Are America's Students Falling Behind? - PolyMatter

[TexasTowelie]

Summary of Education Performance Trends

This video examines the perceived "crisis" in American education, challenging common narratives about declining student performance.

Key Points:

Recent Decline (Post-2013)
- American students' test scores have declined since 2013, erasing decades of progress
- Examples include 29% of 8th graders failing basic arithmetic and poor geography knowledge
- However, this decline is not unique to the U.S. — 38 OECD countries show similar patterns

Possible Causes
- "Smartphone adoption" is the most plausible explanation, crossing 50% in 2013
- The decline disproportionately affected lower-performing students, while elite schools banned phones early
- The repeal of "No Child Left Behind" had less impact than commonly assumed

Historical Context
- The U.S. has always ranked average or below among developed nations in education
- Similar "crisis" narratives appeared in 1958, 1983, and 2010, each blaming a different rival (Soviets, Japan, China)
- Despite mediocre scores for decades, the U.S. became the world's only superpower

The Real Issue: Inequality
- Upper-class American students perform as well as their Canadian counterparts
- Lower-class American students lag far behind international peers
- The U.S. produces the most top-performing students globally, but the lack of a unified system leaves disadvantaged students behind

Conclusion: The "national crisis" framing is misleading — America's education challenge is primarily about "inequality", not overall mediocrity threatening economic competitiveness.

[markie]

1. good assessment

testing schools is going on right now

https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/

doesn't paint the whole picture

[no_hypocrisy]

2. I can attest to phones beating the competition for the attention of students

during the class day.

I've taught middle school as a substitute. There's no way you can re-capture the attention of a majority of the students with phones and direct them to do the necessary classwork.

As a teacher, you can't take away their phones. They text and receive texts. They show videos. And some have school-issued laptops which may not be restricted to classwork. The kids get hyperexcited by what's on their phones, unlike principles of osmosis. It's akin to eschewing a plate of steaming broccoli for a nice chocolate cream pie and all you can eat.

And if they don't do the classwork, you can be damned sure they won't do the work as homework.

So whatever minimal education is intended, it's not being absorbed.

[Igel]

3. TX law says phones powered off and away during the school day, first to last bell.

"I have to answer this text, it's my mom." Write up. Because it's state law. "So if it was an emergency and my brother was seriously hurt I couldn't find out immediately?"

"No. 1. Nothing you can do. 2. You can't find this out that way if you're following state law and district and school policy. 3. They could call the school and the switchboard would direct the call to my classroom phone or send an aide to get you."

"But what if they don't know to do that?" "Then the hospital staff would know."

I mean, millions managed to get through school without classroom phones. When the G. kids' father committed suicide the kids finished the day.

But phones are one of the two big issues facing my students.