It is now widely acknowledged that America’s  public school education system  is broken and needs fixing. Numerous studies rank US school children well below other countries in  science and math tests:

“The average science score of U.S. students lagged behind those in 16 of 30 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based group that represents the world’s richest countries. The U.S. students were further behind in math, trailing counterparts in 23 countries.”

Studies such as these have raised alarm bells among parents, educators, politicians and the media.  President Barack Obama has made it a priority and said  in a speech last year   :

” The future belongs to the nation that best educates its citizens — …….And yet, despite resources that are unmatched anywhere in the world, we’ve let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short, and other nations outpace us…. The relative decline of American education is untenable for our economy, it’s unsustainable for our democracy, it’s unacceptable for our children — and we can’t afford to let it continue….”

It is indeed a paradox that primary education in the richest nation lags so  far behind the rest of the world on so many  metrics.  As an immigrant to the US ,  who attended primary schools in India, and as a parent with two children who graduated from public schools in America,  I have been intrigued by this apparent paradox as well.  While not an expert by any means, I have given this some  thought. [Read more →]