It’s been quite a week for the assertion that actions create consequences (I would add the adjective exhausting, but that is probably just me in my dotage).
If memory serves me, the Swedish Academy will unveil the Nobel Prizes for all fields over the next ten days. Historically, Americans have brought home the bulk of Nobel Prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Medicine/Physiology, Economic Sciences, Literature, and Peace (the highest prize in Mathematics is not a Nobel but the Fields Medal).
Consider the biographies of award winners, as they may foretell the future. We won’t be winning nearly as many of the “hard science” awards in the future, most likely. That is not partisan but a cold, harsh reality of not producing the millions of literate scientists or even readers that fuel the intellectual work that transformed the modern world.
I would engage in national security malpractice, starting with the front-page, above-the-fold New York Times headline that affects every single one of us. “Students are ill-prepared for College and Beyond,” it blares.
The article is not a rehash of ideological support for either public schools or private academies; instead, it begins with,“The U.S. military is seeing lower scores on its Armed Forces Qualification Test.” This is a national security threat. It’s a national health care threat. It’s a threat to every single child we—left or right or centrist—claim to prioritize. The deteriorating educational outcomes are leading to the bifurcation of this country into those who can think and those who cannot.
Many, if not most, of you could dismiss subject as someone else’s problem since you’re beyond the enlistment age, have no intention or interest in the military, or see college as the way to get ahead in the contemporary world (the latter a view no longer nearly as firm in our modern psyche). I realize I wrote about it in conjunction with our decision to prevent foreign students from entering the United States at the higher education institutions they sought to attend but we are seeing at the damage done in Mervosh’s article.
The article goes on to discuss other evidence, whether it’s in a Waco-based two-year technical school offering what were labeled “the trades” in prior generations or at highly sought-after courses at Case Western Reserve University, a Cleveland institution drawing those oriented towards science and technology with far above-average test scores for incoming students.
The article reinforces some of the criticisms we hear (and I have raised) frequently but take one tidbit cited: students are not capable of reading a twenty-five page article, all-too-often preferring to spend time not in a sustained activity like reading but on their phones or some other electronic device playing a game against fifteenth generation Pacman figures or watching a TikTok clip of mindless and inaccurate commercialism by “influencers”. Life is a zero-sum game, so the time increasingly spent in those online, seductive sessions is time they are not reading, thinking logically, or engaging in some understanding of what occurs in a Republic as a form of government versus some other form.
Too frequently our contemporary education-centered discussions devolve into debates over the use of pronouns or who should use which bathroom—both sides of the partisan divide do this. Still, we are in danger of the affected kids not being able to read the Bible or any other books, much less wrestle with how to determine how to read a map to facilitate travel from one city to another, when our cyber defenses erode because we have an insufficient workforce competent to write sophisticated code to advance research ahead of our adversaries. All the fancy weaponry our trillion-dollar military budget will buy assumes an ever-greater grasp of technology and logic, rather than relying on screens for fifteen minutes of pleasure.
If we can’t work through science and technology, we won’t advance industry so we won’t advance wages and income, regardless who is president or where our companies produce their goods.
The consequences are many; not least, yet rarely considered, is who, therefore, will be the next generation of teachers? Where will we find teachers for math and science who are above the arithmetic level? The knock-on effect of poor outcomes will—not would but will-appear in every aspect of our society. It will assure a diminished role in any form of research (defined as “diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation into a subject to discover or revise facts, theories, applications, etc.”) to address any and every topic, but especially those scientific ones that help cure cancer and prevent the explosion of infectious diseases. It will preclude advancing works in lasers, cyber, hypersonics, quantum, optics, and meteorology, where the interplay between seemingly unrelated fields requires a fluency in multiple fields to ensure a deeper understanding. How many Americans have any even limited grasp of the probabilities embedded in medical information presented to them regularly?
I guarantee our adversaries—and friends—prioritize mastering rather than head nods towards math, science, logic, and reading because they reflect on our commitment to instilling this learning process in students allowed the United States an incredible benefit beginning a hundred and fifty years ago when we championed learning the basics in these areas to push intellectual boundaries further but many other countries did not. Why do most Americans seem to underappreciate the magnitude of the threat that lower educational achievement poses? I cannot answer, but I am apoplectic that we are, as the Times notes, vastly ignoring the repeated evidence we are falling behind rather than even treading water in these fields.
The causes and the villains are many, but this is a subject completely under our control at a time when we worry about the West Bank and Gaza, Ukraine, Taiwan, Thailand, or the North Koreans. Yet, we appear to be running towards a cliff that will break us as much as many of the other topics we angst over daily.
The solutions will require time and a repetitive commitment to change from a society that is too comfortable with its past achievements and current distractions. Sure, that sounds easy, but it can be challenging to enforce when a parent is tired or a teacher is overstressed due to the demands of teaching 35 weeks a year to 35 students.
A couple of humble suggestions come to mind.
Let’s advocate for our best and brightest women and men, especially in these fields where we are failing our society, to select teaching as a vocation. Too often, those who excelled in math or science received not-so-subtle pressure to attend medical school. Why not encourage them to teach? Why not pay teachers a better wage for the time we are turning our most precious human resource over to them? We pay MBAs far more than we pay teachers, yet the latter hold the nation’s future in their hands five days a week for most of the year, while MBAs earn a salary. I guess that snapshot makes clear what our true national priority is on education.
Let’s stop assuming technology in the classroom replaces the human intervention of a caring, supportive teacher. We don’twant technology to replace us as parents, do we? So, why would we think it’s so much better than time spent with a student to reinforce learning?
Let’s stop seeing schools as the focus of culture wars on anything but a focus on kids to thrive and learn. Churches, community centers, baseball teams, or other extracurricular activities may be terrific venues for addressing these differences in values. Still, schools are not the best fit, as students can learn not only from teachers but also from each other when they feel safe, heard, and inspired.
Finally, let’s model some good behavior for our kids. I embraced reading for two primary reasons as a kid. One, my fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Murphy, who turned me off in many ways (she seemed so old and dull, though I imagine she might have kissed 40 at that point), set up challenges for which we got something I sought (no memory what, but I recall the bulletin board where she measured who read the most books). Additionally, my father was renowned for “his chair” at the kitchen table, reading rather than watching television with us. He also quizzed us on geography and history, which instilled in me a love for both subjects. My experience is that the engagement with an adult in a feedback loop of even fifteen minutes a day set me on a path from which I grew.
Parents are busy, tired, overworked, worried, and often unengaged with their kids. Schools increasingly assume the burden of many aspects of development for children between the ages of 4 and 18 in the United States. Yet by doing so, we are failing those same kids we say represent our future. Something needs to change because our students are falling behind every day.
Is it worth making minor, repetitive adjustments in our behavior to address this so that we can tackle the bigger intellectual tasks later? If not, then we are assuredly making America Poor and Dumb Again.
Put another way, millions of minds are a terrible asset to waste.
I appreciate your time and recognize that many of you likely have strong opinions differing from what I presented here. I genuinely want us to engage in a serious conversation about what we are doing, to paraphrase someone (according to Quote Origins.com, it wasn’t necessarily Albert Einstein, despite frequent attribution to him), who repeatedly noted that doing the same thing over and over is both insanity and hardly brings us to a different outcome. I am not interested in being right but in fixing a problem I see as more important than traditional foreign threats.
Thank you to the subscribers who support this column as your financial support offers me so many options I could not otherwise pursue.
I wish you time outside as we close September. Be well and be safe. FIN
Sarah Mervosh, “What Declines in Reading and Math Mean for the US Workforce”, NewYorkTimes.com, 25 September 2025, retrieved athttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/us/reading-math-scores-declines-impact.html
“Quote Origin: Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results“, QuoteInvestigator.com, 23 march 2017. retrieved at https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/03/23/same/
“Education Ranking by Country 2025”, worldpopulationreview.com, n.d., retrieved at https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/education-rankings-by-country
you nailed it: it is our country and our responsibility. no single person or entity runs it or is to blame but it is all of us: it is all interconnected, like the theme of this column. thank you for such a thoughtful response, Jim.
I've been ruminating on this column since you posted it a few days ago. My first reaction was to assess blame across a wide swath of potential culprits. But in the end, the blame is on all of us...society for allowing this issue to get the point of decline that you highlighted.
The current administration is on the path of eliminating the Department of Education. I'm no expert on what this Government entity does. Their webpage lists their mission as: "to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access for students of all ages." That sounds incredibly nebulous. There are no clearly stated strategic goals. No metrics to attempt to meet. No identified path to success. No horizon to meet. No inspiration to be "the best." Instead, they list about 7 bullets that start with words such as: Strengthen, Supplement, Encourage, Promote, Improve and Increase. In short, they sound like a cheering section vs. a governmental department with a singular focus of producing the best, well-rounded, educated humans ready to take our Nation to the next level of success.
I do recall hearing a lot of political talk about how education belongs to the States and the Federal Gov't should not be in the business of telling States how to run their education system. I'm all for State's rights but in this case, it sounds like we're at an "all hands on deck" moment in history. Much like solving crime, if the States can't handle it on their own, perhaps it is time for the Fed to step in with an overarching approach by creating a National focus on fixing it at all levels.
In a past life, my first wife was a high school math teacher. As we began our careers after college (me on active duty in the Air Force and her in education) the first thing we found was that being a teacher wasn't that lucrative (in pay) and was mired by obstacles making it almost impossible for her to get teaching jobs as we moved every 2 or 3 years to different Air Force assignments in different States. Each State had their own teacher certification process that she had to pass. And most States hired their teaching staffs in the Spring months for anticipated openings the following Fall school-year. That timeline did not marry up with the Air Force's standard Summer PCS season. By the time we'd get to our new location, all the full-time teaching jobs had already been filled leaving her to be a "substitute" teacher. It was largely unsatisfying for a career and in many ways, unnecessary. It became a strain our relationship from which we could not recover. I never understood why a "certified" teacher in one State couldn't teach in another State. I believe at the very least, we'd benefit from a National Teacher Certification program.
Salaries for teachers are ridiculously low. Overall average for 2024 was $63K a year (average for elementary school teachers was $52K. H.S. teachers made an average of $57K). That is just abysmal pay for the importance of their profession and their responsibilities. Interestingly enough, that's about the same starting salary for many Law Enforcement personnel as well which is also horrible. Most of the teachers I know are driven more by their passion for teaching and the satisfaction they get (generally) from their interaction with the students (not so much the parents).
If we recognize and admit we have a problem (the first step), why is teaching as a career / profession so undervalued by our society? Here is one answer that attempts to explains it:
"Teaching is undervalued in the U.S. not because it’s unimportant — but because historical gender norms, funding structures, market dynamics, and political choices have collectively kept pay low. Society implicitly expects teachers to sacrifice financial reward for social purpose — a mindset that persists even as the demands of the job have grown exponentially." While that may be the practical truth, it's grossly unsatisfying! It also makes me feel like I'm reading something from the 1950s.
For some quick juxtaposition, when the NCAA invoked their "name, image, likeness" (NIL) program for college-level student athletes, it dramatically changed the dynamics of college sports... primarily football. And while it might be a good thing for individual athletes (not sure yet), I predict it will be a long-term disaster for NCAA sports in the aggregate. Just one example: Shedeur Sanders (quarterback for the University of Colorado) had a reported NIL valuation of $6.5 million during his college career. This valuation was based on various factors, including endorsement deals, social media presence, and overall marketability. He reportedly carried a 3.9 GPA during his college time; his degree program was sociology. I'm guessing if he had pursued a degree in secondary education, he probably wasn't going to take a $65K a year teaching job when he could get millions playing football in the NFL. At my university alma mater, the head football coach makes $1.1M. The President of the University makes $474,000 a year. How's that for valuing education?
Imagine the talent in teaching we'd be able to foster with only two changes in our overall approach:
1) Make education (specifically STEM related) a National priority.
2) Treat teachers like professional athletes. Imagine if school systems held a yearly draft for the best and brightest new teachers coming out of various University education programs. Imagine if teachers had "education agents" and were sponsored by commercial brands. Imagine if the schools producing the brightest students each year were celebrated and rewarded at a National level. Imagine if those kids competed on Saturdays and Sundays in educational competitions that were televised and backed by sponsors with prize money for the winners.
Imagine if a current President also invoked William Bradford's comments from 1630 stating that "all great and honorable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and both must be enterprised and overcome with answerable courage."
Imagine if that same President said: "We choose to dominate the world with academic prowess. We choose to do that in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too." (hopefully your picking out the JFK reference ~ slightly altered for effect)
Imagine where we'd be in 10 years with this level of focus.
"...the vows of this nation can only be fulfilled if we in this nation are first, and, therefore, we intend to be first. In short, our leadership in science and in industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as well as others, all require us to make this effort, to solve these mysteries, to solve them for the good of all men..." ~President John F. Kennedy, Rice University, September 12, 1962
The choice is ours. Our "inaction" will indeed create consequences.