September 11, 2025 • 6 mins
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Once a global leader in learning, America’s K–12 education system is now in alarming decline. National test scores show nearly half of high school seniors can’t handle basic math, and a third struggle with simple reading—yet graduation rates keep rising due to lowered standards and grade inflation. Schools are ditching homework, easing requirements, and prioritizing equity policies over academic rigor, leaving millions unprepared for college or the workforce. With absenteeism up, behavior worsening, and achievement gaps widening, the U.S. faces an educational collapse that demands a complete reset before an entire generation is left behind.
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/watchdog-on-wall-street-with-chris-markowski/id570687608
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PtgPvJvqc2gkpGIkNMR5i
WATCH and SUBSCRIBE on:
https://www.youtube.com/@WatchdogOnWallstreet/featured
Once a global leader in learning, America’s K–12 education system is now in alarming decline. National test scores show nearly half of high school seniors can’t handle basic math, and a third struggle with simple reading—yet graduation rates keep rising due to lowered standards and grade inflation. Schools are ditching homework, easing requirements, and prioritizing equity policies over academic rigor, leaving millions unprepared for college or the workforce. With absenteeism up, behavior worsening, and achievement gaps widening, the U.S. faces an educational collapse that demands a complete reset before an entire generation is left behind.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Our education embarrassment, It really is. I keep thinking of that.
The television show The Newsroom Jeff Daniels, the opening episode
had him on a panel and this kind of a
panel style debate and he gets pushed. He's an anchor
on a television network and he's asked, you know why
(00:37):
America is the greatest country in the world, And he
goes off on a rant and says that we aren't.
And he gives a myriad of different reasons and one
of them and this show is got to be.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
A ten to fifteen years old. At least. Education.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
The decline decline in Kate twelve public education is getting worse.
The nation's report Card National Assessment of Educational Progress, showing
a third of high school seniors lack basic reading skills
and nearly half can't do rudimentary math. States had been
(01:17):
dumbing down their standardized tests to make the schools look better.
You want a reality check in twenty twenty four, forty
five percent. Forty five percent of twelfth graders performed below
basic in math, thirty two percent in reading. Eighth grade
(01:39):
science scores were hardly better. Thirty eight percent rated below basic,
and all three exams, students scored on average lower than
on the most recent exam in twenty nineteen. Reading scores
were ten points lower than when the exam was first
administered in nineteen ninety two. Declines were bigger among students
(02:00):
who were lower performers, causing achievement gaps to grow. Uh.
The only silver lining is that charter schools.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Uh, they fell flat, they didn't drop.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Only about a third of high school seniors are prepared
for college, and.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Either reading or math a third.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah, yeah, you're allowing these kids to go to college.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Did you understand what you think about that? For a second? Okay?
And what a scam that is?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
You're if you're not prepared to go ahead, just you
probably shouldn't do it.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
For example, they gonna let you.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Become a Navy seal if you're morbidly obese.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
No, you're going to fail. These kids shouldn't be going
to college, but they are.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
And again they're putting all sorts of debt on themselves,
and they got to go to college to take remedial classes.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
For crying out loud. Harvard does remedial math.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Now anyway, equity talk about This emphasis on equity has
led some school districts to adopt no grading and no
homework policies in lower grades. Schools have reduced graduation requirements
and inflated grades across the board. High school graduation rates,
(03:32):
despite these lousy test scores have increased by fourteen percentage
points from nineteen ninety one to twenty twenty three, even
though kids are less prepared. Wisconsin, Illinois, and New York
have lowered their standards for rating proficient on state tests. Massachusetts,
once a public education leader, has eliminated state tests as
(03:54):
if comparative results might be upsetting. Yeah, behavior has worsened
in recent years. Children are spending more time on social
media after and sometimes during school, and less time reading
for pleasure. Absenteeism has increased. I can go on and
on and on listening to vivek Ramaswami talk about the
(04:17):
achievement gap between Chinese kids and kids here in the
United States. You know, so wonder why all of these
foreigners want to come to our universities, and why many
of our universities want to allow them in.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yeah, I get it.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
You know, I'm a professor at an institution, and I
got a bunch of numb skulls that can't even read
in my classroom. I mentioned this before. Fifty four percent
of the United States of America, fifty can read at
a sixth grade level. This country, it's great, America, really really, Again,
(05:06):
I understand, you know, education is only one metric, but
why isn't this a five alarm fire?
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Oh yeah, so we'll throw more money at the school's right.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Sure, we know where the problem lies. The entire system
as it's designed today. The way we this country is
structured based upon the type of population we have, needs
to be blown up. The entire thing need a complete restart.
You need a complete restart. You've got to figure out
(05:46):
what kids are capable of, what direction they're going to
head in, all of these things in advance, and put
them on various different tracks where they can be successful.
Incorporate apprenticeships, a myriad of other things. Because what we're
doing is not working. Watchdog on Wall Street dot Com
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Our education embarrassment, It really is. I keep thinking of that.
The television show The Newsroom Jeff Daniels, the opening episode
had him on a panel and this kind of a
panel style debate and he gets pushed. He's an anchor
on a television network and he's asked, you know why
(00:37):
America is the greatest country in the world, And he
goes off on a rant and says that we aren't.
And he gives a myriad of different reasons and one
of them and this show is got to be.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
A ten to fifteen years old. At least. Education.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
The decline decline in Kate twelve public education is getting worse.
The nation's report Card National Assessment of Educational Progress, showing
a third of high school seniors lack basic reading skills
and nearly half can't do rudimentary math. States had been
(01:17):
dumbing down their standardized tests to make the schools look better.
You want a reality check in twenty twenty four, forty
five percent. Forty five percent of twelfth graders performed below
basic in math, thirty two percent in reading. Eighth grade
(01:39):
science scores were hardly better. Thirty eight percent rated below basic,
and all three exams, students scored on average lower than
on the most recent exam in twenty nineteen. Reading scores
were ten points lower than when the exam was first
administered in nineteen ninety two. Declines were bigger among students
(02:00):
who were lower performers, causing achievement gaps to grow. Uh.
The only silver lining is that charter schools.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Uh, they fell flat, they didn't drop.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Only about a third of high school seniors are prepared
for college, and.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Either reading or math a third.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah, yeah, you're allowing these kids to go to college.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Did you understand what you think about that? For a second? Okay?
And what a scam that is?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
You're if you're not prepared to go ahead, just you
probably shouldn't do it.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
For example, they gonna let you.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Become a Navy seal if you're morbidly obese.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
No, you're going to fail. These kids shouldn't be going
to college, but they are.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
And again they're putting all sorts of debt on themselves,
and they got to go to college to take remedial classes.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
For crying out loud. Harvard does remedial math.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Now anyway, equity talk about This emphasis on equity has
led some school districts to adopt no grading and no
homework policies in lower grades. Schools have reduced graduation requirements
and inflated grades across the board. High school graduation rates,
(03:32):
despite these lousy test scores have increased by fourteen percentage
points from nineteen ninety one to twenty twenty three, even
though kids are less prepared. Wisconsin, Illinois, and New York
have lowered their standards for rating proficient on state tests. Massachusetts,
once a public education leader, has eliminated state tests as
(03:54):
if comparative results might be upsetting. Yeah, behavior has worsened
in recent years. Children are spending more time on social
media after and sometimes during school, and less time reading
for pleasure. Absenteeism has increased. I can go on and
on and on listening to vivek Ramaswami talk about the
(04:17):
achievement gap between Chinese kids and kids here in the
United States. You know, so wonder why all of these
foreigners want to come to our universities, and why many
of our universities want to allow them in.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yeah, I get it.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
You know, I'm a professor at an institution, and I
got a bunch of numb skulls that can't even read
in my classroom. I mentioned this before. Fifty four percent
of the United States of America, fifty can read at
a sixth grade level. This country, it's great, America, really really, Again,
(05:06):
I understand, you know, education is only one metric, but
why isn't this a five alarm fire?
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Oh yeah, so we'll throw more money at the school's right.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Sure, we know where the problem lies. The entire system
as it's designed today. The way we this country is
structured based upon the type of population we have, needs
to be blown up. The entire thing need a complete restart.
You need a complete restart. You've got to figure out
(05:46):
what kids are capable of, what direction they're going to
head in, all of these things in advance, and put
them on various different tracks where they can be successful.
Incorporate apprenticeships, a myriad of other things. Because what we're
doing is not working. Watchdog on Wall Street dot Com
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