Comments on: Korean School Preps Students for Ivy League

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:57:22 +0000

Good to see that Korean schools are helping their students have access to the best schools in the world.

By: carol carter

carol carter — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 13:52:50 +0000

I agree. American students are often lacking basic critical thinking skills. Time to write, reflect, analyze and discern issues are often not part of our standardized-based emphasis. This produces students who don’t question or bring new ideas to the table.

We have just published a new book for freshmen and sophomores in high school called Critical and Creative Thinking for Teenagers to promote these very skills.

By: Rhonda Curbo

Rhonda Curbo — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 06:02:07 +0000

The ability to write a strong admissions letter/essay is also essential to admission. The GPA , leadership, and extras are worthless if the student is not able to articulate her positive qualities.

As educators, we are training educators to teach to test. Many of our youth never learn how to write an effective argument until they get to college. They learn how to take a test. We cannot put all of the blame on the high schools because the high school teachers are taught to teach as a preparation for standardized tests that measure how much financial support schools will get.

This is a vicious and degenerative cycle. There is still time to reform in our school systems. American educators on all levels must step up to bat!