Students, Ball State professors and interested Muncie residents attended Andreas Schleicher's discussion of education systems, universal student achievement and the quality of teachers Thursday night at the Alumni Center.
Schleicher, the recipient of the 2010 Emens Distinguished Professor Award, gave a presentation titled, "Is the Sky the Limit for Educational Improvement — Lessons from the World on Successful Education System."
Information came from slides of data gathered by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development showing how the United States compares to other countries around the world — a comparison that used to show the United States in the dominant global position.
Schleicher said this is no longer the case.
He said the border set by America's top rank in decades past has become the frontier, leaving the U.S. education system "average" in many categories.
"I thought the comparisons brought up a lot questions we should be asking ourselves, but I think there's too many variables when you compare so many countries… I didn't feel that it was definitive," said Kenneth Winner, a freshman computer science major.
Schleicher said teachers should be given great freedom and that good teachers should be "knowledge workers." Admitting that it was unpopular in the United States, he discussed how small class sizes are not necessarily the most cost-effective way to spend resources on education.
Another main focus of Schleicher's presentation was a globalizing world.
"Education needs to prepare students for jobs that have not yet been created … to solve problems that we don't yet know will arise," he said.
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