Education in America: Sowing the Winds of Our Future

Here in the United States, Labor Day marks the “official” end of summer, although you’d hardly notice. The public pools are closed. The leaves on trees gradually turn their vibrant reds, yellows, and oranges. There’s the faint crunch of the few which have already fallen; soon to be a chorus in just a few more months. The nights are becoming a little cooler and rain is becoming a little more frequent than before. You occasionally have to pause to decide whether you need a jacket, but the warmth summer’s days remains, at least for now.

Labor Day is when states, especially in the South, have their state capstone fairs with venders hawking their wares and rides from practically everywhere. You can sign up to get your blood pressure tested, a mammogram, buy shoe inserts, and buy new gutters all within just a few feet of each other.

 It’s where you’ll find an abundance of friendly (mostly) competition for the best porch whistlers, dancers, cake bakers, quiltmakers, best quality livestock, and where hundreds will come out to watch the well-heeled bid phenomenal amounts of money for best cured ham…all for charity of course (the top ham sold for $10 million dollars this year).  Communities have the first of their local craft and art fairs. But for many Labor Day weekend means just one thing---the end of summer vacation and the start of a new school year which is the subject of this week’s article.  

Education is typically the best barometer to measure a nation’s future potential, after all, the students they graduate are the nation’s economic, technological, political, and cultural future. They are the ones who will develop the newest medicines, the next generation in technology, our new engineers, and will be the makers and enforcers of laws. Many say this represents the new battleground for global domination. So, how does America rank?

When determining where a country ranks, be in education, military spending, medical care, and so forth, they are measure against a bar  or standard. This “standard” is the average of 38 members of  the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (aka the “OECD”). The OCED, which is comprised of developed or “first tier” nations, who work together to promote economic growth and cooperation, sustainability, establish standards, and common policies.

According to OCED, Luxembourg, Norway, and the United States spend the most money per student of any nation (in that order) along with South Korea and Switzerland (especially at the secondary school level).  In terms of percentage of their Gross National Product (“GDP”), top honors go to the Marshall Islands and the nations of Oceania, followed by the U.S., France, and Austria.

U.S. protectorate of American Samoa for instance spends 14.7% of its GDP on education.  Compare that to Cuba, which is one of the few countries with a near 100% literacy rate, which spends about 9.4% of its GDP on education or Sweden, which ranks near to top in nearly every positive measure. It spends approximately 7.6% (the same as Bolivia) while the nation of Batswana spends roughly 8.1%.

As an aside, the World Population Review, which uses a slightly different set of metrics, have some different, albeit similar numbers. According to the WPR, the United States spends 5.4% on education in general while it’s neighbors, Canada and Mexico, spend 4.1% and 4.2% respectively. America’s top economic competitor, China, spends 4% while Russia invests 4.1% on education. Germany spends 4.5% while France does a bit better at 5.4%.

Who then spends the most on the nation’s education? The African nation of Namibia spends a whooping 9% of its GDP on education. Neighboring Botswana invests 8.!%. Bolivia and Sweden both spend 7.6% on education. Iran only spend 2.9% on education, but then again, they only educate half of their population. India invests 4.1% on its future. The tiny nation of Bhutan spends 5.8%. Turkey invests just 2.9% in its future compared to 3.2% for Japan and 5.8 for the mini-nation of Tajikistan.

Pew Research posted a report in April of 2024 which showed that the U.S. was 28^th out the 37 OCED countries. Japan was the highest along with several other Asian countries placing near the top along with Finland. The lowest score went to Columbia. In science, the U.S. place 12^th out of the 37 OCED nations tested. Again, Japan ranked first while Mexico was last.

However, a more recent study from May 2025 conducted by Data Panda, indicates that the Iceland has the best educational system in the world. It’s followed by Germany, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Next in line was Denmark in fifth place. New Zealand and Finland were tied for sixth. Then came Switzerland, Sweden and Australia were tied. The U.S. was 15^th,  just behind the island nation of Palau and ahead of Canada. Hong Kong was 18^th.  Ireland was 22^nd. Singapore and Austria were tied for 30^th while Japan was 35^th.

Another test from 2025, based on OCED scores, showed that in terms of literacy, the U.S. far outperformed the OCED average, 504 to 476. While that’s impressive, drilling a little deeper in the scoring indicated that while 14% of those tested outperformed the average, they were a majority of White students while the balance, mostly minority students, significantly underperformed with strong indications that they may require remedial instruction.

In terms of math and science, which are essential for medical and technological innovation and advancement (part of the “STEM” or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics curriculum), the U.S. seriously underperformed. 465 to the OCED average of 472, with several Asian and European nations far out scoring the American students. Once again, the scores reveled major failures among 15^th years, especially minorities with over 1/3 being underperformers and just 7% representing top scorers.

 Once again, Asia had the top academic performers. It was noted that this may be indictive of a potential decline in America’s leadership in the area of technology and related fields unless immediate and significant improvements in the educational system aren’t made.

In terms of science, the U.S. did a bit better. The U.S. was 16^th of the 37 national participants, scoring 499 against the OCED average of 485. Asia nations, including Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Macau, made up the majority of those outperforming nations. However, while the U.S. did well, it was due primarily to just 11% of its top scoring students while 22% did poorly.

It's also worth nothing that in terms of the best educated populations, Ireland has the highest number of individuals was a bachelor’s degree based on percentage of population at 54.4%. Switzerland and Singapore are next with 456% and 45% respectively. Belgium and the UK complete the top five with 44.1% and 43.5%. The United States is 12^th with 40% and just out Australia with 39.8%.  

Of the Middle East, Israel ranks the highest with 39.7%. Argentina, Chile, and Brazil are the top three in South America with 23.7%, 22.9%, and 21.5% respectively. China and India are among the lowest with 6.9% and 14.2%. There were no African countries out of the top 36 nations.

What does all this mean? The United States ranks third globally in what it spends per student, however, we’re toward the middle of the pack when it comes what we spend on education in general based on our GDP. In terms of what we are getting for our money is definitely no bargain. In terms of math scores, are well below average. Our collective science scores are good, but not great. With regards to literacy (reading and comprehension), we are doing well.

The problem, however, is that our achievements overall aren’t evenly distributed. It seems that where we we’re doing well is reliant on primarily private schools and a white student population. Meanwhile, public schools are generally underperforming, especially in schools where the majority student population are comprised of minorities.   

This is particularly a problem in terms of the future as the high achieving White student population continues to shrink and America heads for “majority minority” status. Our current immigration is only making matters worse more quickly with new immigrates coming from countries with a history of underperforming academics. 46% of arriving adults have no education beyond high school---if that! Only around 41% have a bachelor’s degree while few are certified in the trades.

Additionally, those from Latin America and Africa are less likely to possess a high school degree or equivalent whereas those from Europe, Asia, and Oceania are more likely to possess at least a bachelor’s degree. Those entering with a technical or trade certification face stringent hurdles to get their credentials approved which, given the critical shortage of plumbers, electricians, and so forth, needs to change.

Lastly, unless something is done now, such as changing our focus on immigration and focus our school curriculums more on STEM courses and less on “sports” and low/no demand degrees, we are likely to lose our lead in the sciences, medicine, and technology, making increasingly dependent on other nations, particularly in Asia, or to put it another way, we will reap what we’ve sown.

 

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OCED

WPR: Education Spending By Country 2025

Data Panda: Education Rankings By Country

U.S. Education Rankings: Global Comparison Performance

 

Charted: The World’s Educated Countries