Education In The Us

The public education system has fallen far from what it once was compared to the world. In the past, the US was looked at as the goal for public education, the smartest and the brightest people came from here. Today, European and Asian countries are matching and even surpassing our education standards. This is a cause for concern and a drastic change needs to be made nationwide to our education system.

Today’s education in the United States has slipped while other countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan have improved dramatically. According to a Nov. 13, 2007 article from USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-11-13-student-study_N.htm), the United States has fallen far behind in math up to the 8th grade. Massachusetts did the best out of the 50 states with 51% of 8th grade students being proficient or higher in math. Mississippi was the lowest state with 14%. The lowest region in the US was the District of Columbia which scored a lowly 8%. This is very far behind Singapore which had 73% of 8th graders proficient or higher in math. Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, and Japan also outdid the US with 66%, 65%, 61%, and 57% respectively.

This gap between states can be attributed to the wealth or lack of it in different demographic regions around the country. Barry McGaw, director of education at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says, "The problem with the U.S. is the way the schools are funded вЂ" with wealthy districts providing fabulous schools for wealthy kids and poor schools providing poor schools and poor education." (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5993839/)

This trend should be alarming to the United States, especially if this continues for an extended period of time. The United States is currently ranked second in the world for college education with 31% of students getting a college degree. Norway is first with 37%. This will not be the case for long, however.