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America's Education Choice



Education promises to be one of the big issues in America's presidential election The choice spend more, or reform first

This election year may finally bring Americans face to face with the failure of their system of public education. The confrontation will be painful: 30 years of decline cannot be easily reversed. But, if the right lessons are drawn, they could make American schools models for the world once again.

America's education system is in the sort of crisis that Detroit's car industry* faced in the 1970s, before Japanese imports almost destroyed it in the 1980s; Teachers and parents are uneasily aware that something is wrong but have little idea how bad matters really are. At fourth grade (ten years old), American children score better in reading and science than most pupils in 20 other rich countries, and are above average in mathematics. At eighth grade, they are still slightly better than average in maths and science but fall behind in reading. By 12th grade, they are behind 95% of the children in other countries. The longer children stay in American schools, the worse they seem to get.

Even today most educational organisations - especially the teachers' unions - are in denial about the extent of the failure. Isn't America's economy the envy of the world? It is, but employers agonise about the quality of high-school graduates and spend millions correcting it. Almost three-quarters of ten-year-olds in the poorest public schools have not yet begun to read or write; the illiteracy rate among 17-year-olds is one in seven. Poor education lies behind the looming problem of inequality, between the new economy's winners and losers. Aren't American universities the envy of the world? The best ones are. But too many have to spend too much time on "remedial" work. There are problems even at the top. America is not keeping up with demand for computer graduates. Immigrants account for a third of Silicon Valley's high-tech work-force. As once with cars, so now in education; America finds itself having to import other countries' successes.

This does not have to be. Correcting educational failure - particularly at secondary schools - is the most important domestic task facing the nation.

Americans can vote either to spend more on schools, or to change the education system first, and then see whether more should be spent. They should start with the system.