Despite this massive investment, the American people still find our educational institutions lacking. Beyond their obvious efforts to indoctrinate future generations, the academic decline in America’s public schools has been downright embarrassing.

Let’s take a brief tour through several academic disciplines.

How Do We Fare in Mathematics?

Each year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ranks students from its thirty-eight member countries. In the realm of mathematics, the United States ranked in the bottom half. Peggy Carr, acting commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, said “Our students continue to score below the average for OECD member nations. Of particular concern is that we also have a higher percentage of students who score in the lowest performance levels, compared to the OECD average, and a lower percentage of top math performers.”

Our students scored well below the international average, and these scores have been sliding since 2012. According to the OECD, our average student is almost a full year behind the average student from other countries. Singapore’s students are three years ahead of ours. According to the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), our students are also developing slower than in previous years. In 2023, only 24% of America’s 13-year-olds were enrolled in algebra. A decade earlier, that number was 34%.

How Do We Fare in Science?

In a world where international dominance is increasingly dependent upon scientific advancements, U.S. students are anything but dominant. Out of 34 OECD countries, U.S. students now rank 20th — in the bottom half. In another study, the University of Washington examined students from seventy-one nations. The United States ranked 38th in mathematics and 24th in science. Beverly Perdue, governing chair of the National Assessment of Education Progress, looked at our results on the international stage and admitted: “U.S. students are struggling across the board.”

How Do We Fare in Literacy?

According to the U.S. Department of Education, a shocking 54% of U.S. adults (ages 16-74) lack basic proficiency in literacy, reading below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level. That equates to roughly 130 million American adults who currently read at an elementary level. Unfortunately, the most recent numbers do not show any reversal in that abysmal trend. In 2022, they found that only 29% of eighth-grade public school students were deemed “proficient” in reading skills.

How Do We Fare in Civics Instruction?

Given how much energy public schools devote to ideological indoctrination, one might expect that civics instruction might be a bright spot in the trends. Sadly, the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) found that only 22% of our 8th grade students were proficient in civics. The failures of our education system now impact our electorate. Only 26% of American adults can name the three branches of government. Less than one-quarter of college graduates knew that the First Amendment prohibits Congress from establishing a national religion. Most adults have no idea how many Justices serve on the Supreme Court. Tragically, Princeton University found that barely one-third (36%) of adults could pass a multiple-choice test consisting of questions taken from the U.S. Citizenship Test.

How Do We Fare in History and Geography?

Edmund Burke once said, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” A 2022 survey conducted by the NAEP found that “only 13% of students scored proficient in history.” Sixty percent of students could not identify the countries the United States fought in World War II. Only 24% knew why the colonists fought against the British. Only 24% could identify Benjamin Franklin as a Founder with more students (37%) believing that he invented the light bulb. Our students fared no better in basic geography. A National Geographic study found that nearly two-thirds of Americans (ages 18-24) were unable to identify the United Kingdom (one of our most dependable foreign allies) on a world map. Closer to home, most young Americans were unable to identify the state of Ohio on a map.

For the past six years, ACT scores have consistently tumbled in every measured category — reading, mathematics, English, and science. Meanwhile, private school students outscored public school students by 20% in all four categories with an average score of 24.2 out of 36 — compared to an average score of 20.3 for public school students.

However, the existential crisis plaguing our younger generations is far more detrimental than the educational crisis (though they are surely related). Recent surveys show plummeting levels of civic pride. In 2013, Gallup found that 85% of older American adults considered themselves “very proud” to be an American. Today, among Americans ages 18 to 34, that number drops to a paltry 18%. It’s no great shock to discover that the U.S. military is now facing a recruitment crisis.