A Perspective on US Education

Ironically, despite the United States having the best-surveyed education system on the globe, U.S students consistently score lower in math and science than students from many other countries. According to a Business Insider report in 2020, the U.S. ranked 38th in math scores and 24th in science. SOURCE:  WorldPopulationReview.com

So, why this contradiction in the data?

Was someone lying?

Test scores don't lie...

Education in the US of A today is not the same quality as education in the US of A 50 years ago...  Education has gotten WORSE instead of BETTER...

WHY???

We could blame the problem on the teachers.  We could blame the problem on the students. We could blame the problem on the parents.  We could blame the problem on the system.

All would bear some responsibility...

I retired in 2015 after 45 years of working in and around education which included me teaching classes to students who had graduated from high school and wanted more education.

These students were:

• academically lazy as they did not want to do homework
• not interested in drilling down on a subject
• not very good at presentations
• not very good at team work
• not very good at reading out loud
• not very good at writing or spelling
• not very good with critical thinking skills

What bothered me the most was they all wanted to be told exactly what to do without trying to figure it out on their own.

This was very disappointing to say the least.

I could just imagine what these people would be as parents trying to get their children to STUDY and be good students...

I was not the best student until I left college, went into the military, and returned to college.  Once I returned, I became the best student on campus.  I did the homework, read the assignments, sat in the front of class, answered questions, figured out on my own what the professor wanted me to do, and made sure my assignments always exceeded the professor's expectations.  I was in college to learn, not just get the highest grade.

But, what I don't really understand is how we could be considered to be the best when our scores are not that good at all...  That false sense of security has got to be impacting our employers who have to be hiring the people and retraining them...

How successful has that been I wonder or is that more data that has been kept hidden from us?