Throughout the nation’s more than 15,000 school districts, widely

differing approaches to teaching science and math have emerged.

Though there can be strength in diversity, a new international analysis

suggests that this variability has instead contributed to lackluster

achievement scores by US children related to their peers in other 【M1】__________

developed countries.

Indeed, concludes William H. Schmidt of Michigan State

University, who led the new analysis, “no single intellectual coherent 【M2】__________

vision dominates US educational practice in math or science. “The

reason, he said, “is because the system is deeply and fundamentally flawed.”

The new analysis, which released this week by the National Science 【M3】__________

Foundation in Arlington, Va. , is based on data collecting from about 50 【M4】__________

nations as part of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study.

Not only approaches to teaching science and math vary among 【M5】__________

individual US communities, the report finds, but there appears to be a 【M6】__________

little strategic focus within a school district’s curricula, its textbooks, or

its teachers’ activities. This contrasts sharply with the coordinated

national programs of most other countries.

In average, US students study more topics within science and math 【M7】__________

than their international counterparts do. This creates an educational

environment where “is a mile wide and an inch deep,” Schmidt notes. 【M8】__________

For instance, eighth graders in the US cover about 33 topics in math

versus just 19 in Japan. Among science courses, the international gap is

even wide. US curricula for this age level resemble those of a small 【M9】__________

group of countries including Australia, Thailand, Iceland, and Bulgaria.

Schmidt asks whether the US wants to be classed with these nations,

whose educational systems “share our pattern of splintered visions” and 【M10】_________

which are not economic leaders.

Communication is far more than speech and writing. Most of us are

aware that we are communicating in many different ways even when we 【M1】__________

are not speaking. The same goes to other social animal species. We are 【M2】__________

rarely taught about this most non-verbal form of human communication 【M3】__________

in school even though it is very important for effective interaction to 【M4】__________

others. Growing up in a society, we informally learn how to use

gestures, glances, slight changes in tone of voice, and other auxiliary

communication devices to alter or emphasize how we say and do. We 【M5】__________

learn these highly culture-bound techniques over years largely by

observing others and imitating them.

Linguists refer to all of those auxiliary communication methods as 【M6】__________

paralanguage. It is part of the redundancy in communication that helps

prevent ineffective communication. It can prevent the wrong message

from being inadvertently passed on, as is often as the case in a telephone 【M7】__________

call and even more so in a letter. The paralanguage messages that can be

observed through face-to-face contact also makes it more difficult to lie 【M8】__________

or to hide emotions.

Paralanguage is often less important in communication than what is 【M9】__________

actually being said orally. It has been suggested that as much as 70% of

what we communicate when talking directly with others are through 【M10】_________

paralanguage.

“Almost universally, women have failed to reach leading positions

in major corporations and private sector organizations, respective 【M1】__________

of their abilities,” said the author Linda Wirth.“The higher the

position, the glaring the gender gap.” The ILO said men traditionally 【M2】__________

rely in “old boy” networks to climb up the ladder. Women are more 【M3】__________

“invisible” in the corporate world but they are less keen on informal 【M4】__________

gatherings. They are also fighting a losing battle for sexual harassment. 【M5】__________

A British study found that women in one company subjecting to 【M6】__________

continuing sexual harassment and bullying failed to achieve promotion

whatever strategy they used. “Protesting and complaining earned them a 【M7】__________

label of ’ feminist’ and ’ whining’, while trying to be one of the men

invited further harassment,” the ILO report said.

A survey of 300 companies in Britain last year found that just

3 percent of board members are women. In the FTSE top 100 companies 【M8】__________

listed in Britain, women held just 4 percent of directors’ posts, while

female managers earned just 71 percent of the salary of their male

counterpart, the ILO report said. 【M9】__________

British female managers as a whole earned 83 percent of the salaries

of their male counterparts—putting them ahead of their counterparts in

most other countries.

The situation in Germany was no better. A survey of 70,000 largest

companies found that women there held just 1 to 3 percent of the top

executive and boardroom positions. The ILO also reported that the

comparative high proportion of women executives in large French 【M10】_________

companies—13 percent—was now falling again from the 1980s levels.