I read with interest the comments from Chris Rust on the Sept. 10 Opinion page concerning the evidence showing how outstanding our public schools are. Finding the statistics hard to swallow, I looked at the math and science tests on Wikipedia. The last results shown were for 2009 and were very telling. Perhaps we have improved since 1995 as was stated in the Sept. 7 editorial, “NCLB: Busy work,” but to what?
Math— not in the top 100 but actually 30th.
Science — not in the top 10, actually 23rd.
Reading — not in the top 10, actually 17th.
These numbers show that our schools are failing our children. A total overhaul of the poor education system is needed, and throwing money at education has not brought about any improvement. Requirements for teachers need to be better and demands on students need to be tougher.
If this is the best the teachers, staff and administrators can produce, it’s a sad commentary.
Pat Brandt
Ridgefield
