Another set of educational reforms collapsed because a majority of academics refused to raise teaching standards and submit themselves to peer reviews.

ECONOMIST: Riots in Greece: Anarchy in Athens | The

The survey gives ammunition to those who think that after a decade of controversial educational reforms, Britain is finally heading in the right direction.

ECONOMIST: Educational standards compared

Instead the authors recommend that "policymakers should concentrate on educational reforms in primary and pre-school" and want more effort made to raise the basic skills of disadvantaged groups.

BBC: Top maths pupils 'fail to keep up with world's best'

But they are also likely to promote bigger proposals, like health-insurance protection for the first six months of unemployment, educational reforms to benefit the disabled, and Superfund toxic-waste cleanup.

CNN: A Kinder, Gentler G.O.P?

These educational reforms are crucial if Thailand is to attract the kind of foreign investment that boosts its productivity, rather than just extracting the country's resources and tapping its consumer markets.

ECONOMIST: How much should you bet on Thailand?

Teaching centers on the "Four Books" and the "Five Classics" that formed the basis of Chinese education for hundreds of years until the educational reforms following the fall of the Ching dynasty in 1911.

CNN: Confucius is seen as a beacon in a changing world

The final sign of a turnaround, which I call "long-term value creation, " occurs if and when the country's leaders seriously address long-term competitiveness issues: quality of products, value-added component of exports, acquisition of state-of-the-art technology and educational reforms.

CNN: Emotional Indicators

Yet by the same token the established power of the teachers and the principals unions limited what he could do to make major structural reforms in the delivery of educational services.

FORBES: Let Cathie Black Dig Down Deep To Institute Major Education Reforms