Oh, the woes of the American education system. For despite all the hoopla that the establishment, the liberal politicians and the mainstream media regularly generate concerning the excellence of government schools, the facts reveal something entirely different.When the objective observer examines the public school system in the U.S., he sees an extremely expensive failure -- a failure that is not only marked by an addiction to political correctness but also by the severe problems of aberrant priorities (i.e., more emphasis on soft sciences and sports than solid academics); by a lack of competition; an abhorrence of merit-based standards (for students or teachers); peer pressure and bullying; anti-Americanism; intolerance towards Christianity; and intellectual obscurantism in the fields of history and science.
And one more thing.
Students aren't learning the basics of what they need to thrive in a high-pressure, global economy.
The latest case in point illustrates that the "dumbing down" of American kids which has gone on for decades is still the trend. Check it out. In the latest stats from the Program for International Student Assessment (the tests the U.S. government and nearly all others accepts as the best evaluations around), the kids from Shanghai, China scored highest in every single academic category!
The U.S. kids? Well, they ranked 25th out of 34 in math. 14th out of 34 in reading (behind South Korea, Finland, Canada, and many others). 17th out of 34 in science.
Sadder still, when the overall standings were tabulated, incorporating all subjects, 24 out of the 34 countries outscored the American kids.
Yipes.
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan admitted, “The brutal fact here is there are many countries that are far ahead of us and improving more rapidly than we are. This should be a massive wake-up call to the entire country.”
But that alarm has been ringing for years. And it will just keep on ringing -- with more bad news -- until politicians finally liberate our nation's kids.
To fix these things, school choice is paramount. Competition must be introduced. Merit-based pay for teachers is essential. Tough standards of performance must be enacted and enforced to free kids from the bloated, leftist, and woefully inept education bureaucracy. Technical education must again become a standard feature in high schools. Schools must again become safe havens, not only from playground bullying, but also from the bullying of biased, birdbrained teachers.And the NEA must be boldly confronted and reined in.
Are you listening, new Congress?
