Dr. Phil guest exposes how the US school system is 'dumbing down' America
Professor Nicholas Giordano said the education system was doing a "coverup" on lowering standards for students.
Dr. Phil and his guest expressed shock Tuesday on the dumbing down of America's children in schools over the past few decades.
"There is a sellout going on… instead of figuring out innovative ways to teach our kids and close the gap; it's like the system is caving to the least and meeting these kids where they are instead of bringing it up to standard," Dr. Phil said.
"You're seeing a coverup within the education system itself," Nicholas Giordano, a professor of political science at Suffolk Community College and a Campus Reform Higher Education Fellow, said.
"Proficiency levels on average are about 25% of the subject material when [students] graduate high school. Now what they don't say is that those numbers have been flat for about 30 years, yet we've been dropping standards at the same time," he added.
Professor Nicholas Giordano, left, and Dr. Phil discuss the state of the U.S. education system. (Dr. Phil Show/Screenshot )
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"It really is devastating," Giordano said about the system. "If we had the same standards in place… it would be even lower."
Giordano said that he gives a basic civics exam on the first day of class and almost all his students fail it.
Math scores saw their largest decreases ever, while reading scores dropped to levels not seen since 1992 for fourth and eighth graders across the country, according to the 2022 Nation’s Report Card.
The average mathematics score for fourth-grade students fell five points from 2019 to 2022. The score for eighth graders dropped eight points. Reading for both grades fell three points since 2019.
Nation's report card shows declining math scores in 2022. (Fox News)
"We are the wealthiest nation. We are the sole superpower of the world, at least for now. How long do you think that is going to be going forward if we don't fix this problem?" Giordano said. "We have created a system where we are just cycling students through the system and that's become one of our biggest problems."
Research at Harvard and Stanford found that achievement losses "were larger in higher poverty districts."
The COVID-19 pandemic caused proficiencies to plummet. (iStock)
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The study revealed that the pandemic "widened disparities in achievement between high and low-poverty schools."
"This should be one of the top issues within the country and most people are remaining silent about it," Giordano said.
Fox News' Joshua Nelson and Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
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