A passing grade

A recent survey conducted by BBC World News America/ Harris Poll shows that 43% of Americans give the K-12 U.S. public education system a grade of “C,” with 33% giving it a “B,” and 8% going with “D,” and 4% saying “F.” Only 6% gave it an “A.”

Results came from an online survey of 2,283 adults between March 22-24, 2010 by Harris Interactive.

“Looking at the quality of education, there are definitely areas which need to be improved. For example, in comparison to other countries, the perception is that education in the U.S. is worse in the three main subject areas. And looking at the comparison of test scores, this is a perception based in reality,” Harris noted in a statement.

SURVEY FINDINGS
• There is a difference when it comes to the quality of local education – people think more highly of it. One-third of Americans (34%) would give their local school systems a “B” while 31% would give them a “C” and 15% an “A”. Less than one in ten (8%) say they deserve a “D” and just 5% would give local schools an “F”.

• There is also a difference of opinion on the quality of education at the different levels in the United States. Just 15% say elementary/middle school education is excellent or very good and 11% say the same about high school education. Over one-quarter (28%) say elementary/middle school education is not that good and 7% say it is not good at all. Even more say high school education is not that good (38%) or not good at all (10%).

• Two in five Americans (40%) say the quality of college education in the U.S. is excellent or very good and almost half (46%) say about the same for post-graduate education. Just 2% say that college education or post-graduate education is not good at all in the United States.

• More than half of U.S. adults (53%) say the quality of education provided by public schools is poor or fair, with only 10% saying it is excellent or very good and three in ten (31%) saying it is good. Homeschooling is seen in a more negative light – 34% say the quality of education it provides is poor or fair while 23% say it is excellent or very good, 23% say it is good and 21% are not at all sure.

• Two in five Americans say the quality of private, church related schools (39%) and private, non-church related schools (41%) is excellent or pretty good and 30% say each of these types of private schools provides a good quality of education. Just under one in five (17%) say the quality of the education provided by church based private schools is fair or poor and 13% say the same about non-church related schools.

• Three in five Americans (62%) say the U.S. is worse in teaching math to students and over half (56%) say the U.S. is worse in teaching science. Just under half of adults (46%) say the U.S. is worse than other countries in teaching reading comprehension, while 19% say the U.S. is better.