Why do other countries out rank the US academically Research Paper

Why do other countries out rank the US academically - Research Paper Example This becomes worsened by gadgets that can calculate and convert units of measurements with a press of a button. As a result, people lose touch with their academic background. Studies have shown that most Americans cannot convert units of measurement (Unger 88). Various organization rank students of different countries bases on academic performance. Due to the different educational requirements in different countries and curriculum variation, Math and Science avail the only common basis for comparison between American students and students from other nations. The Third International mathematics and science Study that includes results collected from over half a million students in more than 41 nations gets used as a benchmark to assess and compare the effectiveness of the various educational systems. Students from the industrialized European nations, Canada, Asia, the U.S and New Zealand got involved in the study. The study showed that students going to school under unimaginably tough conditions in third world countries like Costa Rica perform way better than American students (Bradshaw 111). Literacy levels in these developing nations are much higher than those in the industrialized nations. America ranked poorly in the study, behind countries like India and Brazil. Analysis showed that American students in the fourth grade perform below average. Middle school students ranked worse than their fourth grade counterparts, whereas high school students lacked the ability to compete academically. The standards set by high school students from other countries were too high, and there was no competition because American high school students were no match. Upon completion of high school education where students are ready to join higher education or the job market, American students perform poorly as compared to their peers in the Diasporas (Her 67). With the amount of funding that the American