One more time: It's poverty
The problem is poverty: Response to a Thomas Donlan Barron's online editorial, In Search of Excellence,
Not submitted to Barron's or to the Barron's website, which are only open to Barron's subscribers.
Stephen Krashen
Article at: http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052970203954104576192920446679248.html?mod=BOL_twm_fs
Thomas Donlan thinks that we need a national education system." As evidence, he notes that American students are only "mid-range" on international tests, and that some states do better than others.
Wrong. The problem is poverty and the solution, until we achieve full employment, is to protect children against the effects of poverty.
Our international test scores are mid-range only because we have so much poverty: The US has over 20 percent