Tuesday Edition: Disappointing Public Schools

New data reveals a troubling trend in U.S. public school students' academic performance. (The American Experiment)

The latest: The Minnesota Department of Education released its 2024 statewide assessment results last week, and (as they did in 2023) students once again failed to achieve basic proficiency in math and reading.

• 50.3% of Minnesota public school students aren’t meeting grade-level reading standards in 2024.

• 54.7% of students aren’t at grade-level when it comes to math standards.

The funding: While students’ proficiency scores have been lackluster for years, inflation-adjusted per-pupil spending has increased.

Zoom out: Nationwide, nearly a third of public school students are behind grade level, according to National Center for Education Statistics survey data for the 2023-24 school year.

Despite stagnating performance, U.S. spending per public school student keeps climbing.

Bubba’s Two Cents

K-12 education in the U.S. is a classic example of how an inefficient bureaucracy justifies its failures by hiding behind sentimental rhetoric. We spend more per student than nearly every other country, yet one of the most common defenses of the current system is that it’s underfunded. A closer look reveals what happens when you keep throwing money at public schools: relatively little of it actually goes toward students and teachers.

Surveys continue to show Americans are pessimistic about the U.S. outlook. (WSJ)

A new Wall Street Journal/NORC poll: Only about one-third of Americans in 2024 believe the American dream still holds true, down from over half in 2012.

• 89% of Americans consider owning a home essential or important, but only 10% find it easy or somewhat easy to achieve.

• 96% of respondents say financial security is essential or important, but only 9% believe it's easy or somewhat easy to attain.

• 62% see marriage as essential or important to the American dream, but only 47% find it easily attainable.

The conditions: According to MIT economics professor Nathaniel Hendren and Harvard University economist Raj Chetty, only around 50% of those born in the 1980s are better off than their parents, compared to 90% of those born in 1940.

• Owning a home was 47% more expensive than renting in the 12 months ending in June 2024.

Related: Americans’ faith in our major institutions has been falling for decades.

Bubba’s Two Cents

I don’t think it’s overstating it to say the belief that the U.S. has failed to live up to its ideals is the driving force behind the major political movements on left and right.

Trumpism and progressivism are each rooted in the feeling that America has fundamentally gone astray. And there’s no denying our country’s got big problems. Resentment, negativity and despair rule the day.

But both sides also offer up a solution to this bleak state of affairs. Show up to the ballot box. Choose the good guys.

Whether you think Kamala’s going to end racism once and for all while replacing every AR-15 in the country with an EV, or you believe Trump will personally build the wall with both hands tied behind his back and make Xi Jinping pay for it—your vote counts as much as anybody else’s.

That’s America, baby.

With conflicts erupting around the world, the U.S. is struggling with a military recruiting crisis. (Vox)

The numbers: In 2023, the U.S. Army missed its recruitment goal by 10,000 soldiers, a 20% shortfall.

• This left the active-duty Army at 445,000 troops, the smallest size since 1940.

• Last year, Navy recruitment fell short by 7,500 sailors, even after raising the enlistment age to 41 and accepting more low-scoring recruits.

• The Air Force missed its recruitment target by 10%.

The recruiting outlook: Only 23% of young Americans (ages 17-24) are eligible to enlist without a waiver, down from nearly 30% before COVID-19, due to obesity, physical unfitness, mental health issues and drug use.

• Less than 10% of Americans aged 16 to 21 are seriously considering military service.

• The number of 18-year-olds in the U.S. will peak at 9.4 million in 2025 before dropping to about 8 million by 2029, exacerbating the recruitment crisis.

Gil Barndollar, senior research fellow at the Catholic University of America’s Center for the Study of Statesmanship:

58% of the Biden-Harris administration's top 66 officials have little to no business experience, according to a new report. (New York Post)

A new Committee to Unleash Prosperity study: The average business experience among Biden-Harris appointees is just 3.1 years, with a median of zero years.

• Only 12% of Biden-Harris appointees have extensive business experience (defined as 10 or more years in the private sector).

• Donald Trump’s cabinet officials during his last year had an average of 13 years of business experience.

Related: According to a New York Times analysis, Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance have extensive private sector experience, but Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have none.

Bubba’s Two Cents

In an age of growing skepticism toward government (public trust in government is near historic lows), it’s probably a negative to be seen as a career politician. Indeed, as political analyst Bruce Mehlman has noted, “The more ‘Washington’ candidate has lost 11 of the most recent 14 Presidential elections.”