Education Level Plummet. Proof?

[Gold]

Hello good people. Stefan often says that the State run education keeps costing more money while plummeting in quality.

 

May i ask if anybody here has good sources of data showing decreasing literacy levels or educational standards and changing the tests standards etc, which Stef often mentions. Thank you in advance.

[Dylan Lawrence Moore]

Start with The Ultimate History Lesson: A Weekend with John Taylor Gatto.

[ofd]

The OECD compares education levels on an international level with the PISA studies.
 

https://www.google.de/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwibmqmw1fPSAhVFXSwKHWTDC0kQFgg7MAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcatalog.ihsn.org%2Findex.php%2Fcatalog%2F1526%2Fdownload%2F42445&usg=AFQjCNFezXsMNOAGrCW1KaYeU8_dakVH6Q&sig2=P05QwkjGHGes1rR1E8qPgQ&bvm=bv.150729734,d.bGg

[spartacus2017]

I recently discovered that over the past 25 years, many US states have lowered the standards required for a given letter grade.  25 years ago, most high schools were on the following scale:

A = 100% to 94%

B = 93% to 87%

C = 86% to 79%

D = 79%-71%

F = 70% and below

Now, in researching current standards for my kids as they approach high school, the scale turns out to be this:

A = 100% to 90%

B = 89% to 80%

C = 79% to 70%

D = 69% to 60%

F = 59% or below

An additional catch is that whereas 25 years ago, an assignment, quiz, or test that was not turned in on time (or at all) would receive a grade of zero points, today every assignment, quiz, or test must receive a minimum score of 50% -- even if not turned in!

Quite shocking.  From speaking with my mid-GenX peers with kids in high school, this latter weaker scale has become by far the most prevalent, especially because private college prep schools have to engage in the "race to the bottom" lest their graduates seem like poorer students compared to government school students under the more lenient scale.  But hey, now the schools can point to the recalculated grades which formerly were a C+ and now are Bs and say "look, we've improved education scores!!"

Of course, this is before we get into grade inflation in which the typical 4.0 for an A has become a 5.0 or 6.0 depending on the "difficulty" of the course.  My high school had a VERY few 5.0 classes in which a B was calculated as 4 GPA points in the GPA calculation and an A was 5 points, but my understanding is that there has been an explosion in 5-point and 6-point classes in teh past two decades.

This would, however, go a long way toward explaining why the Millennials tend to expect champagne and balloons dropping from the ceiling just for inhaling and exhaling.  If I had a dollar for every 45yo parent who said, "I don't get it, my HS kid is honor roll, straight As, does great in school, but has no motivation and thinks she should be handed everything on a silver platter...."