The American Education Diet: Can U.S. Students Survive On Junk Food?

I was recently reading in my local paper how the students in my state were not doing much better than the states with a comparable demographic. Utah is a state that has a high ratio of college educated parents who seem to be concerned about the education of their children however Utah is one of the lowest in per student spending. Our governor and State Superintendent of Schools feel that we are so successful because we can do so much with so little. But if we are not really doing much better than other states who spend more how can we be successful? We are just getting by. We are not pushing ourselves to be the best. If we are going to compete globally in the coming years we need to be improving in all areas and making sure that our students have the education necessary to compete.
America tests in the middle of other countries
Percentage of U.S. eighth-graders testing at or above proficient in math:

• Massachusetts 51%
• Higher than any other state.
Countries that did better on a comparable test:
Singapore 73%

Hong Kong 66%

Korea 65%

Taiwan 61%

Japan 57%

14%
• Mississippi
• Lower than any other state
• (Only the District of Columbia did worse 8%.)

We cannot continue to be mediocre we must strive for excellence and to be the best or we will lose our edge to those countries such as China and India who are willing to put in the effort to help their students succeed.

Below is a report on student education in America that is worth the time to read.


The American Education Diet: Can U.S. Students Survive On Junk Food?