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sc94597 on 23 August 2014
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thx1139 said:
sc94597 said:
thx1139 said:

Recently I listened to a talk about a recent study and it came down to this. All poor scores are all about poverty. Was something like in districts with 80 or 90% of children 150% or more above the poverty level the US leads the world in scores.  It is children in poverty that bring the scores down.  Most of the rest of the 1st world have much stronger social safety nets and because of this poor children dont perform well at all in the US.

If we are to speak of absolute poverty and not relative poverty, the United States does not have many more poor people (as a percentage) than a lot of these countries that succeed it, even if we speak of social safety nets. I really don't see how poverty can be the major determing factor when education is mostly socialized in the U.S. One can argue that less of an emphasis is put on education by poor parents and neighborrs, but that is a cultural quality, and certainly not something that can be fixed by more spending or social safety net. The only solution to that is greater economic prosperity that emphasizes the role of self-improvement and education, and which motivates these poor parents and neighbors to influence students toward better education. 

Most of the countries that have better scores do better with social safety net programs like feeding kids. A kid that is hungry doesnt learn well. Like either subsidies for single mother or poorer familes so the kids have care givers rather then people working multiple jobs and the kids being taken care of by the TV.  So our direct spending for the schools are higher, but the indirect taking care of the poor children results in poorer results.  So our poor kids go to school hungry and go home to an empty home. Other countries poor kids get fed and go home to a caregiver who has the time to work on studies with the kid.

So children under the poverty level don't receive food stamps and free school lunches in the United States? I grew up in the bottom 5% and never went hungry. I'm finding it hard to believe that any poor person does in fact. My mother got $600 in food stamps a month, and I got free lunches everyday in school. Hell, in some states they send home vouchers so that kids can get lunches on the weekends from the supermarket. I honestly don't believe that poor people go hungry with the current welfare system in the United States, as I've experienced it first hand and know a multitude of people who have as well.