ameriken

The big news in this is not Shanghai, but rather how far down the list America falls. We're too busy trying to make kids 'feel good' than we are challenging them, or encouraging competition and excellence. My wife is in her 3rd year of college and told me one of her classmates didn't know how to write the fraction 1/3 or .3333333 .

Shanghai teens top international education ranking, OECD says http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/131202212409-oecd-education-shanghai-horizontal-gallery.jpg CNN) -- When it comes to mathematics, reading and science, young people in Shanghai are the best in the world, according to a global education survey released Tuesday. In all three subjects, Shanghai students demonstrated knowledge and skills equivalent to at least one additional year of schooling than their peers in countries like the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom. The findings are part of the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (or PISA) -- a leading survey of education systems conducted every three years by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a grouping of the world's richest economies. More than half a million students, aged 15 and 16, sat a two-hour exam last year as part of the study. The pupils came from 65 countries representing 80% of the global economy. East Asian economies performed best overall, claiming seven of the top 10 places across all three subjects. READ: What Asian schools can teach the rest of the world In math, Shanghai had the highest score with 613 points -- the equivalent of nearly three years of schooling above the average for the 34 OECD member countries of 494, and six years above Peru which ranked last with a score of 368. The city also came top in 2009 rankings. Singapore came second in mathematics with a score of 573, followed by Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and Macau. But the math performance of most countries has not improved since the PISA tests were launched more than a decade ago. Around 60% of the 64 countries who participated in previous studies performed at the same level or worse in 2012, and nearly a third of all students scored in the lowest band for the subject. TRY THE PISA TEST YOURSELF U.S. lags The United States ranked 36th, performing below the OECD average in mathematics with 481 points, and a score indistinguishable from the average for reading and science. The United Kingdom did slightly better, ranking 26th, equaling the average score for OECD countries in math and reading. The UK performed above average in science with a score of 514. READ: China's grueling college entrance exam Part of the reason pupils do so well in Shanghai, according to the OECD's deputy director of education, Andreas Schleicher, is that they have the drive and confidence to fulfill their potential. "In China and Shanghai, you have nine out of 10 students telling you, 'It depends on me. If I invest the effort, my teachers are going to help me to be successful'," Schleicher told CNN's On China program, which will air later this month. Similarly, in Japan -- which ranked 7th overall -- more than 80% of students disagreed or strongly disagreed that they put off difficult problems, and 68% disagreed or strongly disagreed that they give up easily when confronted with a problem. Hard work "Practice and hard work go a long way towards developing each student's potential, but students can only achieve at the highest levels when they believe that they are in control of their success and that they are capable of achieving at high levels," the PISA report said. PISA tests students near the end of their compulsory education in areas that are "essential for full participation in modern society," as well as their ability to apply what they have learned in new situations. "This approach reflects the fact that modern economies reward individuals not for what they know, but for what they can do with what they know," the report said. In reading, East Asian economies also topped the league table. Shanghai ranked first, with a score of 570 -- the equivalent of one and a half years more schooling than the OECD average. Hong Kong ranked second, followed by Singapore, Japan and South Korea. Half the countries that took part in previous assessments saw an improvement in reading comprehension since 2003. Shanghai also topped the list in science, with a score of 580 compared to the average of 501 -- the equivalent of nearly two more years of schooling. In fifth place, Finland was the top performing country outside Asia, behind Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan. Data on other Chinese provinces and cities is not yet published by PISA because not enough regions take part in the tests to be considered representative, a spokesman said. However, China as a whole is expected to be included in the 2015 assessment. Shanghai has been at the forefront of education reforms in the country in recent years. Rote learning? Shanghai's outstanding performance defies preconceptions about China's education system being based on rote learning, according to Schleicher. "The biggest surprise from Shanghai ... was not that students did well on reproducing subject matter content but that they were very, very good in those higher order skills (that reflect) what you can do with what you know," he said. Around one in four Shanghai students performed in the top two reading bands compared to the average with just under one in 10. Jiang Xueqin, deputy principal at the Tsinghua University High School in Beijing, told CNN that Shanghai's education system invests in teaching staff by offering training and high salaries. "The teachers are very well-paid, very professional," Jiang said. "The Shanghai government will spend a lot of resources in making sure that each teacher is well trained, has opportunities to go abroad, (and) has opportunities to learn from the best teachers." Other countries whose performance improved in PISA this year, such as Brazil, Colombia and Poland, have implemented policies to raise the quality of teaching staff by increasing requirements for education licenses, providing incentives for high-achieving students to enter the profession and ongoing on-the-job training, according to the report. Jiang also told CNN that Shanghai's success is a product of a culture that prioritizes academic achievements over other pursuits. "A lot of it is that the students are engaged in learning. The parents, the students, the community are engaged in making sure their child succeeds," he said. http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/03/world/asia/pisa-education-study/

Boris Clitoris

Lol, so very true. I always wondered why the plural of moose is moose, goose is geese, and noose is nooses. Or if louses are lice, mouses are mice, why aren't houses hice? And I'm sure we've all had fun with trying to explain this language to our Chinese speaking partners.

Thanks for the link, I just checked out the site...FYI they do deal with the other consulates as well. For me, it's Chicago. http://www.passportvisasexpress.com/visa_services/china/china_chicago_consulate/tourist_visa

While that may provide enough evidence that you have a bonafide marriage, the tax return might provide enough doubt in the mind of an apathetic IO or VO who woke up on the wrong side of bed, and all they need is that one piece of doubt to nullify all the other bits in your favor. By filing 'single', you made a formal legal and "bonafide" declaration of your marital status to the US Govt, and now are trying to convince the same government that you really didn't mean it. Like dnoblett said, taxes are a big piece of the puzzle and as you can see from his link, someone was already denied because of it. If it were me, I'd be on the phone with my accountant to get the past 3 years amended and leave nothing to chance (chance being what kind of mood the VO/IO is in).

lol, good story. You remember the book with the title that goes something like "Men are from Mars, Women are from some extremely distant and undiscovered planet on the remote fringes of the universe"

Maybe they're referring to Medicaid?

Too too funny!!! http://www.buzzfeed.com/nataliemorin/chinese-signs-that-got-seriously-lost-in-tranlsation

It had me fooled too Carl. I was looking at the south part of the bikini and it looked like a bit o' cameltoe.

Oh my, that is just too tantalizing

There are immigrant health insurance plans available...not the most comprehensive, especially at that age. http://www.inboundtravelinsurance.com/inbound-immigrant-insurance/

@ Tsap Seui....to add insult to error, face may also be the reason why the evacuation order wasn't given for 90 seconds. I believe a flight attendant (female) said she asked one of the pilots if they should evacuate and the pilot initially said no and the evac didn't happen till 90 secs later. Deborah Hersman said "It seems a little unusual that the crew would not announce an order to evacuate after a plane crash" "We don't know what the pilots were thinking." My guess is the pilot was thinking "I'm in charge and I'm not gonna let some woman give the orders around here".​ Asiana 214: Plane evacuated 90 seconds after crash The evacuation of Asiana flight 214, which crash-landed on Saturday in San Francisco, was delayed because the pilots initially said passengers should stay put, a safety official has said. Continue reading the main story

I heard about this today. Gonna be interesting to hear how this all pans out in the end...someone should have been keeping an eye on the airspeed indicator and caught the drop in speed long before they hit 105 kt.

My wife flew Asiana to Shanghai in 2010 and though she was quite pleased with their service (I think she returned on the same or a similar flight) she has now sworn never to fly them again. She also just returned last Wednesday from Shanghai but this time we had booked her on United. Coincidentally just as they were about to touchdown in SFO on the same runway they had to do a go around. She said the pilot announced the tower called for the go-around due to traffic on the runway.

Look at all the NE states, all with the highest rates of cancers. What's up with that.

No kidding, I couldn't even imagine the centrifugal/g-forces in the back of the plane when it did that semi-sorta cartwheel...being thrown up 30, 40, 50 feet in the air and then slammed to the ground. Amazing also how the fuselage remained relatively intact and that all the fuel tanks didn't rupture. Kudos to Boeing for building such a sturdy aircraft.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=eotOVyXQYmc

New video of the plane crash-landing http://news.kron4.com/news/boeing-777-crashes-at-sfo/

Looks like the 2 Chinese killed were teens. So sad.

FAA: Boeing 777 crashes at San Francisco International Airport By Mike N. Ahlers, CNN (CNN) -- A Boeing 777 operated by Asiana Airlines crashed while landing Saturday at San Francisco International Airport. Flight 214 left Seoul's Incheon International Airport earlier Saturday and flew 10 hours and 23 minutes to California, according to FlightAware, a website that offers tracking services for private and commercial air traffic. Anthony Castorani, who witnessed the flight land from a nearby hotel, said he saw the plane touch the ground then noticed a larger plume of white smoke. "You heard a pop and you immediately saw a large, brief fireball that came from underneath the aircraft," he told CNN. "It began to cartwheel." Kristina Stapchuck saw the dramatic scene unfold from her seat on a plane on the airport tarmac. Soon after Flight 214 touched down, "it looked like the tires slipped a little bit and it rocked back," she told CNN. Parts of the plane began to break off as it rocked and then began to spin. "It all happened so suddenly," Stapchuck told CNN. Video taken soon after the crash and posted on YouTube showed dark gray smoke rising from the plane, which appeared to be upright. That smoke later became white, even as fire crews continued to douse the plane. A photograph posted to Twitter shows what appear to be passengers walking off the plane, some of them toting bags, as smoke rises from the other side. The top of the aircraft was charred and, in spots, gone entirely, according to video from CNN affiliate KTVU. The plane was on its belly, with no landing gear evident and the rear tail of the plane gone. Fire trucks were on site, while first responders could be seen walking outside the aircraft. Evacuation slides could be seen extending from one side of the aircraft, from which there was no apparent smoke. There were a few clouds in the sky around the time of the crash, and temperatures were about 65 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Winds were about 8 miles per hour. CNN's Dana Bash, who was heading to the airport at the time of the crash, said she noticed smoke emanating from the runway. She said she had not noticed any arrivals or departures since the crash. Asiana Airlines is one of South Korea's two major airlines, the other being Korean Air. It operates many of its flights out of Incheon International Airport, which is the largest airport in South Korea and considered among the busiest in the world. San Francisco International Airport, located some 12 miles south of downtown San Francisco, is California's second busiest, behind LAX in Los Angeles. According to information on Asiana Airlines' website, the company has 12 Boeing 777 planes. They have a seating capacity of between 246 and 300 people and had a cruising speed of 555 mph (894 kph). CNN's Chelsea J. Carter contributed to this report. http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/06/us/california-plane-incident/

CNN news reporting now that an Asiana 777 has crash landed in SFO. No other details as of yet.

Agreed Thomas. I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day. I'm a little late posting this, but this is one of my favorite pieces of music. A local radio talk show host in Denver plays this every Memorial Day and Veterans Day as a tribute to our Veterans due to it's resemblance to the theme of Taps. Il Silenzio (The Silence) Buona notte, amore Ti vedrò nei miei sogni Buona notte a te che sei lontana (Good night, love I'll see you in my dreams Good night to you who are far away) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6HzpZL7pW8