His words still hold true today. Educating our children is a critical component in their quest for personal success and fulfillment, but it also plays a pivotal role in the success of our nation economically, intellectually, civically and morally. Like many Americans, I have grave concerns about the current condition of our nation's education system. If a report card on our educational system were sent home today, it would be full of unsatisfactory and incomplete marks. These abominable grades demonstrate our failure to meet the needs of our nation's students in kindergarten through twelfth grade.
Failure is clearly evident throughout the educational system.
Over forty countries participated in the 1996 study which tested science and mathematical abilities of students in the fourth, eighth and twelfth grades. Tragically, American students scored lower than students in other countries. According to this study, our twelfth graders scored near the bottom, placing 19th out of 21 nations in math and 16th in science, while scoring at the absolutely bottom in physics. Meanwhile, students in countries which are struggling economically, socially and politically, such as Russia, outscored U.S. children in math and scored far above them in advanced math and physics. Clearly, we must make significant changes in our children's academic performance in order to remain a viable force in the world economy.