The first in our new series about global education: as recently as the 1960?s, Singapore was a sleepy backwater with a 40% illiteracy rate and a school system that served only the elite. Today, it is a global economic powerhouse, and its students have scored at the top of every international math, science and literacy test for the last decade. By the end of tenth grade, most Singaporeans are almost two school years ahead of most American students.
How and why have Singapore's students managed to skyrocket past the rest of the developed world so quickly, while American students have only continued to sink further in the world rankings? Could Singapore's approach to education provide lessons for how we could reform our own schools? "Take a Lesson From Singapore" airs November 1, 2011. Dan Rather Reports airs Tuesdays at 8pm ET.