[MD] Public Education

[Platt Holden]

[Arlo]
> Some thoughts and numbers.
> 
> International Comparison of Math, Reading, and Science Skills Among 
> 15-Year-Olds: "More than 250,000 15-year old students from 41 
> countries participated in the assessment. The countries included all 
> major industrialized nations (results for Britain were not available) 
> and 11 other nations that chose to participate. The test scores are 
> from 2003." (http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0923110.html)
> 
> The U.S ranked 28 out of 41 on Math. The top countries were Hong 
> Kong, Finland, South Korea, Netherlands, Lichtenstein, Japan, Canada.
> 
> The U.S. ranked 12 out of 41 on Reading. The top countries were 
> Finland, South Korea, Canada, Austrailia, Lichtenstein, New Zealand.
> 
> The U.S. ranked 20 out of 41 on Science. The top countries were 
> Finland, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Lichtenstein, Australia.
> 
> All the top have public schools. None have a "voucher" system.

All the top schools spend less per pupil annually than the U.S. 

Australia	  $6,484
Canada	    6,482
Finland   	    6,501
Japan		    6,842
Korea		    5,174
Netherlands   6,439	
New Zealand  5,419
U.S.              8,935

http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2007/section4/table.asp?tableID=738

Obviously throwing more money into the government-union school system in 
the U.S. is not going to the solve the  problem of the system's failure.