Nick Weigold Annotated Bib Workshop Mathis, William J. Is Education the Key to Global Economic Competitiveness?

Teacher Educator 46.2 (2011): 89-97. Education Research Complete. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. This article discusses whether or not education directly affects a countrys ability to compete in the global economy. The main points it emphasizes are how educational success and economic success relate, and what we need to do to increase the effectiveness of our education system. In fact, there is a quote from President Obama where he says because economic progress and educational achievement go hand in hand. (Mathis 90) Later in the article Mathis goes on to talk about how strong education systems do often accompany strong economic systems, but not the same education is needed for all countries. For example, China may need to have more engineers and doctors, simply because they have more people. In bringing out this point he begins to discuss how education has a strong role in economic competitiveness, but does not control all of it. The main point that hits the hardest is that the United States economic problems will not be solved by high scores on standardized tests. Only five percent of jobs require these hard skills, and a policy trying to make us globally competitive based on test scores would not be effective. Instead teachers should encourage a diversity of talents, abilities and interests. Students should be given the opportunity to follow their own path because in democracy serves as more than an economic purpose, it is also used to develop good citizens to contribute to the health of their community. I strongly believe this source is reliable because it was written by someone who works in the School of Education at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Within the article he shows

both sides of whether or not education is the key to global economic competitiveness which makes it more credible because Mathis does not give a biased opinion. He also uses quotes and cites his research from other sources to confirm the information is viable. Now that I have read this article it makes me think more about why we must compete with other countries in education. This article made me think about why we are being competitive, and when Mathis discusses being competitive will be different for all countries this raised a new idea for me that I could introduce in my work. At first I thought that all countries would be the same and we could just copy what an effective country does, but after reading this I realize it is different.

Drew, David E. Stem the Tide. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 2011. Print. The main point this book discusses is how we need to reform our education system in order to have a more globally effective economy. One of the first topics Drew brings up is that we should not just imitate the strategies of other countries, and that we must build upon our own strengths. The most emphasis is put on recreating education programs for STEM fields, which are Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. The author believes that if all students were expected and demanded to master mathematics and science, the strength of the American labor force, and consequently, the American economy will increase. One quote that stood out to me to highlight this was, Competent mathematics and science education is critical if the United States is to compete in a globalized, high tech information economy. (Drew 13) The book goes on to talk more about what needs to be done to make the United States education system the most effective. Some of the key points are that top notch teachers and leadership is needed, high expectations must be set for students, and University Research must be supported.

I believe this source is reliable because it was printed recently, in 2011. Also because in the back of the book the author cited all of his resources, so this shows much of the information are facts, and is well supported by research. The author, David E. Drew, also assisted in an evaluation of a mathematics reform program when he was a graduate student, so he has plenty of background in discussing and analyzing reforming the education system. He also teaches multivariate statistics to PhD students, so he has experience being in a schooling environment. I will use this source in my work by once again explaining why we must be globally competitive within education. The main focus of the book is how to reform our education program in order to be more competitive, so it will also be helpful to use this information in explaining what needs to be improved upon, and how we can do it.

Larionova, Marina and Olga Perfilieva et al. Constructing National Ranking Methodology: Dilemmas, Choices, and Decisions. Problems Education in the 21st Century 48 (2012): 62-80. Education Research Complete. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. This main point of this article is to explain how universities across the globe compete, and how their competition is reflected by the growing interest in university rankings. This article highlights that there are many different factors that play into forming a universities reputation. Today universities are always trying to build their reputation to attract the best students and researchers. The growing interest in university rankings causes them to be one of the most important aspects of shaping a universities reputation. This desire to attract more students creates a desire to be one of the highest ranking universities, because of this there is a strong competition between universities across the globe. The author points out that the rankings are under a great deal of criticism because there is no formal system to create the rankings, and they can be created

by anyone including the media, professional associations, and even universities. However, despite the criticism, rankings still play a major role in creating competitiveness between universities all around the world. I believe this source is very reliable because it has six different authors so they create a system of checks and balances for each other. They also used research and cited their sources to verify their claims. It relates to my topic because it discusses the ranking of universities and how this creates a competition between universities not only from the United States, but from all across the globe. I plan to use this source in my work by explaining how education systems from different countries compete with each other by essentially fighting for the best ranking.