So in other words, this is less a report card on the American education system than it is on the American society in general.
Personally, I see society's economic polarization as the product of a crappy education system - people that are educable and have the right skills are having a less arduous time finding gainful employment.
The number of H1 visas issued every year provides a stark illustration of the rabbit hole that public educational policy has taken itself down for the past 30 or so years. Foreign born skilled labour is pouring into the skills vacuum created by inadequate rigour here in the US nowadays.
Don't call me Dr Pangloss, though, on employment because I am acutely aware that H1 visas are also being used as a safety valve on wage pressure to ensure that the uber-rich do not have to pay the unwashed masses too much for skilled work as well. The Silicon Valley 'gentleman's agreements' between companies
show that even the skilled are under artificial pressures holding their wages down too.
I don't know how to turn this particular oil tanker around but for the sake of our chidren, particularly gifted ones and for the sake of our country staying globally competitive and a place where companies want to hire people we are going to have to shake the current (failed) system up.
Worshiping at the fetish of Standardised Testing (TM) isn't the way to do this either...
