Sadly, out of 29 western countries, the U.S. ranks a weak 26th overall. "American 12th graders rank 19th out of 21 industrialized countries in mathematics achievement and 16th out of 21 nations in science. Our advanced physics students rank dead last"" (Bennett). Towards the top of the list are many medium sized European countries. Scandinavia and the Netherlands are tied for first place. What helps put these countries at the top? The low but dense population pattern in Europe allows for money to be spread out equally per capita. Even though the U.S. ranks very high in educational spending, the money is spread out very unevenly between the public schools. School's that are better off only get better, and struggling school's stay the same or get worse. It's not all bad though, American students get the most daily exercise. Ironically, we also have the largest average calorie intake and are still the most overweight country. Also, Americans ages 15 and up have consumed far less alcohol than their counterparts abroad for decades (Dewey & Fisher). Of course, this is hard to justify as a leading reason for low level education efficiencies. In most European countries the age limit for drinking alcohol is much lower than 21. .
Now that we've recognized what's wrong with the education system, what caused these problems? The blame tends to be placed on teachers, the student, or the parents. Fingers point towards teachers who quite possibly shouldn't even be teaching. Only 38% of U.S. public school teachers majored in an academic subject in college and only one in five teachers feels well prepared to teach high academic standards (Bennett). Parenting can be difficult at times and is a huge responsibility, but the biggest difference between a good or bad parent is interest in their child's academics. Parental support and input is beneficial to the educational development of a young student. When a parent lacks interest, so does the student.