Public School: Never Have so Many Paid so Much to Achieve so Little

Townhall.com ^ | March 21, 2015 | Daniel J. Mitchell

[Kaslin]

No other nation in the world spends as much on education as the United States.

According to our leftist friends, who prefer to measure inputs rather than outputs, this is a cause for celebration. I guess it shows we have the best intentions. Or maybe we love our kids the most.

For those who prefer to focus on outputs, however, it’s very difficult to be happy about the results we’re getting compared to all the money that’s being spent. Heck, in some cases it’s almost as if we’re getting negative results when you compare inputs and outputs.

To paraphrase what Winston Churchill said about the Royal Air Force in World War II, never have so many paid so much to achieve so little.

Now we have more evidence that American taxpayers are paying a lot and getting a little (though I have to admit that non-teaching education bureaucrats have been big winners).

The Washington Post reports on some new research to see how America’s young adults rank compared to their peers in other nations.

The results aren’t encouraging.

This exam, given in 23 countries, assessed the thinking abilities and workplace skills of adults. It focused on literacy, math and technological problem-solving. The goal was to figure out how prepared people are to work in a complex, modern society. And U.S. millennials performed horribly. That might even be an understatement… No matter how you sliced the data – by class, by race, by education – young Americans were laggards compared to their international peers. In every subject, U.S. millennials ranked at the bottom or very close to it, according to a new study by testing company ETS.

There were three testing categories and Americans didn’t do well in any of them.

…in literacy, U.S. millennials scored higher than only three countries. In math, Americans ranked last. In technical problem-saving, they were second from the bottom. “Abysmal,” noted ETS researcher Madeline Goodman. “There was just no place where we performed well.”

Here’s the comparative data on literacy.

Here’s how Americans did on numeracy (which may explain why there’sconsiderable support for the minimum wage).

Last but not least, millennials didn’t exactly do well in problem solving, either (which may explain their bizarre answers to polling questions).

By the way, the researchers also sliced and diced the data to get apples-to-apples comparisons.

Yet even on this basis, there’s no good news for America.

U.S. millennials with master’s degrees and doctorates did better than their peers in only three countries, Ireland, Poland and Spain. …Top-scoring U.S. millennials – the 90th percentile on the PIAAC test – were at the bottom internationally, ranking higher only than their peers in Spain. …ETS researchers tried looking for signs of promise – especially in math skills, which they considered a good sign of labor market success. They singled out native-born Americans. Nope.

At some point, we need to realize that decades of additional spending and decades of further centralization have not worked.

Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to shut down the Department of Education on the federal level and to encourage school choice on the state and local level.

After all, we already have good evidence that decentralization and competition produces better test scores. There’s also strong evidence for school choice from nations such as Sweden, Chile, and the Netherlands.

P.S. We’re never going to solve this problem by tinkering with the status quo. That’s like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. This is why Bush’s no-bureaucrat-left-behind scheme didn’t work. And it explains why Obama’s Common Core is flopping as well.

P.P.S. Moreover, it will probably require big reform to deal with the brainless types of political correctness that exist in government schools.

P.P.P.S. If you want more evidence that the problem isn’t money, check out this research on educational outcomes in various cities. Or look at this data from New York City and Washington, DC, both of which spend record amounts of money on education.

P.P.P.P.S. I can’t resist sharing this correction of some very shoddy education reporting by the New York Times.

P.P.P.P.P.S. On the bright side, the inadequacies of government-run schools helped give birth to the home-schooling movement, which then led to this humorous video. And the political correctness that infects government schools results in a bizarre infatuation with gender performance, which helped lead to this funny video. And this bit of satire on the evolution of math training in government schools also is quite amusing.

[driftless2]

The whole thing is exploded by the fact that one racial minority, east Asians, are vastly overrepresented in many top universities. Why do not white groups claim racist policies that help asians over whites? In fact, asians are now discriminated against. They actually have to start out behind other groups in California SAT tests... penalized for being successful.

We all know the answer. The entire goal of the leftists is to get more blacks in college whether they're prepared or not. And mostly not. If whites or asians have to be discriminated against to achieve their goal, then so bet it.

As we also know well, facts and logic do not matter to leftists. What is important is the goal: establish some sort of leftist utopia in America.

[Gene Eric]

“Number of subjects per five-point interval”

The two curves look to have similar area not representing the proportionality of the two races, so the impact on national averages is not as profound as the graph conveys.

But your point about “trying to get” is certainly relevant; however, the effective PSE methods are unfortunately repressive by the way potential is dampened in the effort to close the gap — it’s easier to repress the higher achievers than it is to bend intellectual capacity upward — a methodology that ultimately benefits no one.

[Gene Eric]

>> Well, we know why they can’t state the obvious...

What is the benefit of “stating the obvious?”

I’d rather knee-cap the Left and its policies of uniformity, and instead let every individual grow at his own rate which would yield better outcomes for everyone.

[PapaBear3625]

The entire goal of the leftists is to get more blacks in college whether they're prepared or not. And mostly not.

The goal of the left is to put people into positions they are not qualified for, and have the people thus placed know it.

Thus, they will know that their positions, livelihood, and socioeconomic status are dependent upon the Left remaining in power. This gives them an incentive to support the Left's power.

[4Liberty]

[Theodore R.]

No matter what, the American people will always believe that it’s all “for the children.” Are they too blind to see?

[Theodore R.]

You are right: a leftist always thinks a leftist is his friend.

[Theodore R.]

At some point, we need to realize that decades of additional spending and decades of further centralization have not worked.

Sorry, it won't be understood. The American people are incapable of grasping very much truth for very long.

[Theodore R.]

Did you forget that Newton Gingrich (and maybe Bob Dole too) were proponents of a Dept. of Education?

[EinNYC]

Did you factor in the racial differences between the higher scoring countries and the U.S.? That public schools have to take anyone in? That the libtards have tied the hands of schools to discipline disruptive students who take away significant learning time from kids who want to learn? That certain districts such as NYC (capital of libtard educational practices) have now eased cell phone restrictions and allow them to be brought into schools, which amounts to 50% of what teachers say being, "Put the cell phone away" instead of any educational material? That there don't seem to be any consequences for failing classes or even failing to attend classes?

Don't come to class? Take evening classes or summer school, often easier. Fail your class? Teachers under the administrative gun for good passing stats are forced to pass you anyway. If teachers actually fail students, quite often administrators in search of good passing stats change the grade right behind the teacher's back.

[Lizavetta]

kids have to share text books which are falling apart, and there are not enough books for the kids to take home at night.

I don't know, but I am willing to bet my last dollar that there is plenty of funding for non-teaching positions such as secretaries, administrative assistants, executive assistants, assistants to assistants, vice assistants, vice principals, co-principals, assistant principals, etc. etc. etc.

[A_perfect_lady]

Nowadays, in the field of education, we aren’t supposed to mention intelligence at all. There is no such word. There are only “skills”. We need to improve the children’s “skills.” Some children have different “skills” than others. Some children are not “motivated” to improve their “skills.” That’s the only allowed topic of conversation when talking about this sort of thing.

[Loud Mime]

BFLR

[Republican1795.]

Not at all. I was never a big supporter of either or rather I was not an enthusiastic supporter.