Former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks often about how the health of American children has declined during his lifetime. Since Kennedy ended his campaign last month and endorsed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, both he and Trump have stated that Kennedy will hold a prominent position in Trump's administration if he wins -- perhaps secretary of health and human services, or head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- tasked with improving American health.
Now, if only we could find someone to tackle the declining quality of American education.
According to a Dec. 2023 article in EducationWeek, U.S. teens scored 13 points lower on the 2022 Program for International Student Assessment than their peers did on the 2018 PISA. The United States ranks 10th in math internationally, with fewer than 10% of American students testing at an "advanced" level. More than a third of U.S. students did not even meet basic achievement levels in math. In schools where most of the students live in poverty, the scores were abysmal: 50 points below the U.S. average (not the overall average) in math, 48 points below the U.S. average in reading, and 53 points below the U.S. average in science. Half of American high schools no longer even offer courses in calculus or computer science.
Violence in our schools is another terrible problem. Public schools that........