中国科学院2010考博英语完形填空

中国科学院2010考博英语完形填空

The Sum Of Mediocrity In Math, Americans Finish Way Out Of The Money

TIME FOR ANOTHER GLOBAL-COMPETITIVENESS alert. In the Third International Mathematics and Science Study--which last year tested a half-million students in 41 countries--American eighth graders scored below the world average in math. And that's not even the worst part. Consider this as you try to figure out which countries will dominate the technology markets of the 21st century: the top 10 percent of America's math students scored about the same as the average kid in the global leader, Singapore.

It isn't exactly a news flash these days when Americans score behind the curve on international tests. But educators say this study is important because it monitored variables both inside and outside the classroom. Laziness--the factor often blamed for Americans' poor performance--is not the culprit here. American students actually spend more time in class than pupils in Japan and Germany. Not only that, they get more homework and watch the same amount of TV. (Many Japanese students spend three hours a night soaking up ""Seinfeld'' and ""Hercules,'' too.) The problem, educators say, is not the kids but a curriculum that is too easy. The study found that lessons for U.S. eighth graders contained topics mastered by seventh graders in other countries. ""Most of our students have not even been exposed to the material on this test,'' complains Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley. Adds Pascal Forgione Jr., head of the National Center for Educational Statistics: ""We expect less from our students, and they meet our expectations.''

Teachers actually agree that Americans need to expose their kids to more sophisticated math earlier. Unfortunately, experts say, the teachers don't recognize that how these concepts are taught is as important as the concepts themselves. Most educators rely exclusively on textbooks and rote learning. ""Our teachers start on page one and work their way through,'' laments Linda Rosen, executive director of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. While many textbooks cover advanced ideas, most do so superficially, leaving students with the techniques but not the mastery of the broader principles. (They can solve a geometry proof but can't explain why a triangle has 180 degrees.) Also, a typical American teacher stands up in front of a class, explains how to solve a problem and then hands out practice sheets with lots of problems to solve. In Japan, where students scored very high, a teacher might get in front of a class, offer a problem verbally and then ask students how they could go about solving it. They would exchange ideas for a while before the teacher, if necessary, guided them to the answer. It boils down to this: if you can't talk about math, you are unlikely to do it well. Story problems, anyone?