The article "Once a Leader, U.S. Lags in College Degrees" from the New York Times states that the United States used to lead the world in the number of 25- to 34-year-olds with college degrees.  Today, the US ranks 12th among 36 developed nations.  If the United States wants to hold on to its place as a world leader then it is imperative that we identify the causes of this decline and implement corrective steps immediately. 

The problem is not that we have worsen our quality of education, it is that we have not progressed since the time when we once led back in the 1980's. If we were to compare 60 year olds with young people today, 40% of both age groups have a college degree. This proves how our level of education has not progressed. Canada leads the world in educational attainment with about 56 percent of its young adults having earned at least associate’s degrees in 2007, compared with only 40 percent in the United States.


The problem is in our K-12 education.  The article mentions that other than making college more affordable, we're in need of more state-financial preschools programs, better high school and middle school college counseling, dropout prevention programs, an alignment with international curricular standards and improved quality of teaching.


In China, students have longer school days and school years than the students in the United States. The article "US Surpassed in Education Ratings" mentions that China has rigorous academic standards that focus mostly on math and science. They're students are pushed through the K-12 system and are guaranteed spots in major universities. That birth to college graduation mentality does not exist in America, and it needs to change in order for us to climb back to the top and lead the world in education once again.



Lewin, Tamar. "Once a Leader, U.S. Lags in College Degrees." The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 July 2010. Web. 02 Mar. 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/education/23college.html?_r=1&.

Umpierre, Chris. "U.S. Surpassed in Education Ratings." The News-Press. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2015. http://archive.news-press.com/article/20111002/NEWS0104/110020363/U-S-surpassed-education-ratings.