American Millennials among the worlds' least skilled

[cooltigger21 0]

In a test administered by the Princeton based Enterprise Testing Service, millennials in America were found to rank near the bottom in skills valued by employers. It's disturbing but not surprising considering what they are taught in school and what is in the pop culture. http://fortune.com/2...-least-skilled/

[IndianTiger 95]

This has been pretty consistent in terms of many recent reports on kids in the US not faring well in Math (particularly).

When you look at a typical suburban high school in the US, out of a 100 kids, about 70 of them take basic math and be able to graduate. The basic math is below the level of most high school math in other parts of the world. The efforts to toughen those standards are being opposed by parents mostly.

Not to mention, world geography/culture skills or foreign language abilities that are critical in a globally competitive market these days. Only kids in the top 25-30% really engage in all of this. The world is less US centric these days, quite a bit different from 30 years ago.

[autigeremt 6,560]

This has been pretty consistent in terms of many recent reports on kids in the US not faring well in Math (particularly).

When you look at a typical suburban high school in the US, out of a 100 kids, about 70 of them take basic math and be able to graduate. The basic math is below the level of most high school math in other parts of the world. The efforts to toughen those standards are being opposed by parents mostly.

Not to mention, world geography/culture skills or foreign language abilities that are critical in a globally competitive market these days. Only kids in the top 25-30% really engage in all of this.

I think the diverse nature of our country lends to this in many ways. We were created as a Representative Republic, and while we don't legislate (from a federal sense) like we did in 1790 we still have a lot of city to city, county to county, state to state policies protected from total federal control. Many other countries have state controlled education and it is regulated all the way down to how a child dresses. Here it's more liberal in how a child learns and what a parent can control. For us it has to be multifaceted...in my opinion.

[cooltigger21 0]

This has been pretty consistent in terms of many recent reports on kids in the US not faring well in Math (particularly).

When you look at a typical suburban high school in the US, out of a 100 kids, about 70 of them take basic math and be able to graduate. The basic math is below the level of most high school math in other parts of the world. The efforts to toughen those standards are being opposed by parents mostly.

Not to mention, world geography/culture skills or foreign language abilities that are critical in a globally competitive market these days. Only kids in the top 25-30% really engage in all of this. The world is less US centric these days, quite a bit different from 30 years ago.

I don't think parents oppose tougher standards. The rot gut that passes for education today is the problem. These people know all about climate change and heather has two mommies and all the rest of the multicultural crap. Now we've got this common core bs being fostered upon us. That is the most asinine stuff I've ever seen.

[IndianTiger 95]

This has been pretty consistent in terms of many recent reports on kids in the US not faring well in Math (particularly).

When you look at a typical suburban high school in the US, out of a 100 kids, about 70 of them take basic math and be able to graduate. The basic math is below the level of most high school math in other parts of the world. The efforts to toughen those standards are being opposed by parents mostly.

Not to mention, world geography/culture skills or foreign language abilities that are critical in a globally competitive market these days. Only kids in the top 25-30% really engage in all of this.

I think the diverse nature of our country lends to this in many ways. We were created as a Representative Republic, and while we don't legislate (from a federal sense) like we did in 1790 we still have a lot of city to city, county to county, state to state policies protected from total federal control. Many other countries have state controlled education and it is regulated all the way down to how a child dresses. Here it's more liberal in how a child learns and what a parent can control. For us it has to be multifaceted...in my opinion.

I see what you are saying, high schools do offer a diverse array of courses and that's really wonderful. But if it were upto me, we should raise the basic math standards and they have to pass to graduate high school. Otherwise I suspect we will be in worse shape 20 yrs from now.

[homersapien 11,346]

This has been pretty consistent in terms of many recent reports on kids in the US not faring well in Math (particularly).

When you look at a typical suburban high school in the US, out of a 100 kids, about 70 of them take basic math and be able to graduate. The basic math is below the level of most high school math in other parts of the world. The efforts to toughen those standards are being opposed by parents mostly.

Not to mention, world geography/culture skills or foreign language abilities that are critical in a globally competitive market these days. Only kids in the top 25-30% really engage in all of this. The world is less US centric these days, quite a bit different from 30 years ago.

I don't think parents oppose tougher standards. The rot gut that passes for education today is the problem. These people know all about climate change and heather has two mommies and all the rest of the multicultural crap. Now we've got this common core bs being fostered upon us. That is the most asinine stuff I've ever seen.

That should give you a clear lead in the 'three lines' category.

[autigeremt 6,560]

This has been pretty consistent in terms of many recent reports on kids in the US not faring well in Math (particularly).

When you look at a typical suburban high school in the US, out of a 100 kids, about 70 of them take basic math and be able to graduate. The basic math is below the level of most high school math in other parts of the world. The efforts to toughen those standards are being opposed by parents mostly.

Not to mention, world geography/culture skills or foreign language abilities that are critical in a globally competitive market these days. Only kids in the top 25-30% really engage in all of this.

I think the diverse nature of our country lends to this in many ways. We were created as a Representative Republic, and while we don't legislate (from a federal sense) like we did in 1790 we still have a lot of city to city, county to county, state to state policies protected from total federal control. Many other countries have state controlled education and it is regulated all the way down to how a child dresses. Here it's more liberal in how a child learns and what a parent can control. For us it has to be multifaceted...in my opinion.

I see what you are saying, high schools do offer a diverse array of courses and that's really wonderful. But if it were upto me, we should raise the basic math standards and they have to pass to graduate high school. Otherwise I suspect we will be in worse shape 20 yrs from now.

I agree! I'd like to see more emphasis on math and technical skills.

[Texan4Auburn 1,626]

One complaint I have at the college level in regards to math and sciences are instructors. At Auburn many of the instructors are GTA's in math and especially in labs for chem and physics. Then many of these GTA's are from out of the United States and their English is very poor. I had a GTA in physics and it was almost like a person reading a learned script. She would quickly go through something she obviously prepared and then when the questions hit she had difficulty answering the questions due to her English.

This increases the difficulty of the class and the frustrations of the students within the class. This then results in students losing interest in the field or the subject.

[IndianTiger 95]

One complaint I have at the college level in regards to math and sciences are instructors. At Auburn many of the instructors are GTA's in math and especially in labs for chem and physics. Then many of these GTA's are from out of the United States and their English is very poor. I had a GTA in physics and it was almost like a person reading a learned script. She would quickly go through something she obviously prepared and then when the questions hit she had difficulty answering the questions due to her English.

This increases the difficulty of the class and the frustrations of the students within the class. This then results in students losing interest in the field or the subject.

Completely agree with you at the college level, it seems to be across the board at many universities. Foreign students are required to pass TOEFL which is a test of english as a foreign language, but obviously that isn't helping much. Having said that, I think we have some of the amazing universities and resources in terms of professors and faculty members and many in the world wanting to come here is a testament to that.

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

As much as I hate to be classified as such due to the stereotypes, I am a millennial. One thing that I think isn't taken into account is that prevailing thoughts on how to raise kids perpetrated by our parents has actually worked to the detriment of our generation. Luckily my mother was someone who forced me to learn that the world is a hard place, but many in my generation still don't see this despite being in their early 30s, and this extends back to schools as well. Remember, it's not the kids who were fighting for an easier basic curriculum, it was our parents. Now that those realizations are hitting people as millennials further enter the workforce, we are the ones being blamed, when really, it's a reflection of the values that our parents instilled during formative years.

I work for a major worldwide corporation. In meetings and side conversations, I still hear from peers that "we don't receive enough positive reinforcement from our boss" as a major issue. That's a direct reflection of how our generation was raised as a whole and is now an expectation, rather than an earned exception. So the fact that many suck at math or other core business competencies really isn't that surprising. It's a reap what you sow effect, but the problem is often that blame is shifted to the millennial generation as being "lazy" instead of looking at the root cause, which is the generation previous to us who instilled these values.