{"id":2576313,"date":"2026-03-05T06:39:02","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T11:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/op-ed-americas-education-crisis-and-how-to-solve-it\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T06:42:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T11:42:38","slug":"op-ed-americas-education-crisis-and-how-to-solve-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/op-ed-americas-education-crisis-and-how-to-solve-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Op-Ed: America\u2019s Education Crisis, and How to Solve It"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fop-ed-americas-education-crisis-and-how-to-solve-it%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2576313&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article argues that the United states faces a pervasive adn pressing crisis in public education that threatens the nation\u2019s future. It notes a long-running decline in student performance across grade levels, with the National Assessment of Educational Progress showing significant and ongoing drops even before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Among 12th graders, only about one third are proficient in reading and 22 percent in math, with reading proficiency falling from 40 percent in 1992 to 35 percent in 2024 and high school math scores at their lowest in over two decades. Younger students show similar trends, and national averages for fourth and eighth graders remain well below pre-COVID levels; only four states have shown gains in reading and math as 2022. Globally, 15-year-olds from the U.S. rank around sixth in reading,average in science,and have some of the lowest math results ever measured. The piece argues that blaming funding levels or instructional time alone misses the deeper issue: a lack of universal, rigorous standards and coherent national curricula, coupled with inconsistent teacher standards, entry, and accountability, and limited school choice. It contends that nations outperforming the U.S.often have national standards and exams, ongoing professional advancement, remediation for struggling teachers, and funding that follows students to higher-performing schools; the U.S., by contrast, maintains a patchwork system with relatively weaker teacher standards and limited national direction. The article concludes that unless America addresses these structural problems,its future leadership and overall well-being could be at stake,echoing concerns raised by the documentary Waiting for Superman and urging reforms akin to a \u201cMan of Steel\u201d change.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>The problems facing America are many, unmistakable, and largely immediate. Anyone with even the slightest ability to fog a mirror knows that concerns include affordability, public safety, drug addiction, terrorism, healthcare costs, and political dysfunction.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, among those issues and others, the quality of our public schools rarely ranks among our top 10 challenges requiring prioritized attention.<\/p>\n<p>However, such omission portends less America&rsquo;s renewal than America&rsquo;s decline. That is, since the future of our nation largely depends on educating future generations, it&rsquo;s worth noting that by virtually any metric, our schools have increasingly become far less an incubator for leaders than a blackboard bungling catalyst spawning the aimless and dependent.<\/p>\n<p>Undeniably, student test results have declined for more than a decade, and that trend has not reversed post-COVID. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the congressionally mandated measure of what students should know, declining student performance is significant, long-running, and not solely COVID-related.<\/p>\n<p>Examples of blackboard bungling are widespread across subject areas and grade levels. Among 12th graders, scores are at historic lows: only one-third are considered &ldquo;proficient&rdquo; in reading, and just 22 percent are equally able in math. In fact, reading proficiency has fallen from 40 percent in 1992 to just 35 percent in 2024, and math scores for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dr-seuss-uncanceled-virginia-entrepreneur-passes-out-dr-seuss-books-to-kids\/\" title=\"Dr. Seuss Uncanceled: Virginia Entrepreneur Passes Out Dr. Seuss Books To Kids\">high school seniors<\/a> are at their lowest level in more than 20 years.<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadAnyclip() { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst container=document.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!container) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=\"https:\/\/player.anyclip.com\/anyclip-widget\/lre-widget\/prod\/v1\/src\/lre.js\"; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"pubname\", \"westernjournalcom\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"widgetname\", \"001w000001jULVcAAO_M12924\");  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ append inside the container so player shows in correct spot \t\t\t\t\t\tcontainer.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadAnyclip(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #anyclipvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#anyclipvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>But declining test scores are not limited to 12th graders. With few exceptions, math and reading results among younger students have followed the same trend. Overall, only four states have shown measurable gains in reading and math proficiency since 2022, and national averages for fourth and eighth graders remain well below pre-COVID levels.<\/p>\n<p>But comparing our students with those from around the world is only slightly more positive. In a global assessment measuring how well 15-year-olds from over 65 nations apply knowledge to real-world problems, our students ranked sixth in reading, about average in science, and math results were described as &ldquo;among the lowest ever measured.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>So how is it that the children of the only remaining superpower perform so poorly? Is it that we spend less on education? Or is our instructional time below that of other nations?<\/p>\n<p>While there is no single cause for our scholastic malaise, its source is neither of the above.<\/p>\n<p>Statistically, only Luxembourg and Norway spend significantly more per pupil than does the United States, which already spends 38 percent more than the average of almost 40 other advanced nations. And as for instructional time, the U.S. is also well above average, ranking third among those same countries.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, if scholastic time and financial resources are not causes of our ever-greater blackboard bungling, we are left with the likelihood that American children receive inferior instruction. And that instruction is often delivered by tenured educators, guided not by rigorously assessed national standards but by a patchwork quilt of state and local curricula.<\/p>\n<p>When instructional delivery is irrefutably linked to substandard student achievement, it is easy to blame veteran teachers, who <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >legally enjoy enhanced job security<\/a>. Given human nature, mediocrity may then result when seasoned instructors are retained by statute despite unexceptional performance.<\/p>\n<p>Even so, because many teachers still maintain high standards and since academic tenure is also widespread in nations with outstanding student achievement, faulting tenure alone for our scholastic decline is not the whole picture.<\/p>\n<p>Differences in student achievement between the U.S. and other developed nations also stem from a far more selective teacher-entry process,&nbsp;rigorously assessed national curricula, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/even-with-chris-cuomo-gone-his-show-ignores-brothers-scandal\/\" title=\"Even With Chris Cuomo Gone, His Show Ignores Brother\u2019s Scandal\">greater school choice<\/a> for parents moving their children to higher-performing schools without economic penalty.<\/p>\n<p>Nations outperforming the United States in student achievement have national standards for teacher training and curriculum. We do not. They have national teacher standards and exams. We do not. They require professional development for teachers, mandate remediation for low-performing teachers, and allow for extensive school choice with public funding that follows students. And again, we do not.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, unlike nations with a highly selective, prestige-enhancing teacher entry process that attracts the best candidates, the status of American instructors is underwhelming at best. As a result, salaries are well below those in top-paying countries, leading to teacher shortages and compelling districts to retain educators they might otherwise dismiss.<\/p>\n<p>A quality education can, at least indirectly, translate into many dimensions of well-being, including income, career opportunities, health, creativity, and overall life satisfaction. These relationships are well supported by strong, consistent evidence from numerous longitudinal studies. A nation will inevitably suffer when its citizens are poorly educated.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, our continued inability or unwillingness to address our blackboard bungling will have long-term, catastrophic effects on America&rsquo;s standing as the leader of the free world.<\/p>\n<p>Years ago, the documentary &ldquo;Waiting for Superman&rdquo; exposed the deplorable state of schooling in America. That was in 2010. Unfortunately, and to our detriment, the &ldquo;Man of Steel&rdquo; is still nowhere to be found.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here is a paraphrase of the main article content (excluding unrelated code and UI elements):<\/p>\n<p>The United States faces many urgent problems\u2014affordability, safety, drug use, terrorism, healthcare costs, and political gridlock. Yet, despite these concerns and others, public education rarely makes the list of the top issues needing urgent action. Ignoring it, however, threatens America\u2019s renewal because the nation\u2019s future depends on educating its youth. By almost any measure, schools are becoming less effective at preparing leaders and more likely to produce students who are directionless and dependent. Test scores have fallen for more than ten years and have not rebounded after COVID-19. The National Assessment of Educational Progress shows a significant, persistent decline in student performance that isn\u2019t solely due to the pandemic. Among 12th graders, about one\u2011third are proficient in reading and only about 22% are proficient in math. Reading proficiency has dropped from around 40% in 1992 to about 35% in 2024, and high school seniors\u2019 math scores are the lowest in more than two decades.<\/p>\n<p>The decline isn\u2019t limited to older students. With few exceptions, math and reading performance among younger students has followed the same trend. Since 2022, only four states have shown measurable gains in reading and math, and national averages for fourth and eighth graders remain well below pre\u2011COVID levels. On international comparisons, 15\u2011year\u2011olds from over 65 nations perform better in real\u2011world problem solving: U.S. students rank around sixth in reading, about average in science, and math results are described as among the lowest ever measured. This raises the question of why children in the world\u2019s last remaining superpower perform so poorly. Is it because we spend less on education, or because our instructional time is shorter than in other countries? The evidence suggests otherwise: only Luxembourg and Norway spend more per pupil than the United States, which already spends about 38% more than the average for nearly 40 other advanced nations. And the United States spends more instructional time than average, ranking third in that measure.<\/p>\n<p>If neither funding nor time explains the gap, the likely cause is inferior instruction. This instruction is often delivered by tenured educators and guided by a patchwork of state and local curricula rather than by rigorous, nationally assessed standards. When student achievement lags, it\u2019s easy to blame veteran teachers who enjoy strong job protections. Yet tenure alone doesn\u2019t tell the whole story. Many high\u2011performing nations have more selective teacher entry, stronger national curricula, and more school choice with public funds following students. They also have national standards for teacher training and curriculum, national exams, and robust professional development, plus remediation for underperforming teachers. In the United States, salaries for teachers are generally lower, contributing to shortages and leading districts to retain teachers they might otherwise dismiss. A quality education is linked to many aspects of well\u2011being\u2014income, career opportunities, health, creativity, and overall life satisfaction\u2014and the evidence across many longitudinal studies supports this connection. A nation that fails to educate its citizens well will suffer in many areas, including its standing as a global leader. The documentary Waiting for Superman, released in 2010, highlighted this crisis; the hoped\u2011for reformer \u201cMan of Steel\u201d remains elusive<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2576314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2026-03-04T170209.031.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[72163,75115,75117,75116],"class_list":["post-2576313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-education-policy-2","tag-education-reform-2","tag-school-funding-2","tag-us-schools"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2026-03-04T170209.031.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2576313"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2576317,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576313\/revisions\/2576317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2576314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2576313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2576313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2576313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}