Dumbest Generation Getting Dumber
by Walter E. Williams
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international comparison of 15-year-olds conducted by The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that measures applied learning and problem-solving ability. In 2006, U.S. students ranked 25th of 30 advanced nations in math and 24th in science. McKinsey & Company, in releasing its report “The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America’s Schools” (April 2009) said, “Several other facts paint a worrisome picture. First, the longer American children are in school, the worse they perform compared to their international peers.
In recent cross-country comparisons of fourth grade reading, math, and science, US students scored in the top quarter or top half of advanced nations. By age 15 these rankings drop to the bottom half. In other words, American students are farthest behind just as they are about to enter higher education or the workforce.” That’s a sobering thought. The longer kids are in school and the more money we spend on them, the further behind they get.
While the academic performance of white students is grossly inferior, that of black and Latino students is a national disgrace. The McKinsey report says, “On average, black and Latino students are roughly two to three years of learning behind white students of the same age. This racial gap exists regardless of how it is measured, including both achievement (e.g., test score) and attainment (e.g., graduation rate) measures. Taking the average National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores for math and reading across the fourth and eighth grades, for example, 48 percent of blacks and 43 percent of Latinos are ‘below basic,’ while only 17 percent of whites are, and this gap exists in every state. A more pronounced racial achievement gap exists in most large urban school districts.” Below basic is the category the NAEP uses for students unable to display even partial mastery of knowledge and skills fundamental for proficient work at their grade level.
The teaching establishment and politicians have hoodwinked taxpayers into believing that more money is needed to improve education. The Washington, D.C., school budget is about the nation’s costliest, spending about $15,000 per pupil. Its student/teacher ratio, at 15.2 to 1, is lower than the nation’s average. Yet student achievement is just about the lowest in the nation. What’s so callous about the Washington situation is about 1,700 children in kindergarten through 12th grade receive the $7,500 annual scholarships in order to escape rotten D.C. public schools, and four times as many apply for the scholarships, yet Congress, beholden to the education establishment, will end funding the school voucher program.
Any long-term solution to our education problems requires the decentralization that can come from competition. Centralization has been massive. In 1930, there were 119,000 school districts across the U.S; today, there are less than 15,000. Control has moved from local communities to the school district, to the state, and to the federal government. Public education has become a highly centralized government-backed monopoly and we shouldn’t be surprised by the results. It’s a no-brainer that the areas of our lives with the greatest innovation, tailoring of services to individual wants and falling prices are the areas where there is ruthless competition such as computers, food, telephone and clothing industries, and delivery companies such as UPS, Federal Express and electronic bill payments that have begun to undermine the postal monopoly in first-class mail.
At a Washington press conference launching the McKinsey report, Al Sharpton called school reform the civil rights challenge of our time. He said that the enemy of opportunity for blacks in the U.S. was once Jim Crow; today, in a slap at the educational establishment, he said it was “Professor James Crow.” Sharpton is only partly correct. School reform is not solely a racial issue; it’s a vital issue for the entire nation.
Source: http://townhall.com
Special thanks to Jim Reardon for sending us this article.
How do you feel about the educational system in America? And what can be done to fix it?
That is why I homeschool my children in 3 languages. I dedicate my day to our children, this meant that I had to open a business and my wife and I rotate working in it.
Its the obligation of the schools, it belongs to us, the parents.
abed
http://www.claudiachess.blogspot.com
Al Sharpton is no education expert.
I don’t know what the solution is, but “competition” is a code word for the Republican ideas of vouchers and charter school.
These plans have nothing to do with improving education, but are designed to weaken public schools, for purely political reasons.
There is enough data now to say that at BEST, charter schools are not better than public school; usually they are more expensive, and do no better than public schools. Home schooling is an option for a small minority, and is not the solution.
We products of the US are no dumb in math and sience. We are 31st out of 24!! Go US!
Anon 9:15, there is no question that as for educating children, the public schools in the U.S. are incredibly weak, but their political strength is awesome. The problem is that the ideologically-driven, politically correct, ego-massaging curriculum is debilitating to young, developing minds. The schools are extraordinarily politicized right now, and “school choice” is a wholly reasonable way to give parents a say in how their kids are educated. There is no question this would weaken the left’s ideological monopoly in the public schools, but ultimately it would only strengthen the schools themselves because they would be forced to seriously teach the three R’s instead of aggressively pursuing their indoctrination programs. If that happened, performance in math, reading, and science would soar. The one-party state in education most assuredly needs to be weakened.
“We products of the US are no dumb in math and sience. We are 31st out of 24!! Go US!”
HEE HAW!
You tell them Sonny!
More parental responsibility
More personal responsibility
Less spending on education bureaucrats.
Less thinking that teachers should be doing the parental roles of discipline.
some time ago, obama said that the US schools have to “catch up” with indian schools as indians kids where reported to be more intelligent…. go slumdogs!
Very simple: Federal Government out of school education. However, this is not going to happen.
50% of classes are worthless and filled with antiamerican ideology. Science curricculum is the worst nightmare. Students are “entertained” with silly experiments and know nothing beyond global warming etc.
as was said above: more parental control over education and more personal responsibility. Beaurocrats like to talk about racial issues because this gives them excuse to avoid the real issues. They are unable and unwilling to change the situation, they are only interested in asking for more money.
anons 10:20 and,especially 1:32 are part of the problem, not part of the solution: completely uninformed dittoheads.
As I said already, charter schools are demonstrated failurs.
Vouchers are just an attempt to circumvent the 1st amendment.
Don’t forget that in some large US cities, the levels of lead exposure are STILL at levels high enough to cause significant developmental problems with children.
Another thing to consider is that by the time kids are in high school in other countries, they are divided into different tiers; the high math scores from some countries simply reflect the selection of better students taking exams.
“Vouchers are just an attempt to circumvent the 1st amendment.”
How is this so?
As for the voucher debate, it is a closed issue. At the end of its 2001 Term, the Supreme Court settled one of the most contentious educational debates in recent history, ruling in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris that the inclusion of religious schools in a state school voucher program did not violate the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.
The truth: Liberals hate vouchers because they are God haters who refuse to fund private religious education.
The truth: Conservatives hate abortions because they are God lovers who refuse to fund private murder of children.
Who are the nut-jobs here?
Now we have found the culprit: lead. LOL.
The problem is that the school system does not allow for different types of learning. Not everyone can learn in your typical school environment.
As someone who’s parents both are teachers, I have seen the ‘teacher culture’ and am appalled how teachers insult parents and believe that they know better on how to raise the kids than the parents do. Its certainly not all about ‘parents responsibility’. Often this is a case of social engineering. It is true that some parents treat the school system as a glorified daycare, but it is equally true that Parents of often very discouraged because the teachers are never held to accountability and have very little say in the education of their children. Quite honestly my biggest regret in life is that I could not afford to send my kids to private school.
It is painfully obvious that the current system is broken. But the entrenched powers will fight tooth and nail to maintain their power base.
I think it might be more than just education. Look at how many kids have ADD, ADHD, and other things like that?
I think time to rethink our diet since the current nutrition recommendation is seriously failing our kids.
I don’t know what the solution is, but “competition” is a code word for the Republican ideas of vouchers and charter school.
These plans have nothing to do with improving education, but are designed to weaken public schools, for purely political reasons.
What those political reasons are, you don’t quite say. It seems that you may have it backwards. People have no need to weaken the public schools, they’re weak already. That’s why people want alternatives to them in the first place. It’s not really as sinister as you imply, and making people use a bad system because they have no alternative isn’t as virtuous as you imply either.
I personally don’t see this as too much of a problem. In the higher education levels (undergraduate college and up), the United States is by far ranked #1 in the world. It’s all a matter of metrics. Also, we don’t over-emphasize education as do some of the other nations. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. American youths tend to grow much stronger in other aspects such as social skills, self-confidence, creativity, diversity of hobbies, etc.
The U.S. educational system is broken. To arrive at a fix one must investigate and address the causes.
One significant factor is religion. Many teachers (including many home schoolers) believe in gods, spirits, ghosts, souls, creationism, etc. and avoid teaching their students in a factual manner the science that contradicts their religious views.
The students learn views from parents, religious leaders, cultural leaders, politicians, etc. that are at odds with science. The students have to either accept the views of those individuals or the views of science. In many cases there is no middle ground. It’s either one or the other. Lately religion has come out on top, smothering science.
Get scientists to teach science and mathematicians to teach mathematics. Both subjects require the student to THINK RATIONALLY — a process that some religious people laugh in the face of.
If one truly wants to succeed in science then one needs to toss religion into the garbage. Until the U.S. becomes intelligent enough to out-grow its dependence on religion it will be doomed to poor performance in mathematics and science.
Of course, religion isn’t the only obstacle to high performace in math and science but after a string of conservative presidents it’s one of the major players.
“The students learn views from parents, religious leaders, cultural leaders, politicians, etc. that are at odds with science. “
Science is a religion. Darwin is your prophet, however your god does not love and is dead.
My God loves me and is very much alive! My God created the universe, created science, and even created silly creatures like you to question his greatness.
Oh you of little faith… check.
“If one truly wants to succeed in science then one needs to toss religion into the garbage.”
I am a leader in my field of science. I did not toss my religion into the garbage, just the weak liberal anti-God convictions of my professors. I threw those away years ago. My faith in God teaches me to expect great and wonderful things from my scientific research as I unravel the creation like a birthday-gift made just for me by my loving God.
Anon,
Religion teaches you to be accountable for your actions (or inactions).
The US is the mightiest nation to ever exist on planet earth because we have kept the covenant with God.
We feed the worlds hungry, we give the world medicine, and we come to aid those in need during disasters. Without religion as our guide the US could easily become another Soviet Russia or Nazi Germany.
You do not know what you are wishing for foolish Anon. America would become Death himself if not for belief and faith in God. The USA would have rained down fire and death on the world decades ago if not for our well formed conscience and fairly balance science tempered by faith and mercy. Only God can provide these virtues. This human voice of reason cannot explain this to you any better… People like myself are holding back Ragnarok and you wish for its coming? Foolish!
Homeschooling, like most other education interventions, doesn’t have data behind it to suggest either way, whether it is better or worse.
It is easy to make plausible theories about reforming education. It’s more difficult to design studies to measure whether these theories pan out.
The U.S. educational system is broken. To arrive at a fix one must investigate and address the causes.
The school system is more broken now than it was in the days when religion played a bigger part in daily life, and yet you say that religion caused the break. That’s a head scratcher to say the least.
And it’s also part of the reason why the system is broken. People (such as you, for example), are more concerned with pushing their private agendas (in your case this axe you’ve got to grind against religion) than they are in actually making sure kids learn anything. You automatically assume any problem is caused by whoever you don’t like, even if the evidence suggests just the opposite.
** I personally don’t see this as too much of a problem. In the higher education levels (undergraduate college and up), the United States is by far ranked #1 in the world **
well, I am a university professor and I can for sure say there IS a problem: school mentality spreads onto higher education. Look how, say, chemistry textbooks have changed over the last couple of decades. Why? There is a demand. The other problem is that the educational component of “tenurability” becomes weaker every year. A professor is, first of all, a hunter for governament monies. This causes further deterioration of university education.
I do not care how the us higher education is ranked. But as far as the candidates for PhD programs are concerned, we often prefer students from places like Taiwan and Singapore to those who obtained their bachelor degrees in the US. Not only because they work harder (this is not generally the case) but for their background. Very sad, but true.
what I do not understand is how faith in God or lack of thereof becomes so critical for the quality of education. Indoctrination should be avoided, period. Whether it is rightist or leftist (the latter does very well in americal education of today, I must admit. And it will not go away until the federal government is out of secondary education).
maybe its the hollywood and music industry culture, there are so many stories of people who have no educational background going and becoming multi-millionaires in acting, rapping, basketball etc. so since everyone only hear about the successful ones, the kids think thats the way for success. also by the time they realize being “cool” and “popular” isnt really worth anything, its too late…
To Faith on 64 Squares:
Regarding: “The US is the mightiest nation to ever exist on planet earth because we have kept the covenant with God … We feed the worlds hungry, we give the world medicine, and we come to aid those in need during disasters. “
Indeed, the US does dole out quite a lot of Foreign Aid. However, our rates of giving are not particularly impressive when stacked up against quite a few other nations:
“http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0930884.html”
Brad Hoehne
Brad,
I agree completely with your statements.
The USA can begin with ending its senseless wars, improve relations with other countries, support chess in America, and give more time and money for the world’s poor.
Thanks for your comments!
Faith