education in America

If you have been following the news at all, you have probably heard about how one particular school in Rhode Island decided to fire every single teacher before this year's end. Even though this school was in dire straits in terms of academic achievement, I am not sure that the individual teachers are to blame. The mass firings, in my opinion, were nothing more than a local public relations stunt, and the real reasons American elementary and high school students are so far behind those in other countries aren't being addressed.

In December 2007, a test dubbed "Program for International Student Assessment" was provided to 15-year-olds in 30 industrialized countries. The test's primary focus was math and science, which are the usual subjects examined in international comparisons. The average science score for U.S students was lower than 16 of the other countries. American students did even worse in math; the average score was lower than 23 other countries. The countries that performed best were Finland, Hong Kong, and Canada.

These trends are not improving. In 2008, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development revealed that the U.S was slipping even further behind other countries in major academic areas. Considering the "No Child Left Behind Act" and other dramatic measures taken by public officials, why are we doing so poorly?

Our education system has been struggling with religious arguments over evolution and creationism for years. When I was in elementary school, reliable, tested theories of evolution, carbon dating, and natural selection were barely touched, and the emphasis was always on creationism. Granted, this was a private education, but my parents decided it was the lesser of two evils. What is astounding is that this situation has not improved in over 25 years! While secular nations are roaring ahead with higher literacy and graduation rates, the U.S. is still plodding along while conservative politicians are constantly trying to find loopholes which would favor religion over logic in the classroom.

I am not saying that creationism is the sole cause for our educational demise. There are many other cultural, economic, and political factors that are holding us back. However, I believe that we would all be doing ourselves a huge favor by dropping the Intelligent Design and Creationism arguments for public education. How can anyone not agree that religion is a personal matter between parents and their children?