Hacker News Reader

Comment by nkangoh | Hacker News Reader

I REALLY wish teaching was as prestigious as say, being a doctor, or investment banker. I read a very interesting [1] book on this and it really just opened my eyes regarding the mediocrity of teaching (not quality per say, but as a profession, which eventually leads to poor education).

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Smartest-Kids-World-They-That/dp/14516...

View on HN

It is (in a free market). China/HK has millionaire private teachers.

It is (in a socialist market). Finnish teachers have some of the utmost prestige.

The mentioned book really talks about how Korea, China (and Hong Kong) along with some European countries do education much differently.

It is in a social free market (Germany). I've never seen a high school teacher having to take on another job. Everyone had their own cars and in particular everyone went one or two multi-week vacation to warmer climates. It's painful to see how little America cares.

The problem with those who make 1:1 comparisons of the US and Finnish public education systems is that Finland is largely (yes, I know there are some Swedes there) a homogeneous culture, whereas the US is a "melting pot" containing a huge variety of cultures.

The Swedes there are not the problem. The recent Muslim immigration is. The PISA scores are falling in Finland, too, in accordance with the rising number of school children of (recent) Muslim origin.

: The Tartars do not seem to be stupid and do fine.

Well, I wasn't saying Swedes in Finland are a problem; I was simply trying to head off the potential criticism that Finland is not technically homogeneous ;-)

The problem with those who make 1:1 comparisons of the US public education and Chinese private education systems is that those who can afford private education in China are largely (yes, I know there are some Americans and Koreans there) an (ostensibly) homogeneous culture, whereas the US is a "melting pot" containing a huge variety of cultures.

China? Really?

The public teachers depend on bribes to get by. The private teachers are just into exploitation and delivering false hopes. Please don't take China as a good example, it is not; even HK is way more dysfunctional than the American system.

Yeah, and many of them tout their modeling credentials (discovered this when I was trying to learn Cantonese).

Uh, they're teaching something, it's just not what you think it is.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com