Dear Editor:
Perhaps one of the reasons the U.S. needs to import tens of thousands of tech workers can be found in the 2015 Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) Program for International Assessment (PISA) report.
The OECD tests 15-year-old students worldwide, assessing their skills in science, math and reading. The following test result ranges cover the longest range of time for which I could find actual scores: from 2006 to 2015 tests of U.S. students showed a 1.5 percent improvement in science scores; from 2003 to 2015 mathematics test scores dropped by 2.7 percent, and from 2000 to 2015 reading scores dropped 2.2 percent.
The 2015 results rank the U.S. 19th in science, 20th in reading and 31st in mathematics. The science and reading scores rank the U.S. as "statistically average." The mathematics scores rank us as below average. Singapore, Japan, Estonia, Finland, Canada and Hong Kong all rank above the U.S. in science. In 2000 we ranked 14th in science, 15th in reading & 18th in mathematics, we have lost ground in all three areas.
After adjusting for inflation, in 2015 the U.S. spent 4 percent more on education, per 6-15 year old student, than it did in 2006. The U.S. spends over 20 percent more, per student, to educate our 6- 15-year-olds than Canada and Germany. We spend almost twice as much as Estonia. Only five PISA countries spend more per student than the U.S. Singapore is the only one of the five that outperforms the U.S.
Estonia's GDP/capita is half that of the U.S. Estonia spends half of what the U.S. spends on educating 6- 15-year-olds. Estonia's students score well above U.S. students. Could one of the reasons be that the parents of Estonia's students do a better job of teaching their children the value of an education?
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