We have been told that our students do not meet the same educational standards as other students around the world. The government is adamant that we must try harder and not fail our children. This was evident with former President George W. Bush’s vision of a ‘No Child Left Behind’ law, whereby all US students could read and do math according to their grade level by 2014. President Obama is continuing the trend, with the largest increase in federal education spending and a focus on providing more financial aid to students, ensuring that everyone has a fair chance at getting an education.

The statistics are not as dismal though as the White House, or even the Gates foundation, would have you believe. Whilst US students are not the cream of the crop, they do hold their own. America is one of the fastest growing multicultural populations in the world, with many students learning English as a second language. It should also be noted that not all countries are involved in this worldwide educational review – two of the biggest nations in China and India do not partake.

Here are the hard facts:

The educational standard of American students falls behind the highest achieving countries. These include developed Asian nations like Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan. Depending on the type of test taken, US students are comparable to students in other developed countries such as England, Germany, and Russia.

In fact, according to the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS), the US has actually improved its standing against its competitors since 1995, with a bigger improvement in math than Singapore and Japan, and in science compared to Japan.

Another study that the Obama administration and the Gates foundation have been citing is the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), taken by 15 year old students from 30 developed nations. Obama revealed that, “American 15 year olds ranked 25th in math and 21st in science when compared to nations around the world”. While these facts are technically correct, it must be said that PISA tests students on how well they can use math in real world problems. TIMMS, on the other hand, tests students on the math they have learned in the classroom.

Also in question is the amount of time students spend at school. Obama uses South Korea as an example, “Our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea every year”. He failed to take into account the duration of an average school day for US students. While the calendar year may be shorter, US students in fact spend more time in school: Eighth graders, for example, go to school for 1,146 hours a year compared with 923 hours a year in South Korea.

The graduation rate can also be misleading. Obama says that, “In just a single generation, America has fallen from second to 11th place in the portion of students completing college”. These figures are taken from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, but they are based on the overall population, not what happens to college students in a given year. Again, the US population is growing faster than other countries and the US also includes non-citizens in the study, unlike other nations.