#doed

There were no international rankings before that. No standardized tests between nations. No way to compare performance.

So where’s the proof we were “number one”?

There isn’t any. Because it didn’t exist.

That’s not a fact, it’s nostalgia.

You weren’t first in a race that hadn’t started yet.

2. “Now we rank 31st.”

In what, exactly?

Because there are two kinds of education rankings, and people love to smash them together like they mean the same thing.

A. PISA = actual test scores from real kids

This tests 15-year-olds around the world in:

Reading

Math

Science

U.S. PISA 2022 ( it’s done every 3 years) results:

6th in reading

13th in science

28th in math

We’re not failing. We’re holding our own, without training our kids for it, by the way (more on that later).

And remember: in 2000, PISA had 30 countries. Now it’s 80+. So yes, the ranking shifted. That doesn’t mean we tanked. It means the field grew.

B. Education system indexes ( like WPR) how the system looks on paper

This is where the “31st” stat comes from. These rankings measure:

Enrollment

Literacy

Spending

Teacher ratios

Graduation rates

System efficiency

That’s not about how smart our students are it’s about how effective our bureaucracy is. And yeah, ours is a hot mess. But that’s a systems problem, because we are decentralized. It’s not a student problem.

3. “We spend more than anyone!”

We do.

Because we’re massive we are the size of an entire continent, unequal, and decentralized to the point of dysfunction.

Want to compare?

Let’s look at some of those “top countries” from the WPR and match them to U.S. states by population:

South Korea (51M) = California + part of Texas

Denmark (6M) = Wisconsin

Netherlands (17.5M) = New York

Belgium (11.7M) = Ohio

Slovenia (2M) = Nebraska

Those countries are the size of states.

They have:

One national curriculum

One funding system

One set of laws

We have:

50 state systems

Over 13,000 school districts

No national standards

Local property tax funding, so rich zip codes thrive and poor ones drown

Some kids go to brand new schools with 3D printers and solar panels.

Others freeze through winter in buildings with leaking ceilings and no library.

Same country.

Same flag.

Two different worlds.

Of course we spend more.

We’re funding chaos.

4. “28% of grads can’t read past a 5th-grade level.”

That number? Totally made up.

It’s pulled from a misused stat of adults that has no national backing.

We do have literacy issues.

But they’re not because kids are lazy or dumb.

They’re because:

Early childhood education is optional, not guaranteed

Schools in low-income areas don’t get the same resources

Reading specialists are being cut, not hired

Many children come to school hungry, sick, or scared

Let’s stop blaming kids for failing systems.

They can’t read when the school can’t even afford books.

5. “The Department of Education is a failure.” Or maybe… you just don’t understand what it does.

Let’s be clear.

The Department of Education does not:

Choose your kid’s curriculum

Write textbooks

Approve lesson plans

Invent Common Core

Control what your school teaches

All of that? State and local control.

What the Department of Education actually does:

Enforces civil rights in education (Title IX, IDEA, disability rights, racial equity)

Sends federal funding to underfunded schools

Provides support for English learners, special ed, and rural students

Administers Pell Grants and federal student loans

Gathers data so we know what’s working (and what’s not)

You kill the DoED? You cut:

Support for kids with disabilities

Protections for non-English speakers

Funding for rural schools

Grants for low-income students

Accountability for states that are actively failing children

You hurt little kids in big ways.

6. “Let the states decide.” Newsflash: they already do.

People scream “let the states decide!” like they’re fighting for freedom.

Buddy, the states HAVE BEEN deciding.

There is no national curriculum.

There is no federal standard for what kids learn.

That’s why:

Evolution is taught in some states and questioned in others

Black history is expanded in some districts and banned in others

Some states offer world class public education… and others? Barely the basics

So if you're mad about what your kid is learning or not learning, don’t blame the DoED.

Blame your state. Blame your local school board.

Because that’s who’s in charge.

The problem isn’t too much federal control, it’s not enough support for the states that are failing their students.

7. “Other countries prep for PISA. We don’t.”

Top performing countries like Singapore and South Korea train for PISA.

They build their curriculum around it. They do mock tests. They align teaching methods with the skills the test measures.

Our kids? They show up, take it cold, and go back to class like nothing happened.

No one even explains what the test is.

And guess what?

We still came in 6th in reading.

Imagine what we could do if we actually prepared.

The real issue? They want to abolish the DoED.

Not because it failed.

But because it does things they don’t like:

It protects marginalized kids

It enforces civil rights

It sends money where states don’t want to

It holds people accountable

Getting rid of it won’t hurt your wealthy district with robotics clubs and parent-funded libraries.

It will hurt:

Disabled students

Low-income schools

Rural districts with no tax base

Immigrant kids

English learners

Students who rely on someone, anyone, to fight for them

This isn’t about shrinking government.

It’s about shrinking opportunity, shrinking equity, and letting kids fall through the cracks on purpose.

So next time someone says:

“We were better off before the Department of Education…”

Ask them for data.

They won’t have it.

But now you do.

(Everything in this post is based on real data: PISA 2022, Department of Education records, NCES, and education policy research. You want receipts? I have them.)