At least we’re better than Croatia!
Poor students have a tougher time overcoming their socioeconomic odds in the U.S. than in Canada, France, Russia, and 33 other countries, according to a new global report by the OECD. Only about 20 percent of disadvantaged students in the U.S.—those in the bottom 25th percentile of the PISA index of economic, social and cultural status— show academic performance that’s in the top 25th percentile internationally. In Russia and France, that percentage is only slightly higher; in Canada it’s nearer to 35 percent. In a handful of East Asian countries, including Singapore, Vietnam, and several provinces in China, well over 60 percent of disadvantaged students rank in the top quarter of international students. The average among all OECD member countries is roughly 25 percent.
It doesn’t have anything to do with our teachers. It has to do with school funding, which manufactures and maintains inequality. It has to do with deep poverty, and illiteracy rates approaching 50% in our inner cities.
I don’t know about having nothing to with teachers. We don’t get the best students entering the profession because the pay is low. Those that are teaching have few management skills. Running a classroom is a lot like running any other organization. Except that the students must be motivated differently than a paid employee would be. Sit through an average school day and you’ll be startled by what comes out of mouths of some teachers. Low information voters are schooled in the myths that American exceptionalism holds so dear.