Before World War Two, America's primary and secondary school systems were not considered to be at the top of the heap in the world's educational systems. Make no mistake about it, it was considered good, certainly better than many other countries'. But it was our universities that caught the attention of others and became popular for foreign students. American universities, especially the better known ones, were drawing foreign students as far back as the turn of the 19th Century!
The end of the World War Two brought about a big change in our educational system over all. Without a doubt, the newly created G.I. Bill of Rights had much to do with it. Many returning veterans, millions of them, who previously could not have even dreamed of going to post secondary education now could attend colleges and universities with Uncle Sam's help. This situation not only brought about a need for increase in colleges and universities, but provided a new influx of educated young Americans. Never in the history of the United States, in fact, in the history of the whole world were there suddenly so many young people with university education as there were in America in the early 1950s. Our industry benefitted with new engineers, chemists, biologists, accountants, you name it, all across the board. Naturally there was an increase in new crop of teachers at all levels. Our economy boomed. This was a perfect example of how better educated work force can benefit the economy, and it has repeated in other countries as well, most notably Japan and now South Korea, the two countries that lead the world in percentage of college graduates in their population!
Through the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, for approximately a quarter of a century after the end of World War Two, America was the reigning champion of education. We had the most educated population in the world. We had the highest percentage of population that had completed secondary education, either through actual school attendance or the newly created GED system, and we also had the highest percentage of population with college degrees. During this period America was consistently ranked as the top nation when it came to education. It was also a period when we dominated the world's economy.
But then, something began to slip here and there. Many other countries in Europe and in Asia (specifically Japan) began not only to catch up but pass America in some categories of education. On the economic front, Japan and West Germany began to really make noise. Japan in particular took over the world's electronic market and came close to do the same in automotive field. But we were still hanging on to the tenuous position of leading in education. But our decline in education started, with science and math, then spread to other subjects, finally reaching a point where today, depending on the particular survey or study, we are ranked anywhere from 14th down to as low as 36th among world's nations in education. In the latest study conducted by a world body organization, Japan and South Korea are playing musical chairs from year to year for the number one spot as the most "educated population" and we fall somewhere below way below that, down to fourteenth place for 2016! The popularity and success of Japanese electronics and cars is well established, but do you wonder why South Korea suddenly surged into the picture with their Hyundai, Kia, Samsung, etc.?
What has caused such a drop from the top spot that we enjoyed earlier? For one thing, there has been a consistent attempt to "dumb down" our programs so that more students can "pass" and go on to the next level in our primary and secondary schools. I won't go into details of why schools or school districts are doing that, other than to say that everything is driven by money and federal and state aid to schools is determined/calculated by the number of students in school. That is a very simplistic and incomplete explanation, but it will have to do. Bottom line, the more students pass from grade to grade, the more money the school receives.
This "dumb down" system has affected the public schools more than anything. Private schools, fortunately, have been spared this disaster for the most part. In school districts that have a reputation for being "bad," those parents who can afford it end up sending their kids to private schools. This created a vicious circle of "bad" schools becoming even worse because better students no longer attend those schools and the "dumb down" system goes into full gear for the public school to survive, to receive federal and state funding. There are many other reasons tied to the disintegration of our public schools, inner city crime, drugs, etc., just to name a few. But all in all, our public school systems, even those that are not in inner cities, are crumbling.
Our college and university systems are still at the top level. We have more four year colleges and universities than any other country in the world. At the last count, there were a bit over 3,000 accredited four year schools in America. They are still considered top notch and are sought after by students from around the world. There are over one million international students in America who bring in approximately $30 billion a year, so they are very good for our economy! Approximately 250,000 of these students are from China, 150,000 from India, and 100,000 from South Korea. Now, keep in mind that these are "foreign students," not Asian students who are either citizens or residents of the United States!
In terms of educated population, we are beginning to seriously lose ground to other countries. Our slide began in the 1980s and has continued to a point where we are now. It is said that a high school education in America in the 1950s and 60s was equivalent to a college degree today! One often hears that to get the kind of a job a high school graduate could get in the past now requires a college degree! Does this mean that the population in America is that much smarter today than it was before? Not really! Let's face it, all you have to do is look at the kind of people we continually elect into important offices to realize that the average American voter really doesn't seem to know what he or she is doing!
We still have a sizable portion of our population that graduates from secondary school and universities as well. However, we are now a nation of almost 320 million, that's a lot of people. New figures released claim that we graduate 80% of our high school students. Yet, in the same study, the figure of 1.2 million is given as those who fail to graduate. America is ranked 18th in the world for percentage of high school graduates in the population. At the same time, the percentage of high school graduates among the current work force is lower among 18 to 35 age group than for 45 to 65 age group! In other words, older workers are better educated! That doesn't speak well for our future.
There are still millions of bright young people in America who, even if they don't go to college, succeed in life. Others, that do go to college have that good fortune of attending some of the world's best institutions of higher learning. I know that there are great universities in other parts of the world. But overall, ours are still the best on this planet, otherwise, why would so many foreign students flock to our schools? China, our biggest competitor in world today has a population of billion and a half souls, yet it has fewer universities than we do. China has 2,236 four year universities with 20 million students enrolled. Small wonder they send so many to our shores as well as other countries to study! Japan's population is less than half of ours at 127.3 million people and it has 745 four year universities.
South Korea's population is only slightly larger than California's at 49 million, about 1/3 of Japan's population and it has 352 four year universities. Well over half of the population in South Korea has university degrees and the country enjoys a 98% literacy rate, highest in the world. A primary or secondary school teacher in South Koreas makes about 25% more in salary than a comparable teacher in America. Yet, the overall per capita income in South Korea is lower than ours. Obviously, education is considered very important in that country. Now I think you can see how that can tie in with their economic success in recent years.
We have got to overhaul our education system if we are to maintain a top spot in the global position. We have got to start with our primary and secondary schools and just like with the military, increase the pay for teachers! Until we do this, we will continue to slip in the world as a leader in just about every phase!
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