Poll and Ranking Database

[Varro]

This thread will specifically serve to give a general comparison of nations to each other by documenting the highest ranking countries of the 'Official' UN polls, and by conducting it's own polls and surveys of The Federation with information provided by those governments. Every week, a the topic of polling will be given, and all participants should PM at least a paragraph of information regarding the subject within their nation to me within 5 days. On the seventh day, the results and a report will be presented (both here and in the news) and a new subject will be provided.

To begin with, as of Thursday(2/1/07), Please submit information regarding The Educational System within your nation.


U.N. Polls
Greatest Rich-Poor Divide:The Nucleocracy of Xinjos
Highest Unemployment Rate:The Union of Tinis
Largest Agricultural Sector:The Armed Asylum of Sevekah
Largest Cheese Exporter:The Armed Asylum of Sevekah
Largest Pizza Delivery Sector:The Armed Asylum of Sevekah
Most Compassionate Citizens:The Great Republic of Llewellynlland
The Nudest:The Great Republic of Llewellynlland
Rudest Citizens:The Armed Asylum of Sevekah



Federation Polls[/b]
No Information


Please, feel free to comment or ask any questions.

[Varro]

Rankings of the Educational System

Participants:
The Union of Tinis
The Royal Commonwealth of Cal
The Socialist Technocracy of Miokalia
The Republic of Naraemat

Cost- This is an overall comparison of the cost of the education systems of the participating nations per person, from primary to tertiary studies, ranked from Least to Greatest.
1) The Royal Commonwealth of Cal
2) The Union of Tinis
3) The Socialist Technocracy of Miokalia
4) The Republic of Naraemat

Efficiency- This is the comparisons of the ratios of citizens in scholastic success via. grades or other standardized test and reports against the pay received after finishing their education, ranked from lowest (Low Grades to Higher Pay) to highest (High Grades to Low Pay)
1) The Union of Tinis
2) The Royal Commonwealth of Cal
3) The Republic of Naraemat
4) The Socialist Technocracy of Miokalia

Knowledge- This represents the average retention of knowledge for students in several subjects by comparing the average test scores, from Greatest to Least.
1) The Socialist Technocracy of Miokalia
2) The Union of Tinis
3) The Republic of Naraemat
4) The Royal Commonwealth of Cal

Logic- This is a representation of the problem solving capacity and deductive reasoning of students from a series of timed puzzles, riddles, and an open-ended essay focusing on a current local problem.
1) The Republic of Nareamat
2) The Union of Tinis
3) The Royal Commonwealth of Cal
4) The Socialist Technocracy of Miokalia

College- On a survey of students ready to enter tertiary education, nations are ranked from Greatest to Least in student attractiveness.
1) The Royal Commonwealth of Cal
2) The Socialist Technocracy of Miokalia
3) The Republic of Naraimat
4) The Union of Tinis

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Tinis:

Since the early years of the Union, Education was among the top three priorities set by the people and government of Tinis. This dedication to excellence has its roots in the philosophies of the 2nd, 4th, and 5th houses of pre-Union Tinis which all encouraged actively, or even required, a complete education of all its members.

Education is required until the age of 18 independant of what level one achieves at that point. Exceptional students whom are able to work furthur head of their age peers may graduate high school at an early age, but due to this requirement, must seek higher education. This is rarely seen as a punishment as reaching the various levels of achievement increases the total amount of Gerbiles, or bonus, one can earn in a year. As in Tinis money is not used for more than luxury goods, with almost all services working on an allowance, this is seen as one of the few instances where greed can actually be a motivating factor. There is a yearly limit for how many Gerbiles one may accumulate in total that is checked at the end of the year, but if one hasn't reached the appropriate level in one's education to be able to recieve higher bonuses, it will take many years to get anywhere near working about that limit.

Education in Tinis is universally free with the exception of private tutors whom work for Gerbiles and who are not allow to replace, but merely supliment one's educational opportunities. This free education runs up all the way to post college graduate education and beyond if need be.

Overall, the emphasis of education in Tinis is not necessarily the accumulation of facts, though such is highly useful. Instead there's a heavy emphasis on learning how to think. Problem solving, recognition of historical cause and effect, analysis skills, the process of research and creation, and the study of how one interacts in society, as well as why all these things are important, are drilled into the heads of young Tinisians from the first grade on up. Rote memorizaion is secondary and intended only to suppliment these efforts. The idea is, if you know everything, and don't know how to use it, what use is it?

Before what is commonly known elsewhere as the college level, classes are run by a primary instructor for half the day who for a few weeks concentrates on one or two subject areas. For the other half of the school day there is a rotation where classes visit other instructors to either keep up on their other subjects or to experience new things. This rotation period is highly flexible and allows students even in early grades to change out some of their times, keeping the review classes but perhaps taking an art class or physical education class instead for the other parts of the rotation. The type of rotation and when is often decided by the local school.

There is also programs where students are allowed to rotate over the course of a year between different school districts, or even schools in a single district. This is beneficial for a student whom excells at particular subject but is average or below average at others.

College education on up is a bit more standarized with respect to the rest of the world. Students take classes and get grades, ect ect. But unlike many colleges and universities, most Tinisian equivilents are heavy on the independant projects, and almost all require a final project or thesis. These final projects are often used by post graduate schools to determine the merit of students as opposed to any standarized test.

In fact, standarized tests are rare in Tinis, with routine check ups of progress usually focused on essay creation or project presentations. But most classes on their own do use tests to evaluate knowledge learned.

There are a few occasions where a student excells so well, that a school district rewards them Gerbiles for their job well done in order to reflect the mode of rewards used by the nation as a whole.

Drop out rates are non-existant for students under 18 and after 18 are rare as well, as most students use one of the various graduations as a marker for when they will end their education as opposed to removing themselves from the system.

For problem students whom continue school after 18 yet do not make sufficient progress, there are a few punishments that may be used to encourage them to either work harder or for those who may not be able to reach furthur up, to enter the world of work instead. Among these are requiring students whom take more than 4 years to leave high school or college to take on part time jobs or else fail to graduate, denying bonus Gerbiles for a number of years they spent in high school or college over the 4 year mark, or lowering their housing and food allowances to the bare minimum. These measures affect maybe 10% of students and of those, only about 1% stay for a sixth year or more. There are a few perpetual students who have been struct with all these measures and more but their occurance is less than one in one million students.

As the testing methods of Tinis are non-standard with those used elsehwere, it is difficult to compare the relative knowledge levels of Tinisians with the outside world. However, independant tests performed by the UN have shown that Tinisians maintain a very high level of intellect after they have left school.

The Arx Academy is often counted in the top ten academic instutitions in the world and has many Tinisians of high status among its alumni.

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Cal:

Schooling is provided freely from the age of three, how ever is not compulsory until the age of five. Compusory education continues until the age of sixteen when it become volatary for a further two years.

Higher and further education is also provided free to all (with the ability in the case of higher education) and grants for living costs are provided to students doing more advanced and/or university level courses while they remain in an accredited institution.

In schooling is carried out by three distinct institutions ,usually ,all government funded and government regulated, including a requirement to be secular, (Non-government schools are allowed, but must be accredited and receive neither funding or tax brakes, these are not required to be secular. To be accredited a school must teach the, at least, same curriculum government schools to the same level but can add to the other subjects or may be more advanced).

Age 3-5 nursery schools (mostly concerned with basic social skills and basic language skills) which are optional but free.

Age 5-12 pimary school, Teaching Numeracy, literacy, basic science, English and Calie languages (though most young Calie are bilingual in there own language and Calie from birth) and at least one other language. These are usually small local schools <500 pupils with class sizes less than twenty five.

Age 12-18 Secondary school, these are usually large schools >700 pupils. Teaching a fixed curriculum including geography, history, lagnuages, literacy, maths, science and IT skills for the first two year.

At the age of 14 the students choose seven subjects to specialize in though the choice is limited to ensure all students take at least one language, one science, one IT/business subject, other restrictions are left up to the school. Advanced Literacy and Maths remain compusory.

At 16 students sit their standard level exams and once completed are free to leave the education system, though few do. Most remain in secondary school though some move to further education collages as not all schools carry all subjects above standard level.

At 16 students may select up to five subjects of there choice, providing they have the prerequisites (not all subjects have prerequisites), as a one year higher level course or do a course to bring them selves up to a level where they can do the higher of choices. At 17 students may take more similar courses or do an advanced higher courses providing they have passed the requiered higher level course. It is also possible for those with the qualifications to miss there final year and go straight into further education or university courses.

Further education, all further education collages are free and offer the same qualifications as high schools along with very more advanced and specialized courses. They also provide part time courses to any person that wishes (and has the prerequisites). It is rare for grants for living are provided for anything but the most specialized courses.

Universities provide higher education including the standard three year degree, with the option of a four honors year of more advanced courses and private research, 1-2 year higher degrees (which require already having a standard degree with honors as a prerequisite ), Doctorates and opportunities to go into research. Grants for living are generally provided to students while the university.

Some other institutions exist that only offer research and higher degrees in very specialist fields.

University funding is proportional to the quality and numbers of degrees granted. How ever to retain their charters universities subject to regualar audits by an independent auditor.

No part of the running of the education system is subject to direct interference by elected officials or parents and is left to the experts to run and organize. (No school boards with nuts parents comming up with crack pot idea )

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Miokalia

Miokalia has a mandatory, extremely well-funded public education system.
After all, the system's funding comprises a little over 1/3rd of the total government budget, and rising.

The system is separated into many sections. Preschool, Primary, Secondary, Tertiary and the Collegiate system.
The collegiate system and tertiary schools, while totally publicly funded, are the only optional parts where students can choose to enrol or drop-out.
Unlike many other public education systems, the parents of the students have very little input into the course content and methods. The system is, quite literally, run by almost entirely computerized administration and a single, reletively low-profile Secretary of Education who operates under the office of the Secretary of Interior.
The goal of the public educational system in Miokalia is not limited to trying to produce the best and brightest students in the world. Education in Miokalia is a tool for solving and preventing socioeconomic problems. Thus, while Miokalia may not have the toughest, most rigorous, and certainly not the most expensive education in the world. The minimum level of education in Miokalia, along the very bottom of the barrel is unusually high.
However, the system has been accused of practicing 'brainwashing' and undermining minority cultures' traditions and ideologies through it's practices. This is mostly the complaint of parents from the non-reptillian population. Although, as early as second-year preschool, students began being taught ways to identify the tactics of brainwashing and how rhetoric is used. Although, in a way, this education against ideological indoctrination is also a form of indoctrination itself.

When the system was first established in the 1950's, the liberal arts system was one of the most comprehensive of it's time. During a time when the cold war and modernization had pushed the efforts of most educational systems towards the quantitative sciences, mathmatics and engineering, Miokalia's system retained a powerful, and effective liberal arts, liguistics and social sciences program across a diverse social landcape of varying economic statuses.
The legacy of this commitment is visible today. Perhaps where it is most profound is in the lower segments of society and in counterculture. The same socioeconomic demographics which are plagued with alcoholism, homelessness and lack of education in some other countries are quite different in Miokalia because the minimum education level in Miokalia is very high.

Miokalia enforces attendance to public schools with solid dedication. Starting from age 3, children in Miokalia are required to attend public school 9-months out of the year, 5 days a week, for 18 years. 2 years of preschool, 6 years of primary school, 7 years of secondary school, 2 years of tertiary school.

Students cannot drop-out until after secondary school. But by then, they have many options for continuing education by way of alternative means through non-profit 'Free University' tertiary schools and closely-regulated private tertiary schools. The private tertiary schools in Miokalia however have often been critisized for their lack of quality programs by comparison to the publicly-funded (and thus, tuition-free) public tertiary schools. Even a student who chooses not to attend any tertiary school walks away from secondary school with not just a General Education Degree, but also at least a limited familiarity of at least one foreign language, a proficiency in verbal communication, reading and writting in Kohtohkhan (the national language of Miokalia), a proficiency in basic mathmatics and at least a limited proficiency in basic algebra. This is assuming of course, that they take the bare minimum required to graduate. Basically, the minimum classes that students are automatically registered for if they don't make any other choices.

However, that's not to say the system is incapable of catering to the more academically inclined.
A major component of pedagogy in Miokalia is simply the exposure of students to a wide array of concepts. The students are given the fundamentals needed to appreciate these things very early on. By the time the students have reached the 6th grade, they will have been exposed to a very diverse array of styles and genres of music, including classical and contemporary. Will have an introduction to art history. Will be familiar with a great deal of influential literature, Will be doing algebra, and know the scientific method as well as a basic understanding of physics. And they still have 7 more years before they get to tertiary school.
For the academically inclined, there is a great deal of accelerated and specialized classes availible. The accelerated classes push forward with great speed through subject matter and a student is free to choose wether or not they wish to take on the challenege. The accelerated programs are not for everyone, it is up to the student to decide if it is for them or not. Tertiary school is when the students really have the opportunity to take on greater challenges and take more specialized classes. In tertiary school, there is no time for review or slowing the curriculum down. It takes the place of the freshman and sophomore years of college, but is tuition-free.

The collegiate system in Miokalia is somewhat, anarchistic when compared to those of other nations. To minimize corruption and maximize cost effectiveness, the universities have very low-profile, weak central administration. They are usually made up of a collection of specialized colleges with more defined leadership.
The public universities, despite being tuition-free for citizens and reletively non-exclusive, maintain high expectations for acheievement from students and most importantly, they are consistently very cutting-edge in their content. Getting in may be easy, but graduating is quite academically challenging.
Unlike the rest of the public education system which is completely funded from the government budget, the collegiate system receives only most of it's funding from the government, the rest of it's funding comes from grants and primarily from property holdings. The universities in Miokalia are huge in land area, and often rent out high-value property to the private sector. Additionally, the universities cost less to run. With the biggest expenses being equipment, facilities expansion and the faculty payroll. The varsity athletics facilities and programs of the universities are usually owned privately, and while connected to the university, the proceeds from ticket sales and merchandizing go to the private company running the program, not the university. Likewise, the expense of building and maintaining the facilities, equipment, legal and promotional considerations is the private company's business, and does not come out of the university budget. However, the teams themselves are made up of university students, and the university gives credit to them for participation in the private athletic program.
The primary attractions for foreign students to the Miokalian Collegiate System are the cost (since non-citizen tuition is still usually lower than even the citizen tuition-rates in most other countries), and some areas of specialty. University of Dorigan has quite possibly the most leading-edge, progressive architecture program there is. Even leaving most private colleges which focus primarily on that in the dust. University of Hokyldaryon has a very highly-rated film school, as well as a respectable physics department which it shares with University of Dorigan. While the majority of colleges in Miokalia are not as high-profile, they certainly aren't of poor quality. Miokalia is one of the places where the public education system is generally equal to, and usually better than the private institutions.
Perhaps the one area Miokalian colleges are lacking in is law schools. This is probably as a result of a great deal of administration functions in Miokalia being automated by inorganic intelligence instead of very highly-paid bureaucrats, and that the legal industry in Miokalia is not at all very profitable and the criminal justice system isn't as busy as it is in most places.

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Naraemat

The system of education in Naraemat is very different from those of other standard nations, but slowly sets itself in line with the national majority as college level approaches. The average stay in the scholastic setting is fourteen years, starting at three to four years of age, with an additional three to six years of tertiary studies.

On the primary level, school is a center for social and logical development. Students learn reasoning and problem solving, and are also introduced to abstract concepts very early on. Though the basics are thoroughly covered, education is not as so much learning as it is showing young students how to think. Reports on progress are giving every nine weeks, though are compiled in a list of observations and suggestions by the teachers rather than a composite number based off of testing. Primary education last for six years.

Secondary schooling is again, not so much focused on material as thought process. Appreciation for Music, Sciences, Philosophy, Art and Literature are the focus, though the base of knowledge is increased during this period as well. Secondary schooling is the relative ‘junior high’ point of the education system.

Military training takes place from fourteen years of age to eighteen at the end of ‘secondary’ schooling. Not only is there a high physical quota, but also, relative secondary school subjects such as Physics, Chemistry and Pre-Calculus are drilled into the students for maximum retention. The focus is for a wider base of knowledge, Self-discipline, and physical aptitude, as opposed to previous levels. If an observer gets past the militaristic aspect, it is actually very similar to other modern high-school setups, but much more intense curriculum wise.

At this point, Students are released from military training (and are under no obligation to return to service), and may thus pursue college or other tertiary studies. Due to the rigors of Military Training, there are few general colleges in Naraemat (many college level studies are completed during that time). It makes up for this with a large quantity of highly focused colleges. The extent of this focus can be seen in the small number of obscure studies, such as The Tendal University of Ancient Civilization Burial Rites, however, such as those are few and far between. Because of this focus, and prior completion of several college level courses, the standard stay in college is about three years; though most in tertiary studies stay for up to three more years to work on higher degrees.

Primary and Secondary levels are handled by private institutions, the majority of which are volunteer services. In a way, education during those years is still stuck in a dark-age mentality organization wise. An increasing number of private institutions charge yearly fees to keep them running, though the suggestive methods of altruism to volunteer and donate are still in a winning position versus funded endeavors. Military training is funded entirely by the state. College level studies are provided in the same manner as other nations; Universities of the state generally provide a scholarship for citizens, and individuals are otherwise left to pay for their schooling themselves in one manner or another.

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The next topic, as of 2/9, will be upon your respective nations Technological Level. Suggestion and comments are always welcome.