It turns out that a substandard educational system can mess with the intelligence of your kids. Who would’ve guessed it?
Every three years, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based organization, administers tests to 15-year-olds in math, science, and reading in 34 different countries.
Yesterday, the latest test results were released, and our 15-year-olds are decidedly average. We ranked 14th in reading and 17th in science. The math scores were lower than average, coming in at 25th. The scores in science and math are both up from 2006 (reading scores weren’t recorded in ’06), but they didn’t necessarily increase at a faster rate than any of the other participants.
South Korea and Finland led the rankings, landing in the top three of each category.
According to the report, the U.S. faces tougher educational problems because of its diverse population, in contrast to Finland, who benefited from a relatively homogeneous population.
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said:
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 wakeup call to the entire country.
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This shouldn’t be a wakeup call. We know there’s something wrong with our school system. The results really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
If that’s not depressing enough, listen to this ridiculously well-spoken 15-year-old. No, he’s not American.
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Unfortunately, Duncan’s policies are about creating charters rather than improving public schools.