OECD PISA test scores.

[Goldstone1976]

Yes but the question as shown by the OP isn't actually the full question. The actual question consisted of a table with a number of different figures and the question was about engine capacity rather than just "which is the smallest number". Might not seem like a lot of difference, but given that 78% of UK respondents managed to answer a more mathematically challenging, though more plain, question shows that it's not quite as simple a matter as some are making out.

That's true, but it was still the ability to pick out the smallest number from a list of four. The last question, which wasn't that hard, we scored 3% (from memory)...

 

[somerset]

Irrelevant statement as it has nothing to do with this particular issue, one of continued failings in the education system. I don't blame teachers in the slightest, but I do hold successive governments, bureaucrats and a culture of dumbing-down to appease the less academically gifted for these results.

For what it's worth, I found the test itself a PISA piss.

Not irrelevant at all....China was cited as the paragons at the top of the list, I say a few failings in the education system is a massively preferable failing to have to carry compared to knocking off 5000 people a year in the name of justice.

 

[Goldstone1976]

Not irrelevant at all....China was cited as the paragons at the top of the list, I say a few failings in the education system is a massively preferable failing to have to carry compared to knocking off 5000 people a year in the name of justice.

Ummmm, surely it doesn't have to be a choice between the two? Can we not improve our maths scores and still not execute people?

 

[symyjym]

A question from the test;

Helen rode her bike from home to the river, which is 4 km away. It took her 9 minutes. She rode home using a shorter route of 3 km. This only took her 6 minutes.

What was Helen's average speed, in km/h, for the trip to the river and back?

Average speed for the trip: ..................... km/h

http://www.oecd.org/pisa/test/

 

[Goldstone1976]

A question from the test;

Helen rode her bike from home to the river, which is 4 km away. It took her 9 minutes. She rode home using a shorter route of 3 km. This only took her 6 minutes.

What was Helen's average speed, in km/h, for the trip to the river and back?

Average speed for the trip: ..................... km/h

http://www.oecd.org/pisa/test/

This was the toughest question. We scored 3%. Shanghai - 31%.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

28km/h ?

 

[Mellotron]

This was the toughest question. We scored 3%. Shanghai - 31%.

I'd like to see some of them up against our finest in a lager downing contest though.

 

[Goldstone1976]

28km/h ?

If you could have done that at 15, you'd be one of the 3%

 

[TheJasperCo]

Not irrelevant at all....China was cited as the paragons at the top of the list, I say a few failings in the education system is a massively preferable failing to have to carry compared to knocking off 5000 people a year in the name of justice.

You could drag out other obscure links and tenuous associations with just about anything, to put any subject into some sort of perspective. I like lists as much as the next man, and my sympathies to those who are victims of human rights abuses, but this debate is about China's superior education system. I don't think it's a coincidence that they are the world's leading, growing ecenomy - the two go hand in hand. And this is more than just a few failings, our country as a whole risks being screwed on the global stage if we continue at this rate.

 

[somerset]

Ummmm, surely it doesn't have to be a choice between the two? Can we not improve our maths scores and still not execute people?

Yes........of course.....just beware of always using China as an example of what we should aspire to.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

If you could have done that at 15, you'd be one of the 3%

I don't think my mathematics has improved significantly since I was 15, so I probably could!

 

[symyjym]

This was the toughest question. We scored 3%. Shanghai - 31%.

28km/h ?

I made it 28.33 km/h, but the answer was 28 km/h, I guess we are allowed to round down otherwise I have undermined my own intelligence

 

[The Large One]

I made it 28.33 km/h, but the answer was 28 km/h, I guess we are allowed to round down otherwise I have undermined my own intelligence

It's 7km in 15 minutes. That's the best way to calculate.

 

[Goldstone1976]

Yes........of course.....just beware of always using China as an example of what we should aspire to.

I didn't say that at all!

I simply reported which country came top in these tests. S'all.

For the record - I absolutely would like our scores to be at least as good as theirs; but that is a million miles away from saying I want everything else to be like China.

 

[somerset]

I made it 28.33 km/h, but the answer was 28 km/h, I guess we are allowed to round down otherwise I have undermined my own intelligence

Its as simple as.....7km in 15mins......therefore in 60 mins it would be 28km..

 

[pastafarian]

i feel sorry for American children taking this quiz,yearning for that bygone era when it was possible to fit two people into one section of a revolving door

 

[leigull]

Got all the questions right, I'm a genius

 

[Titanic]

A question from the test;

Helen rode her bike from home to the river, which is 4 km away. It took her 9 minutes. She rode home using a shorter route of 3 km. This only took her 6 minutes.

What was Helen's average speed, in km/h, for the trip to the river and back?

Average speed for the trip: ..................... km/h

http://www.oecd.org/pisa/test/

Surely any 15yo who can't work that out in their head is basically unemployable?

Blair, Brown, Blunkett, Morris, Clarke, Kelly, Johnson, Bollx and co have a lot to answer for.

 

[symyjym]

It's 7km in 15 minutes. That's the best way to calculate.

I did how many 9 mins in 1hr = 6.6666666666666666666666666667 x 4 = 26.6666666…………………
Her journey back was a simple 30 km/h
26.6666……….. +30 = 56.666……… /2=28.33……………

But I can see where I went wrong

 

[Goldstone1976]

Surely any 15yo who can't work that out in their head is basically unemployable?

Then 97% of the current crop of 15 year-olds are unemployable.

I don't think I'd go as far as you in the assertion, but, as an employer and as a citizen, I find the stat deeply troubling. These people will be paying my pension (or what's left of it anyway).