Bob Herbert is an Op-Ed columnist for the New York Times. I like the way he thinks on most issues, and I found a recent piece of his not only interesting but sadly true. Herbert believes that the most serious challenge facing America today is education. It's also the hardest to fix, with the exception of health care, but at least the presidential candidates are attempting to tackle the national health problem. We don't hear many specifics on the campaign trail about fixing the public school system in America.

Herbert cites statistics showing that an American kid drops out of high school every 26 seconds--that's over a million a year who will struggle to keep up in an era where college education is a necessity for maintaining a middle class lifestyle. Just as alarming is the number of teenagers who graduate, but are not prepared for the next stage of life--either productive work or some form of post-secondary education.

A recent survey of teenagers by the education advocacy group Common Core found that a quarter could not identify Adolf Hitler, a third did not know that the Bill of Rights guaranteed freedom of speech and religion, and fewer than half knew that the Civil War took place between 1850 and 1900. Nearly 20 percent did not know who the U.S. fought in World War II, eleven percent thought that Dwight D. Eisenhower was the president forced from office by the Watergate scandal, and another 11 percent thought it was Harry Truman.

Worst yet is the comparison of U.S. students with their peers in other countries. The performance of American students tends to grow increasingly dismal as they move through the higher grades. According to information from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, American fourth graders are among the top math and science students globally; by eighth grade, they're in the middle of the pack; and by 12th grade, they're scoring generally near the bottom of all the industrialized countries.

The Educational Testing Service, in a report titled "America's Perfect Storm," cited three powerful forces that are affecting the quality of life for millions of Americans and already shaping the nation's future. They are:

  • The wide disparity in the literacy and math skills of both the school-age and adult populations. These skills, which play such a tremendous role in the lives of individuals and families, vary widely across racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups. 
    • The "seismic changes" in the U.S. economy that have resulted from globalization, technological advances, shifts in the relationship of labor and capital, and other developments.
      • Sweeping demographic changes. By 2030, the U.S. population is expected to reach 360 million. That population will be older and substantially more diverse, with immigration having a big impact on both the population as a whole and the work force.

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        After reading Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat, I was worried about this. Now I'm really getting scared. How is the United States going to face the challenges of a global economy without an educated populace? At the moment, it seems that other nations are not only catching up but passing us fast when it comes to educational achievement.

        We've got a lot of work to do, and it's not going to be easy. Let's hope the next person we put in the White House is up to the task.