There are many books highlighting the inadequacy of american lower education, and to some extent higher education. I think this is one of the best ones. If Americans became more educated, where say 75% of the students in a Phd program are Americans, I would become the biggest bull in history. The way the political process tries to solve the educational problems in this country is, while rooted in a deep passion to do the right thing, misses much of the point. How many Google would exist if American ingenuity was rekindled the way it was during the 60s push to go to the moon? Instead 75% of the Phds in American universities are foreigners on H1bs - upon completion of their doctorate they take that precious deep knowledge somewhere else. It is amazing to me that Obama after having attended the UoC, maybe in the top five Universities in the world, can have such a low opinion of how people should be taught by continuing down the dead end of "no child left behind". For example, grades can be meaningless in your chances at being accepted at the UoC. You could be a high school dropout and get into the UoC. Think about how that can be true and you understand all educational problems this country has. A person isn't a bucket to be filled with information, whose competency is and ability to think critically and creatively is measured by filling little round circles. American education kills the natural curiosity of children, which in turn torches motivation: the greatest commodity a teacher has.
We do not need more Phd's. The problem is #1 public education is focusing primarily at the low end of the curve at the expense of the middle and high end of the curve. We dumb down the educational system to make sure the hoodrats can pass a test. #2 College is expensive and too many people are going to college who have no buisness doing so, this raises prices when too many people chase degrees in underwater basket weaving. We need to follow the system Germany has.
This just proves that public education has been and WILL CONTINUE TO BE.....an abysmal institution. We should have created a voucher system where everyone can pick their own private school. Then, there would be true competition and outstanding teachers and facilities. Instead, we are mired in mediocrity....and even communist China is kicking our kid's asses. Von Mises is rolling over in his grave.......
While our education system is bad, that is not even half of the problem. The primary issue is that too many parents are raising self-entitled little excrement for brains children that go to school not to learn, but to see how they can disrupt classrooms and to see how much they can get away with in a system that has it's hands tied as far as giving any meaningful consequences for bad behavior. When I was in school and got in trouble and my parents were called they took the side of the teachers and administrators, I got punished at school and again at home. Today when parents get called the parents tear into the teachers and administrators for "picking on" their innocent little darling.
ok, but just remember, once you get out into the white suburbs, USA children test the highest in the world. So you can conclude that black children are just genetically inferior or the real problem is in our predominately black inner city schools. And if that is true, why?
i think you're forgetting a LOT of the country. The trailer trash, the unfortunate in the south. Rich white suburban kids are the minority, although you may not know that if you are from there. Its true - inner city schools are horrendous and the numbers not insignificant. But did you know that despite all the hype about inner city youth that Florida has 57% greater amount of people in poverty than New York? Add up Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Kentucky, Indiana - there are some poor ass dumb folk being taught absolutely nada. Honey Boo Boo and the like. Unfortunately, most people do not think about how municipalities / counties run their own school systems. These idiots are allowed to literally change the textbooks to whatever they want (when i say literally, i mean they have to make new customized printing plates for each school system - textbook companies spend hundreds of millions each year for everyone's "different" books). The only reason i am aware of this is through due diligence the old Houghton Mifflin LBO. This is how you have idiots in Ohio taking science out of the classroom because it doesn't jive with adam and eve. Extrapolate that to the poor (who grow up to teach the poor) and they can write whatever they want into the textbooks. I'm not joking,this is actually how it works. Its so fucked up you would have to nuke the entire education system as you know it - and lets see what the teachers unions and politicians would have to say. this is harsh, but i honestly think it would be much more productive to continue import the smartest, brightest and hungriest minds than to worry too much about the backwards ass american education system. Its structurally unpenetrable and will take centuries to change - if at all. Its not our strong suit to run a good government or public education system. We do need to get back - and soon - to importing the best foreign minds that we can. That is our future "edge" as a country (or not), like it or not. I'm hoping that the terrorism is just a temporary blip - its so imperative to keep luring the russian and eastern european and asian brainiacs over here - its our only practical hope.
You have succinctly pointed out a major change that took place in U.S. primary and secondary education system following the Johnson administration's Great Society programs and integration. By the early 1970s the effects were quite evident. Prior to the Great Society programs and integration responsibility was placed first on parents and students and lastly on teachers, schools, and administrators. That order was reversed after Johnson. The other major factor, one you didn't mention, but just as important if not more so, is that after Johnson "Tracking" was eliminated from the public Junior and Senior High Schools. Tracking became untenable in the South and in the inner cities after integration, and as a result tracking was eliminated everywhere and replaced with separate "enrichment programs" such as "Reach". The elimination of tracking had a huge impact on the quality of U.S. secondary education. Today, Charter Schools are a way of bringing back de facto tracking without calling it that. The short range effect will be even worse non-charter public, secondary schools.