Global Education Policies

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             In Japan, the government spends $5, 890 per student per year to educate them. This is an above average amount to spend per student. The mean spent by countries per child per year was $4, 036, according to 1999 statistics released by the OECD. But Japan's $5, 890 allocated to each student only identifies it as the tenth county in terms of spending (please see page 10 for ranking of highest spending countries). Japan's rankings on the PISA tests, however, are very impressive. Japan ranks first in scientific literacy, second in mathematical literacy, and eleventh in reading literacy. These excellent rankings are very significant considering that nine other countries outspend Japan, some other nations outspending it by a noteworthy amount. .
             Sweden invests $5, 687 in each of its pupils. This is also above the global average and it far surpasses some other European nations like Poland, which only allocates .
             $1, 438 per student. But, like Japan, it preformed better than many nations that spend much more. Sweden did not rank in the top ten on the mathematical literacy test but it secured sixth place on the scientific literacy test and tenth place on the reading literacy test. .
             Indeed, I discovered that the top spending countries were very often not the top scoring countries in the tree areas measured by the PISA tests. Of the top twelve highest spending countries, only three of them placed in the top ten highest scoring counties on the mathematical literacy test. They were Japan, Switzerland, and Belgium. These countries ranked first, third, and seventh, respectively. .
             The highest-spending countries fared slightly better on the reading literacy test. Five of these nations place among the top ten. It is worth noting, however, that the top two spots were taken by New Zealand and Finland, neither of which were among the high spending nations. The five nations that did secure spots in the top ten leaders in reading literacy were Australia (3rd), the United States (7th), Belgium (8th), and Norway and Sweden (tie for 9th place).