using the same old approach to teaching. Computers have come a long way since I was in 1st grade and maybe if the lessons were engaging in a way (like applying it to real life) it would be much more interesting. 50% of the junk you learn 1st to 12th grade and then half the required courses you take in college you never use again.
Ok yeah it gives you a "broad" educational experience but going through the classes year after year becomes dreadful and boring esp with the new stimulating distractions of the TV, computer/internet these days.
If I could just focus on what I want to learn and what I want to do, I'd be so engaged in my education. It's hard to self-educate myself but if the educational structure allowed me to take what I wanted to take (and not just during the last year of college) then I'd be 100% motivated instead of 50% motivated.
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To add: I think teachers/professors take some of the blame since only so few are engaging and interesting since teaching is a skill you either have or you don't.
However I don't think all of the blame is on the teachers/professors but rather computer/tv/internet since it is everywhere these days. I waste so many hours a day alone in that trap.
Maybe if education took that route, it'd be much more motivating?
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Anonymous reader:
Newspapers do not typically post a bibliography with their opinion columns. They are available upon request. Before challenging someone's integrity as a writer, it is common courtesy to ask for their sources from the newspaper. If you are truly interested, here is the information you're curious about:
Education Rankings
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/13/national/main838207.shtml
Country Rankings
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/photo/2010-08/18/c_13450304.htm
As for the comment about the article being a liberal smear campaign by the older generation, I am unsure of what that even means. At the ripe age of 19, I do not view myself as part of an older generation. However, if you mean that I have a vested interest in America returning to its prior place at the top of the world through education and work ethic reminiscent of our fathers, then yes, I'm guilty. By definition, however, my views are conservative rather than liberal. 'Liberal' implies a movement away from past values; my article clearly indicates a move back towards the traditional American value of hard work. By definition, that is conservatism, and cannot be liberalism, its antithesis. The article addresses the obvious problem of education in our country; it never discusses economics, and therefore, cannot have anything to do with capitalism, a market system of economics.
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You would not know conservatism if it slapped you in the face. Half the time you open your mouth you are advocating government intervention. That is not what our country used to be about.
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As for the article itself, I realize the subjective and arbitrary nature of any qualitative list. However, the categories you wanted included in the ranking consideration are far more arbitrary than the ones used by Newsweek, and the article with the list that I supplied the link to is not in fact an op-ed piece; it is only a list of countries by ranking. That is hardly a smear campaign. And the inclusion of America's ranking in my article was meant only as an indication that even Newsweek, a journal that sells to a primarily *American* audience, is not biased enough to call America #1 anymore. The list was not compiled based on who has the bigger guns probably due to the fact that traditional armed forces have become largely obsolete as a defensive measure in the nuclear age. Many of the countries on that top 10 actually have a great deal more social freedom than we do; can anyone honestly tell me that Switzerland, the place we go to do our dirty banking and back door deals, has less freedom than we do?
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Best Global Brands 2010 (P American)
http://www.interbrand.com/en/best-global-brands/best-global-brands-2008/best-global-brands-2010.aspx
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The best country in the world is the one with the largest company? I fail to see the justification for such an assertion..
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No, not the largest companies but the most innovative and creative. Its also the reason the US leads in Nobel Prizes every year. Its handed out by Europeans (the top of the heap Scandinavians) often to scientists who immigrated to the US. Google, Facebook, eBay, iPhone, etc. I do take your point this is all threatened by the decline in primary education.
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American society does not value education. That attitude permeates with the public school student. There is the perception that public school is free, and a playground. Parents are unwilling to accept that their kids may not be the smartest and hardest working in the world. Too many loopholes allowed in the public school to accommodate students. They take advantage and whenever a parent complains, administration and school boards budge. There is a LACK of seriousness in the whole system and students take it as a JOKE. Ultimately, the public school system in this country is a JOKE.
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Blame the teachers? You bet I do! Or rather, I blame what the teachers were taught... on HOW to teach. Teachers telling parents that they are not allowed to teach the students at home outside of the schools set curriculum. YUP! Been there, done that. The old school mnemonics and "hooks" to help remember and recite information....not allowed. Its not the "New School" method.
Then turning around and complaining that America is falling behind in the rankings......
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