U.S. Spends More, Gets Less in Education
26th June 2013
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United States spent an average of $15,171 in 2010 on each student when college or vocational training was factored in—the highest in the world. The average for each elementary student was $11,000 per elementary student and more than $12,000 for each high school student. Switzerland spent $14,922 per student, Mexico averaged $2,993, and the average OECD nation spent $9,313.
The survey showed that brand-new and experienced teachers in the United States had higher salaries than most of their foreign equivalents. As a percentage of the economy, U.S. spending on education was higher than the average; the U.S. spent 7.3 percent of its economy while the average was 6.3 percent.
But all of the money spent does not guarantee success; U.S. fourth-graders ranked 11th in the world in math in 2011; U.S. eighth-graders ranked ninth. Among 15 year-olds in 2009, the math literacy rate was 31st in the world—lower than the international average—while they were 23rd in science.
Can you say ‘teacher unions’? I’m sure you can. As with any other field of human endeavor, the existence of unions corresponds to a low-quality product, and the proliferation of unions marks the lowering of that quality over time.
Oh, and aren’t government employees all unionzed now? Hmmm….