The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an internationally standardized test administered by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Every three years PISA tests 15-year-olds in reading; mathematical and scientific literacy; and general competencies — that is, how well students apply the knowledge and skills they have learned at school to real-life problems. In the last published results (2006), out of the 57 participating countries on mathematics the United States ranked 32nd. On the science component the United States ranked 24th. Other tests show that the longer that US kids stay in school, the worse they do. In the International Math and Science Study exam, U.S. eighth grade students performed worse, relative to their international peers, than U.S fourth graders.
We all know these loser results are because of a mickey mouse public educational system in the U.S. These kids have been swindled by high school teachers. They have also been swindled by liberal democratic socialism , of which the U.S. public educational system is a prime example. Liberal Democratic Socialism promises Utopia in exchange for individual freedom. It says sweetly “Just lay down your individual preferences, your choice, your self sufficiency and your personal freedom and we will give you a Utopia where there is no link between effort/skill and reward. Just by joining the collective – and why not get your membership in high school? – you will get the same rewards as every other member. Your self esteem will be high. You will pass through each grade whether you are ignorant or knowledgeable. All members of the collective receive the same benefits.”
Lastly they say, “Oh, and did we mention that we, your benefactors, will assume all power over the collective?” They don’t tell the swindled that Utopia will never come because it is being “payed for” with other people’s money. Well other people’s money runs out – ask Greece, Spain, Ireland, Britain, France, Illinois, New York, California and New Jersey. Utopia is a bald-faced lie from which political power is attained.
Until competition is allowed between public and private high school school education (and yes this competition is allowed in Canada), too many U.S kids will continue to be ignorant losers.
The author is quite correct to link the mass production of ignorant, incompetent and uncompetitive American youth back to collectivism. This problem won’t be solved until competition between private and public high-school education is allowed in the U.S.
Excuse the rant, but wasting all that human potential through the use of a big lie really makes me angry.
