American Education Fails the Test

The American economy has suffered a great deal due to injurious obligations to free trade agreements like NAFTA and the WTO, an ever-declining dollar, the collapse of the housing market and the subsequent overhauls of the financial and credit systems. Coupled with an expanded mandate in the War on Terrorism, the United States has watched as it spent itself into debt while simultaneously destroying what wealth-producing assets it has left. These are not the only issues facing the United States today: our complete lack of competitiveness in education is also a true harbinger of America’s decline.

In order to compete in the modern world one needs to be well-educated and highly skilled. Innovation, research and development in the profitable high-technology sectors of the economy can be obtained only in concert with educational achievement. According to The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) the U.S. is far behind its competition in that regard. The U.S. ranks 25th in math and 21st in science out of 30 nations surveyed by PISA. Compared to China, South Korea, Japan, Finland and Australia, the United States simply falls further and further behind. If this trend continues, we can expect the high-tech industries born and bred in the U.S. to relocate to more capable shores, taking with them any future wealth-producing jobs and careers.

The U.S. needs to find a new direction for itself regarding the education of America’s youth. Our scores in math, science and reading proficiency have fallen off collectively for over a decade. They are now mediocre in comparison to the rest of the industrialized world. It has generally been assumed (and often verified with empirical data) that higher income begets higher educational achievement. Yet the United States, the “richest country on earth,” lags behind most industrialized nations in all three major categories (math, reading and science).

While the U.S. as a whole lags behind the rest of the world, significant populations within this country are still left behind by the American system. Groups like Teach for America expand immeasurable amounts of time and energy attempting to make up for educational inequality in this country. These efforts are impactful on an individual level, but they cannot atone for the massive shortcomings of entire American system. The widely criticized No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was meant to level the educational playing-field in the U.S., but during its tenure the gap between the U.S. and the rest of the world has increased.

There are major challenges facing this country as it moves forward. Our country needs to find viable, economical options that wean us from our dependence on oil. We need to continue to make scientific and medical advancements to better our lives. We need to have highly educated people making policies in the country from the top of the government to the base of the workforce. None of these goals can be achieved if our educational system continues to falter as it currently is. We cannot compete with global competition if they are able to produce a better product as a result of having the skilled laborers which we lack.

The economy cannot recover if the population cannot compete. At our current rate, we are headed toward a total lack of competitiveness. If that is the case, the current economic downturn could pale in comparison to what awaits us just over the horizon.

Unless the above article is already copyrighted, this article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License, EIC grants permission to use this article in whole or in part provided attribution is given, preferably in the form of a link back to EconomyInCrisis.org.

MORE OF TODAY'S NEWS | Comment on this Article | Read Comments

Donate Today