<p>It’s not a strawman argument. I’m saying I wish there weren’t gaps in the quality of education between the states and the curriculum was more standardized, you’re saying you value diversity more. Well, our current system has big gaps in quality of education and our standardized tests are a joke - but hey, at least it’s diverse…</p>
<p>It’s no surprise American high school students perform poorly compared to our peers abroad. We complain about standardized tests, but we wouldn’t need them if students actually did well. You keep dismissing funding and harping about the virtues of stay at home parents, but the reality is, more parents are working these days. The state can’t control what parents do at home, they can only control what kids learn in the classroom. Do you think it’s a coincidence the poorest states have the poorest quality of education? Funding makes a huge difference. </p>
<p>Don’t worry, it seems like the status quo won’t be changing anytime soon. The American public education system will continue to suck. The rich kids will continue to grow up with every advantage while poor students get stuck in crappy underfunded schools. The standardized tests will continue to be dumbed down so everyone can pass. In some areas they’ll decide it’s important for kids to learn geography, in other areas they’ll figure, hey, why bother. While our peers abroad excel in science, Americans still debate whether or not it’s ok for us to talk about evolution in school…but hey, at least the system is diverse.</p>