PISA exams

Before reading about the PISA exam, I had no idea that was how we determined what place we are with other countries. Now after reading about them, I think that it is good to know how we rank compared to other countries, but I don't think that these test scores done by 15 year old students should determine major decisions regarding education in America. I believe that it shows that are education system needs to be better, but did we really need to look to other countries test scores for America's education system to realize that? We don't need test scores to raise for a better education, but a better way of doing things in schools around the United States. In an article I found from the New York Times, it talked about how students from Shanghai surprised America by how well they did on the PISA exams. The thing about this article that surprised me was how much America liked the fact that Shanghai spent more time on school, but less on socially beneficial things like sports or clubs. It stated that, "The results also appeared to reflect the culture of education there, including greater emphasis on teacher training and more time spent on studying rather than extracurricular activities like sports (Dillon,2010)." That sounds like the most boring school in the planet. There is nothing that could benefit less then doing something like that in the schools. You only have one life to live and the lives of those students are always going to be focused on getting more and more successful in the world. Preparing for jobs is only half of what schooling should be about. Teenagers especially need to interact with other students in more ways then just having school in common. The article also stated that the students where basically threatened saying if they don't do well on these tests it will give China a bad reputation, meaning that they will be a disappointment not only to themselves but to China. When PISA exams are putting this much pressure on its students I believe that it is wrong and should be stopped.

Source:
Dillon, Sam. (2010). Top test scores from shanghai stun
educators. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/education/07education.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1