This system urgently needs fixing. Graduation standards, promotion standards, and entry standards for college must be strengthened. It is worth spending more if students are actually expected to learn more. Absent real standards, however, the system is certain to remain profligate and ineffectual. What we used to call a crisis has become a chronic problem of underperformance, in which the abilities and talents of most young Americans are persistently underchallenged and underdeveloped.
Many students are also undermotivated.
Second , there is the abiding mediocrity of many ordinary schools attended by ordinary kids across the country. Third , there is the lack of suitable challenge and expectations for many very bright youngsters. Despite all that, some Americans obtain a first-rate education. But their numbers are far too small-in the single digits according to much NAEP evidence. But the vast majority of American students are still educated at too low a level.