Is public education working in the US?

Answer 1

Judging by a comparison of test scores between the US and other foreign countries, I have to say no. American students regularly fall below the scores shown by students of the same age in most other developed countries. One of the problems with public education in the US is that it operates on a model developed a century or more ago. In those times, as industrialization took hold in America, it became important to develop young people with specific skills that were not amenable to the agricultural economy. Rote memorization, the ability to tell time, the need to obey authority and other behavioral traits were very important to a society that needed factory workers who would show up on time, learn their jobs, and follow the orders of management. Students with differing needs and abilities, if not neglected completely, were denigrated to the lowest levels of education. Imaginative thinking, individuality and other similar traits were discouraged. This method, of course, is no longer valid. American schools are still designed to put out factory workers and 'order followers', not thinkers and dreamers. Interestingly, the amount of money spent per child seems to have no direct and provable relationship to test scores or learning ability - some inner city schools that change the way they treat youngsters show amazing increases in scores, while other schools which spend far more per student still lag behind. You learn in an environment that encourages imagination, a bit of day-dreaming, and the ability to explore and examine things. The American public school system is not designed to do this.