Data: U.S. Teachers Contracted to Work Longer Than G-8 Counterparts

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/25/group.of.eight.education/index.html#cnnSTCText

3/27/09
2:22 P.M.

According to this article by CNN, Japanese and German teachers are contracted to work longer than U.S. teachers. German teachers are paid more than U.S. teachers and Japanese teachers are paid less than U.S. teachers. Also, according to this article Japanese students have the highest performance records on science tests by the 4th and 8th grades. Russian 4th graders scored highest in literacy and U.S. 4th graders scored mid level in reading and math and scored at a low end on science. In addition, President Obama is to have said to advocate for longer school days and school years to increase academic performance across the nation, basically to follow the ideal of Japan and Germany, whose teachers are contracted to work longer.
My opinion on improving the academic performance of our country has not changed, there is more to do than force people to stay in school longer and raise the academic bar to higher expectations, though those are all a step in the right direction. In order to truly become the most educated nation in the world, we must have a paradigm shift that allows us to see intellectualism as a good thing and no longer pander to the idea that intelligence must be feared; in other words we must let loose of our jock mentality if we truly wish to succeed in this arena. Not only that must be done but we must also encourage academic integrity and ethical behavior among students and take harsher stances towards academic dishonesty.