“Five Myths About U.S. Kids Outclassed by the Rest of the World” is an engaging article in yesterday’s Washington Post. Paul Farhi argues that, contrary to media reports, U.S. students are not performing poorly on math, science, and civics tests compared to the rest of the world. Therefore, our public schools are not as bad as the media and public make them out to be. The five myths are as follows:

1. U.S. students rate poorly compared with those in the rest of the world.

2. U.S. students are falling behind.

3. U.S. students won’t be well prepared for the modern workforce.

4. Bad schooling has undermined America’s competitiveness.

5. How we stack up on international tests matters, if only for national pride.

I am not concerned about the last four myths because Farhi provides weak anecdotal evidence to rebut these claims. The first myth is a much more compelling issue.

According to a study that reassessed the international testing results, U.S. students had the highest civics scores in the world and scored slightly above average on science and math tests. Only 13 percent of countries had higher reading scores. I have not read the study, but I will accept the results for the sake of argument and generosity.

From the standpoint of outputs, that is not so bad. Nevertheless, the inputs make the case that the U.S. has a troubled education system. Farhi says very little about inputs – for good reason. We are getting a sorry return on our investment.

First, consider that in 2005 the United States has the second highest per pupil expenditure in the world, $11,152 (Switzerland had the highest). OECD counties as a whole spend $7,343 per pupil. In addition, teaching hours in U.S. public primary schools averaged 1,139 hours, compared to an average 795 hours for other OECD countries. This is a consistent trend throughout secondary school, even when compared to counties that have a longer school year than the U.S.

Therefore, to get our students to the average in math and science, the U.S. is spending buckets of money and expending an extraordinary amount of time. At best, this means that we have a bureaucratic system that simply needs to be streamlined. At worst, this means that something is very wrong with our schools. Any road you choose leads to serious educational reform.