U.S. students and math
U.S. students perform worse in math than children in many Asian and European countries yet find the subject more enjoyable, a Brookings Institution study concluded.
Brookings, in an annual report from its Brown Center on Education Policy in Washington, says a “happiness factor” could help explain the failure of U.S. math students to perform at the test levels of Singapore, China, South Korea, Japan and other countries.
The report criticized groups including the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics for urging “the development of personal self-confidence” in students while paying insufficient attention to actual achievement.
The study involved the most recent fourth- and eighth-grade test results and student questionnaires from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, conducted in 2003, which allows for comparisons among students in 46 countries.
Bloomberg News