Somebody FREAKIN shoot me!!!!

[bdahlg68]

I'll help out on the "how the heck are other countries doing this" type of question at least from the ignorant view of a business traveler abroad.

I live in Northville, MI - pretty well to do area for Metro Detroit. Not by any means the "richest" - but pretty decent. Their high school is like a freakin Taj Mahal. HUGE.... BRAND NEW (well, a few years old now) .... no expense spared type of place. Same can be said for most of the cities nearby (e.g. South Lyon, and maybe Novi but not sure). At 2:20pm, traffic coming out of the school is a nightmare. And the county is looking for more money to spend on "upgrades" ????

I travel to China.... well, sort of.... SHANGHAI at least. Just walked around the Hongqaio area last week and the high school looks like a POS from the outside. The kids drive scooters, not late model BMW's or brand new cars. They were getting out of school at 7pm!

I travel to Germany. Not big city Germany, but more rural northern Germany. No Taj Mahal's to be seen. The teachers there are paid well... and from what I understand, PAY NO TAX ON THEIR TEACHING INCOME.

Point being that most of these other countries - when you talk about a school, that's what you are talking about. Not about it being pretty, or having lots of windows, or being brand new, or no more than 10 kids in a class, or whatever else. It's a space to teach... and that's about it. And they beat it home and society / parents put extreme importance on school. I'd say this is a bit different hear. I'm sure we are more successful in certain aspects of school. Just not in all of them... including some important ones!