Fareed Zakaria has a thought-provoking article in the November 14, 2011 issue of Time. He begins by stating the problem: American education is declining while schools around the world are improving. The U.S. now ranks 26th in the world.
His remedy is not complex: study with highly competent professionals and work harder. Finnish students attend classes taught by teachers who represent 10% of the applicants to teacher training programs. In the U.S. teachers represent the bottom third of their college class. Zakaria notes that by the time South Korean students graduate from high school they will have spent the equivalent of two more years in school than American students.
What are we worried about? No one needs to understand physics to make beds and wait tables. As the U.S. becomes a service economy the Finns and South Koreans can visit Disney World and we can maximize their dream vacation while they’re here.
Zakaria's Facebook page and Wikipedia share this description:
Fareed Rafiq Zakaria is an Indian-American journalist and author. From 2000, he was a columnist for Newsweek and editor of Newsweek International. In 2010 he became Editor-At-Large of Time magazine. He is also the host of CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS, and a frequent commentator and author about issues related to international relations, trade and American foreign policy.
