Trevor Autin

ENG102
6 March , 2015
Education Standards
America is a country known to be proud and patriotic in every aspect. But can the
country really back up its claims to have one of the best education systems in the first world?
Statistics have shown that the American public school students are not learning the skills and
knowledge they need to succeed in todays world. Americas education system should be
improved and perfected upon for the future of all American citizens.
Public school systems affect the entirety of the country, and can mold the future
generations leaders into fine subjects to bring the country into becoming a prosperous one. With
the current schooling, its unlikely that many of the students will receive a decent enough
education to better themselves in the world outside of school. After World War II, the United
States had the #1 high school graduation rate in the world. Today, that statistic has dropped as
low as #22 among 27 industrialized nations. Americans today rank 25th in math, 17th in science,
and 14th in reading compared to students in 27 industrialized nations.
As stated before, the United States was a very prominent country in education, even
boasting high enough to rank #1 out of 27 other countries. With all of the patriotism, the United
States is confident that their education rules, yet there is no real reinforcement behind these
claims.
Today, students in America upon graduation are not prepared for college. Less than half
of American students 46 percent finish college, ranking last among 18 countries. Also; only
one in four high school students graduate ready for college in all four core subjects of English,

reading, math, and science, which is why a third of students entering college have to take
remedial courses. Even the professors agree; two-thirds of college professors report that what is
taught in high school does not prepare students for college. All of these statistics come from the
2011 ACT and the 2010 OECD, both of these things take data and test scores from American
students yearly and determine where they stand in ranking across all of the states, and among
other countries.
There are many disbelievers still to this day that insist that the United States education
system has no flaws and that we still remain dominant. They are valid to keep their own opinions
in this, but the statistics and data from the students in America show the cold truth of how low
we have stooped in education.
A movement to improve education can start today, with many students pushing to have a
more strict curriculum and more involved classes, allowing the students to advance at the same
rate as all of the other countries in the industrialized world.

Works Cited
"The Broad Foundation - Education." The Broad Foundation - Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr.
2015.

"Statistics About Education in America." StudentsFirst.org. N.p., 02 Oct. 2014. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.