Public Education Falling Behind Society's Demands

Why do we continue to ignore the facts that seem to be right in front of our faces? Our public schools are not producing even average students and yet we continue to support this system of public education with our tax dollars in ever increasing amounts.

Bottom line here is the saying, 'the art of learning something is by taking an interest in the subject'. Are we too busy with making living to find time to take an interest in what are kids are or aren't learning, or just too lazy and unconcerned with the future requirements demanded by society for our kids?

You make the call.

When the Best Is Mediocre
Source: Jay P. Greene and Josh B. McGee, "When the Best Is Mediocre," Education Next, Winter 2012.

While the American public education system garners more and more negative criticism, the wealthy and politically influential elite seem relatively complacent with the situation. This is probably because the school districts of their comfortable suburban neighborhoods, when compared with their high-population urban counterparts, appear exceptional.

However, because America's students are increasingly competing with students outside the United States for economic opportunities, this comparison is no longer valuable, and may even prove dangerous. By providing comfort to movers and shakers around the nation about the state of the public education system, this false comparison discourages the drastic reforms that are necessary to allow American students to catch up with their peers internationally, say Jay P. Greene, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and economist Josh B. McGee.

A recent Global Report Card, produced by researchers studying math and reading performance amongst developed nations between 2004 and 2007, returned the following results:
Ninety-four percent of all U.S. school districts have average math achievement below the 67th percentile for developed nations.

Similarly, 68 percent have average student math achievement that is below the 50th percentile compared with that of the average student in other developed countries.
Not one of the largest 20 school districts (which collectively contain 5.2 million students or 10 percent of the nation's total) is above the 50th percentile in math relative to other developed countries.

The researchers focused on math results first because they are the easiest to quantify and compare, and second because they serve as a more reliable indicator of future economic performance. While there are undoubtedly some small pockets of success that did extremely well relative to international competitors, these success stories are rare.

Rather, the message that ought to be taken away from the results of this report card are that American students are falling behind and that there are a decreasing number of places that even the country's elites can flee to in order to guarantee their children an internationally competitive education.