Diversity theory of eudcation - Part 3, How bad is US education really?

Diverse populous requires diverse education system, and US has remarkably diverse AND flexible one. A student in US can be home-schooled for K to 6th grade, enter a charter school focused on science for 6 to 8th grade, go to public high school, enter liberal arts college studying history, and then go to business school and succeed. A student in Japan on the other hand has to go to a good kinder garden, go to a good private elementary school, take an exam to get into a good Jr high school to prepare for the entrance exam for high school, pick business concentration in high school to study for entrance exam for college, and then get accepted to an undergrad program at a college with good business school so she has a chance to get into one. Most Japanese graduate students did their undergrad at the same school because that's how you get into a good one. But here in US I was told to go somewhere else so I can diversify my views.

This diversity and flexibility offers opportunities at every level not seen in many other countries. In Hong Kong, students are put on a track, science, arts, or commerce, at high school level and have little chance of switching from then on. In Switzerland, students are separated into 3 levels based on their intellectual abilities at high school level. Where they go for higher education depends on what level they were placed. Same principles do exist in US but at much lesser degree.

Both Hong Kong and Switzerland almost always place high in measures of education, higher than US. But are we more stupid? We are slightly more productive than the two countries (GDP per capita). Given that we spend more money on education than any other country, we certainly are inefficient. But what if that inefficiency comes as a cost of diversity, fairness, and flexibility? For that matter, are we more fair? I think so because our education offers diverse options at every level compared to other countries, but isn't that question just as important as how we score in the tests?

The major flaw of the current state of education in US, and rightfully so the most damaging criticism of US education is it's illiteracy rate. Everyone should be able to read and write. But the debate on education focuses too much on test scores at the expense of combating illiteracy. Yes, US education is bad, but it's not because we score low on the tests. It's bad because we have a lot of illiteracy.

Diversity theory of education - Part 1, the goal of education

No one has ever had a clear answer when I asked them why we should educate, but the most thoughts centered around having people understand enough to make informed political decisions. These decisions require a set of basic facts, logic, and skills, and so we should teach the them. Clear and easy enough.

But the idea is no longer possible to achieve. Some political decisions are easy to be informed of. For example, I know enough to decide on say medical marijuana or teaching evolution. Some decisions are easy to reason through even without enough information. I can reason that making the immigration process clearer and simpler would actually decrease illegal immigrants. But some decisions are both hard to be informed of and hard to reason through. Take health care. I have a vague idea of what could work. But I am no way near informed or am I able to reason through the complexities. I might eventually get there but it would take time. And it's time that we don't have.

Few of the pressing problems facing US right now are health care, the economy, the war(s), and global warming. I don't think I understand these issues enough to make informed decisions on any of them. And I don't think I have the time to learn enough to be informed decision maker. How can I vote on these issues (or the candidates who campaign based on them) informatively? I would be making a guess, maybe an semi-educated guess, but not an informed decision. Using the goal of education above, I must say the school system has failed me. Good thing I can't vote.