This article is incredible. You MUST read it. Because everyone must be aware of what is going on in our public schools today and how much it is costing us as a nation. This is a very, very important issue that needs to be addressed.
To sum up the article, columnist Thomas Friedman talks about a report he read by the consulting firm McKinsey, entitled “The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America’s Schools.”
The consulting firm did a study showing that the United States has fallen behind in educating our youth compared the other leading nations in the world. In the 50s and 60s, we led the nation in our youth's education (and we had the strongest economy in the world as well). In the 70s and 80s, we were still leading the world in our secondary education (although by a smaller lead), and "America continued to lead the world economically, albeit with other big economies, like China, closing in" (Friedman). But then, we dropped off in the nineties, and today we are one of the worst industrialized countries according to the education of our youth (see the article for statistics).
Here are the truly incredible statistics. If we had, in the eighties and nineties, heeded the call to improve our education system and "had raised its performance to the level of such nations as Finland and South Korea, United States G.D.P. in 2008 would have been between $1.3 and $2.3 trillion higher" (Friedman). $1.3-$2.3 TRILLION higher if we had only improved our education system like we should have.
The article then goes on to talk about how things have started to look just a little more promising. Teach for America has experienced a 40% increase in their total applications. This means that my generation, this generation of college graduates, are beginning to realize that not only is the disparity in our youths education a serious issue, but it is within our power to solve it. I only hope that this awareness continues to spread.
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