<p>What do you mean “why do people deny that the US has the best education system in the world?”</p>
<p>Because it doesn’t. If we look at it purely from that standpoint of higher education, the view is different. Usually when people look at this issue though, they’re referring mainly to primary education…elementary and high school. American students on the whole are held to much lower standards than many other countries that consistently outperform us on standardized tests. We move at a much slower pace, and we teach subjects late in high school that many countries teach much earlier.</p>
<p>I think one of the failings of the primary sector of the American education system is the way we go about getting our teachers. America is basically the only country in the world where one can actually major in “education.” Most countries with superior primary education systems recruit their teachers. People that are at the tops of their fields are recruited to become teachers, and are given a course on how to teach. Many teachers in America are not really all that knowledgeable about the fields that they are teaching. They have a basic cursory knowledge of the specific material that they are teaching…but not a comprehensive knowledge of the entire field. </p>
<p>The whole “America #1!!!” mindset causes a lot of people to really just be blind to facts like this. We’re told so frequently that this is the greatest country in the world, in every conceivable way…that we just take it for what it is, and don’t really question it. I love this country, but there are some things that we could certainly be doing a hell of a lot better.</p>