Education in America and in Other Countries

This week’s article summary is 5 Myths About American Education.

While the article’s myths pertain more to public schools and the public financing of schools (keep in mind that only 1% of kids in America attend independent schools like Trinity), there are some interesting and surprising facts below: See Myth 2: Would you like to teach in Chile? See Myth 3: How much more private dollars support American colleges and universities. See Myth 5: Surprising % of those with a college degree in America.

Joe

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A recent international report demolishes several deeply held myths about America’s educational system. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report compared the educational systems of over 30 developed nations.

Myth 1: Our educational system provides more upward mobility than any other in the world: It’s practically a sacred oath to proclaim that we lead the world in upward mobility. America, we are told, is the best country for a poor person to improve his/her station in life. You might struggle for one generation or so, but your kids can make it up the ladder faster here than any place else. And the reason, of course, is because we provide the best educational opportunities for all young people, rich and poor. Not true, says the OECD report. The odds that a young person in the U.S. will be in higher education if his/her parents do not have an upper secondary education are just 29% — one of the lowest levels among OECD countries. Just how low is our ranking? Of the 28 countries listed, we’re third from the bottom.

Myth 2: Our teachers work less and get paid more: It’s open season on public employees, especially teachers and their unions. They get paid too much. Their benefits are too high. They get tenure while the rest of us fear layoffs. And they get the entire summer off! If there’s educational decline, then teachers must be the cause. Wrong! says the OECD report, especially when it comes to hours worked: Teachers in the U.S. spend between 1050 and 1100 hours a year teaching – much more than in almost every country. Of the 38 countries surveyed only two countries had teachers who worked more hours – Argentina and Chile. And when it comes to the hours worked per years by our primary school teachers, we’re number one! But surely, aren’t these unionized teachers making too much money? Not according to the OECD report: Despite high overall levels of spending on education, teacher salaries in the U.S. compare poorly. While in most OECD countries teacher salaries tend be lower, on average, than the salaries earned by other workers with higher education, in the U.S. the difference is large, especially for teachers with minimum qualifications.

Myth 3: Big government (via our tax dollars) funds higher education: We almost lead the world in overall spending on higher education, both in absolute dollars and as a percent of GDP. Unfortunately, we place more of the burden on students and their families than just about any other developed nation: In the U.S., 38% of higher education expenditures come from public sources, and 62% are from private sources. Across all OECD countries, 70% of expenditures on higher education come from public sources, and 30% are from private sources.

Myth 4: We provide excellent early childhood education: The rest of the world invests much more in their young people, especially the very young: On average across OECD countries, 84% of pupils in early childhood education attend programs in public schools or government-dependent private institutions, while in the U.S., 55% of early childhood pupils attend programs in public schools, and 45% attend independent private programs. In the U.S. the typical starting age for early childhood education is 4 years old, while in 21 other OECD countries, it is 3 years old or younger. So where are we ranked?

·      3-year-olds (in early childhood education): 25th of 36 countries

·      4-year-olds (in early childhood education and primary education): 28th of 38 countries

·      5- to 14-year-olds (all levels): 29th of 39 countries

Myth 5: We have the highest percentage of college grads in the world: OK, we may have some issues with early childhood education, who pays for college, upward mobility and public support for higher education. But we have the best universities and the most college graduates. While it’s difficult to compare global colleges and universities (and while we do have some of the very best elite institutions), it is possible to compare the number college graduates among developed nations. The U.S. ranks 14th in the world in the percentage of 25-34 year-olds with higher education (42%).