By now many of you will have seen reports on the latest update of American fourth and eighth grade reading and math scores. It is pathetic and generally worsening. To be clear, these are not hard expectations, they represent very basic abilities, and an astounding number of students don’t meet them, across the country. You can find both summaries of the current results and detailed breakdowns by state and by student groups here. (NAEP Reports)
Despite being one of the highest per-pupil spending states in the country, Minnesota has similarly abysmal results with high percentages of students not being proficient in either math or reading in the fourth or eighth grade, despite a massive increase in that spending as Dems went wild in the last session. Alpha news gives the gory details in a story here. Only 45% of students are proficient in reading and 31% in math in grade 4, and only 34% are proficient in math and 28% in reading by eighth grade. Disgraceful, but our idiot governor tells us this is a great state to raise a child. (AN Story)
As you would expect, low-income students are those most betrayed by our extremely expensive education system. Why is it expensive–because we have far too many administrators and staff, who are all over-compensated and we provide absurd lifetime pensions and benefits to most teachers and staff. This is supported by immense political contributions to one party, which ensures excessive spending in return for those contributions.
Why do we get so little for our money–because we have many incompetent teachers, hired more for DEI and political reasons, and because the focus is too often on indoctrination regarding Dems’ pet causes than actually teaching children. Because parents too often are uninvolved and don’t support children learning, allow them too much phone and other screen time. Because discipline issues in the classroom are unaddressed and teachers, understandably, just give up trying to maintain order and teach.
This is a massive national security and economic well-being issue. China and other countries do a far, far better job of educating their children and are turning out huge numbers of well-qualified engineers, scientists and others who are critical to economic growth. We are dooming millions of children to low-paying, unsatisfying work and aimless lives. We see this already in the younger generation aged 20 to 30.
The fix is obvious. Allow full school choice. Insist on spending going to hire and pay good teachers and equip classrooms. Eliminate staff and adminstration and state and local bureaucracies. Bar teachers’ unions from making political contributions. Allow the return of classroom discipline. Make parents be involved and responsible for their children’s learning. There are schools and districts that have met the challenges successfully and are turning out well-educated children, but they are too few. This should be a top issue federally and in every state.
The Healthy Skeptic is a website about the health care system, and is written by Kevin Roche, who has many years of experience working in the health industry. Mr. Roche is available to assist health care companies through consulting arrangements through Roche Consulting, LLC and may be reached at 
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It would he interesting to look at surrounding states pensions. I became a sped teacher and believe the work is terrible. Teachers are underpaid. They’ve had to take over parenting because its non existent. . Most don’t get summers off. We are also not given the same level pensions. You should reach out to the woman who did the audit of the TRA. Where are the funds? The auditor got no response from or proof from SBI or TRA to requests for data.
The kids also seem to never be required to attend full weeks of school anymore. It seems rare that my kids have two consecutive full weeks of school. They have days off for government holidays, end of quarter days, teacher workshop days, teacher training days, etc. Then they seem to have a field trip about once a month. The kids are never really in the classroom learning.
JFK Jr may just have an answer to at least one of the Major root causes. I hasten to emphasize, ONE!
I agree with every word you said. Another issue is immigration. America is taking in millions of people whose children don’t speak a word of English–with obvious effects on the system. School systems in the greater Boston area are drowning in them. I wouldn’t be surprised if 13 different languages are spoken in some schools. This ends up boosting the number of ‘special ed’ (ADD, ADHD, cognitive language shortfalls….) or whatever word they use for underperforming students, so the percentages you cite may to some extent be artificially inflated because they could be a function of trying to ‘normalize’ students who in truth will never be normalized.