Two Opposite Education Systems Ranked on Top

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/03/world/europe/two-opposite-education-systems-ranked-on-top.html

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Finland and South Korea given top global ranking

Finland and South Korea, two countries that are almost as far apart in teaching styles as they are geographically, topped a new ranking published last week by Pearson and the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The Global Index of Cognitive Skills and Educational Attainment, which ranks nations based on a combination of international test scores, literacy and graduation rates, put Finland and South Korea alone in the top category.

“It is hard to find two education systems more different,” the report said. South Korea emphasizes exams, rote learning, discipline and long hours for students, most of whom also attend private cram schools. Finland has short school days, little homework and a focus on “helping children understand and apply knowledge, not merely repeat it,” the report said.

Also in the top 10 were Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland and Canada. Ireland came in at No. 11, Australia at No. 13, Germany at No. 15, the United States at No. 17, Russia at No. 20 and France at No. 25. China and India, Asia’s developing giants, were not ranked. Brazil and Indonesia came in at the bottom of the listing of 40 states and nations. — JOYCE LAU

Neuroscientists develop easier way to read papers

MiniManuscript, a Web site meant to be a sort of Wikipedia of the academic world, moved out of its beta phase last week and was introduced officially at an event in London. The idea is for registered users to post free summaries of research papers, which will make it easier for both students and researchers to find what they want quickly.

The site was developed by two British neuroscientists: Anna Remington, 30, an autism researcher at Oxford, and Jake Fairnie, 25, a doctoral candidate at University College London. “We were reading the same papers,” Dr. Remington said by telephone from London. “So we’d write summaries, share them and get through them twice as fast. Then we asked, ‘Why doesn’t everyone do this?”’

One kind of search uses PubMed, a U.S.-based database with 22 million publications, and simply says when and where a paper appeared.

A more detailed search brings up only papers that have MiniManuscript summaries written. Currently, there are several hundred such entries, though the founders expect the number to increase quickly.

As of last week, 55 percent of MiniManuscript’s readership was from the United States, followed by 25 percent from China. “English is the language of the scientific community,” Dr. Remington said. “But if you’re sorting through this material in a second language, it is a massive investment of time to make it through a 70-page paper, only to realize at the end that it’s not relevant to you.” The site is set up as a business, though the founders say they want to run it as a “not-just-for-profit” and aim to keep the information free. — JOYCE LAU