The Crisis Neither Party Is Equipped to Handle
Some state educational bureaucracies have responded to
the decline in student achievement by simply lowering their standards. In New
York, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Alaska, for instance, education officials
adjusted their passing scores on standardized tests or changed their definition
of proficiency. And American parents continue to think their kids are doing
just fine—in large part because of schools’ inflation of grades.
For decades, the consequences of underperformance have
also been masked by the influx of international students into American higher
education. A 2022 study found that foreign students made up a
majority—sometimes as much as 80 percent—of students in U.S. graduate programs
in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Meanwhile, immigrants
make up about a quarter of all workers in STEM fields. It’s not yet clear how
Trump’s massive crackdown on immigrants could affect opportunities for foreign
students, or their willingness to come to the United States.
Related:
U.S. Reading and Math Gap Is Getting Worse for Adults, Too
Global Test Scores Show U.S. Students Still Struggling After Pandemic