Liberals did not destroy the American school system.

[Centurion1]

True, but then it becomes little relevant for why the US system looks like it does. One example of a more US specific problem is that the heavy focus purely on passing the SAT is running contradictory to current education ideals and is more resembling the older school system like the one in the 1960ies. Yet falls short of both.



It has a devastating effect on the amount of veterans though. And both professions are significantly helped by experience. So all that brain power didn't come to full bloom.

Does sweden have an education model similar to the models of most european countries? At what age are students told what path they are going on? Like at what age does the government tell them they are going to be a tradesworker or a college student?

Many european nations and asian nations put students on a specific path based off of their performance often as early as the beginning of high school. Some students are placed on a track to enter professions like carpentry while others go on the traditional track of university and something like a lawyor. This fact is why I don't place an credence on international test scores because often those scores are skewed because of the nature of educational programs in different countries espcially asia. So when people say american children are becoming dumber and indians europeans and east asians are going to dominate all of americas skilled sector jobs i scoff at the concept.
Now you did post data later on pointing in this direction, but as a theory, it has several details that needs to be number crunched before you can say it's correct.

Also I do not know where you are getting your facts but little to no time is spent in the classroom practicing for the SAT. more like none to be honest.

[Ironside]

Does sweden have an education model similar to the models of most european countries? At what age are students told what path they are going on? Like at what age does the government tell them they are going to be a tradesworker or a college student?

The students pick for the first time when choosing which gymnasium to go on. That's around age 16. Chosing a more practical line gives lesser odds at going to the university (you'll probably need to study some extra courses in that case), so the theoretical lines are fairly popular. Then the big choise become at university, at age 19.

Goverment tells them? Is that supposed to be red as bias against social democracies?

Anyway, the Swedish grades have been dropping internationally, so it's not like we have no flaws here either.

Also I do not know where you are getting your facts but little to no time is spent in the classroom practicing for the SAT. more like none to be honest.

Red the horror stories articles that shows up from time to time. I'm guessing that it's most common in the regions that does very poorly schoolwise. It's probably not universal in the US, as you pointed out, but certainly a problem where it occurs.

[Centurion1]

no ive lived in 5 different states from texas to california, to maryland to conneticut to virginia to new york and have never heard of the SAT being studied in school. you are either thinking of another standardized test or you are thinking that too much emphasis is being placed upon the SAT

[lars573]

Well you have to consider that graduating classes in most of the world are told that in order to even apply to a US university you have to take the SAT or they won't even look at your application. I was, repeatedly.

[Major Robert Dump]

I dont know about the SAT, but the ACT you can take time and time again, and only your last score counts. I had peers taking it in the 10th grade, and by the time they had taken it for the 12th time (along with prep courses) they made almost perfect scores.

This does not in any way mean they were intelligent, only good and persistent test takers. Things like the ACT and SAT should be done with no prep at all if you really want to get a good guage of a persons intelligence

[HoreTore]

It has always been my belief that heavy reading before a test is cheating.

Hence why I've never read much before a test

[Noncommunist]

no ive lived in 5 different states from texas to california, to maryland to conneticut to virginia to new york and have never heard of the SAT being studied in school. you are either thinking of another standardized test or you are thinking that too much emphasis is being placed upon the SAT

At my high school in Pennsylvania, we had one SAT prep course but it wasn't a required course and I never took it.

Well you have to consider that graduating classes in most of the world are told that in order to even apply to a US university you have to take the SAT or they won't even look at your application. I was, repeatedly.

Most schools require it. There are a few which either don't require it or don't even look at it but they are fairly rare.

It has always been my belief that heavy reading before a test is cheating.

Hence why I've never read much before a test

That's what I did with the SAT, seemed to work out fine.