Wrote Gary D’Amato of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about the 29th Olympiad: “Beijing, the historic seat of power in China, set a standard for host cities in almost every way from its efficient routing of traffic — no small feat in a city of 17.4 million — to its stunning and innovative competition venues such as the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube.”

But there is more to Beijing, China, than Olympiad accomplishments. China sees the need to increase levels of efficiency regarding educational progress. From vantage points, this Asian capital envisions progress in education reform being elliptical and recursive. It never ends.

China demonstrated strong athletic and architectural breakthroughs during the Olympiad. Other feats are highly possible, furthering the nation’s ambition of leading, advancing and specializing in various accomplishments. Task and scale are important to the Chinese.

China is not yet a robustly-ideal education nation. However, this Communist nation has made great strides in recent years. According to Vivien Stewart, vice president for education at the Asia Society, the country is making meaningful educational gains due to five elements:

* National standards and aligned instruction

* A core curriculum consisting of biology, chemistry, physics, algebra and geometry

* An ongoing preparation of science and math teachers

* Demanding examinations to motivate students and teachers

* Time on task in schools that are intensely academically focused

Matt Miller wrote for The Atlantic: “Local control of schools is crippling education in America. Education has lagged far behind its international peers in reading, math and science. School dropout rates are alarmingly high. U.S. schools need national standards.”

Here are seven suggestions in support of Miller’s audacious thesis on U.S. education:

1. Learn from other nations. Iceland, Korea, Japan, etc., that excel educationally. Learn.

2. Suspend ideas of educational superiority. The world is a smaller place. Nations know what is going on. Among the percentage of computer users employing broadband services in 2006, the U.S. was a distance from first place -- behind Belgium, Israel and Japan.

3. Overcome frustration. Within the 50 states, several territories and the District of Columbia assume education belongs primarily to their vision. U.S. education is quite complex.

4. Undo international jealousy. Pioneer nations are first, but others catch up to them.

5. Compete. Michael Phelps and the U.S. swimmers won gold at the 29th Olympiad. Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams and many other athletes were not denied gold medals.

6. Less tinkering. Tinkering could have payoffs, but too much tinkering puts the U.S. behind in competitive ventures. If tinkering is involved, bring out a new iPod, BlackBerry, etc.

7. Seek win-win solutions. The U.S. is not a second-class nation; there must be moves afoot to have the nation reclaim its place among strong and worldly competitors.

Voiced Stewart for Edutopia magazine: “The Chinese nation is impressive, and it is aggressively moving toward the newest goal of becoming a society and economy based on science and math by 2020. But its schools need a major redesign.” The U.S. cannot afford to do less and expect to compete with China and nations with strong core curricula in education.

Reach T&D Columnist Howard D. Hill, Ph.D., at www.educationconsultant@sc.rr.com

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