Losing Our Competitive Edge

American Education has not been improving over the past few decades. Test scores have been going down, and America’s ranking among the other countries in the world has gone down.

According to an article posted on February 28, 2021, at a website called The Balance:

The United States is not investing as much in human capital as other developed countries. As a result, its comparative advantage is falling behind. For example, U.S. students’ math skills have remained stagnant for decades.1

This means they are falling behind many other countries, such as Japan, Poland, and Ireland, which have greatly improved. In fact, U.S. test scores are now below the global average. 

…The Program for International Student Assessment tests 15-year-old students around the world and is administered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In 2018, when the test was last administered, the U.S. placed 11th out of 79 countries in science. It did worse in math, ranking 30th.2 

The U.S. scored 478 in math, below the OECD average of 489. That’s well below the scores of the top five, all of which were Asian nations: Singapore at 569, Macao at 555, Hong Kong at 551, Taiwan at 531, and Japan at 527. China was not included in this ranking, since only four provinces participated.

The article implies that this is the result of not spending enough money on education. I disagree, but I cited the article because I wanted to post some numbers to prepare you for what I am about to share.

On Monday, Fox News posted an article about California’s efforts to reform mathematics education in the name of social justice.

The article reports:

Hundreds of highly distinguished science and math professors have signed an open letter expressing “urgent concern” over California’s efforts to reform mathematics education in the name of social justice.

The letter, signed by 597 science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professionals, said the California Department of Education’s (CDE) proposed new mathematics framework will aim to reduce achievement gaps by limiting the availability of advanced mathematical courses to middle schoolers and beginning high schoolers, making it more challenging for students to succeed in STEM at college.

Denying access to accelerated courses to advanced students will not improve the education of anyone. Different people have different talents, and allowing them to pursue those talents is helpful to all concerned. I can assure you that China and Russia are not limiting the progress of their advanced students.

The article notes:

The signatories demanded that all students, regardless of background, have access to a math curriculum “with precision and rigor,” and that students be offered multiple pathways to explore mathematics at varying grade levels of middle and high school.

“Far from being deliberately held back, all students should have the opportunity to be nurtured and challenged to fulfill their potential,” the letter said. “This is not only for their own benefit but also for society and the nation’s economic competitiveness.”

The open letter echoes similar concerns in an open letter over the summer, signed by more than 1,100 Californians working in science and technology, who argued it is “immoral and foolish to intentionally hold back the intellectual growth of students by forcing them to waste time in unchallenging classes.”

Bright students in unchallenging classes lose interest in school and tend not to continue their education. The California reform proposal is a recipe for disaster.