For those of us who are still utterly disappointed that Italy didn't even make it to the round of 16, or that the US couldn't pull off an equally stunning last-minute win against Ghana, there are still some great matches headed our way as World Cup 2010 heads into the final eight.? Futbol fans and education reformers alike, put down your pint glasses for a minute and check out Ohio Flypaper's head-to-head education match-up of the four teams that play tomorrow.
Brazil will take the turf against the Netherlands, and Uruguay will go against the only remaining African nation, Ghana. What kind of education systems do the final eight teams have and who does Ohio Gadfly predict will win? (We admit that the head-to-heads are not the single-most scientific analyses we've ever done, and as futbol fanatics our natural prejudices creep in just a tad. But seriously, you try to come up with something negative to say about the Netherlands' education system! Their children wear wooden clogs and this ruins the school hallways?)
*Education stats on Brazil from NationMaster.com
***?Ethnic minorities in Netherlands often neglected in education? (May 2008)
*?A View Inside Primary Schools,? UNESCO, 2008
**?Achieving Universal Primary Education in Ghana by 2015,? UNICEF, 2007
Also be sure to check out a fuller analysis of education statistics of the final 16 World Cup teams from the Ohio Education Gadfly. And check back for video commentary by Gadfly Studios, because what's better than Fordham staff using sports analogies every chance they can?
- Bianca Speranza & Jamie Davies O'Leary