America Lags In Testing & What Gen Z Is Focusing On In 2024
December 6, 2023
Things Aren’t Adding Up In Standardized Tests
According to a key international exam called the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), U.S. teenagers are lagging behind their counterparts in industrialized countries like the U.K. and Australia in math, and are significantly behind teenagers from top-performing countries like Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. Global math scores have declined overall, with most students losing about three-quarters of a year of learning in math thanks to the pandemic. The U.S. has kept pace in reading and science, where students performed at above-average levels.
PISA was last administered in 2018, and is usually given every three years. It tests things like reading, science, and math, emphasizing real-world skills like financial literacy. The latest iteration took place in 2022 due to interruptions caused by Covid-19. Over 700,000 teenagers took the 2022 PISA.
The U.S. ranked 28th out of the 37 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (most of the world’s richest countries). “I don’t think you can drop much lower,” said the OECD’s director for education and skills. Only 7% of U.S. students performed within the top bracket of math students, while 23% of Japanese students and 43% of Singaporean students were at that highest level. That’s not due to income inequality within the U.S., either — even relatively rich American kids scored lower in math than the average student in Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong.
Overall, the U.S. has actually moved up in global rankings in the most recent PISA. This is mainly because other countries have also slipped thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, though the Biden administration is claiming credit as well. Miguel A. Cardona, the White House secretary of education, said that a $122 billion federal relief package for the nation’s schools at least “kept the United States in the game.” Maybe next time we can be a little closer to the top of the game, though?
Some Good News
- Taylor Swift makes chart history again (CNN)
- Microsoft’s Seeing AI App is Now Available on Android (CNET)
We’re Living In This For The Holidays
- We’re officially in hibernation season and if you’re anything like us, you want to be cozy 24/7. If you’re looking for ultimate comfort for the holidays, look no further than MATE The Label.
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Cleverly Plots A Course In Crisis
- Newly-appointed British Home Secretary James Cleverly has signed a treaty with Rwanda, moving ahead with a U.K. government plan to ship asylum seekers to the East African nation to deal with Britain’s growing migrant crisis. While the U.K. Supreme Court struck down an older version of the plan due to its violations of international human rights laws, the new treaty has altered parts of the deal to address issues brought up by the court.
- For example, one of the court’s biggest concerns with the earlier version of the plan was that Rwanda might simply reject the asylum seekers sent by Britain, taking the U.K.’s money without actually giving migrants a new home. The new treaty allegedly addresses that and all other issues brought up by the Supreme Court. Cleverly said that the new agreement means there is no longer any “credible” reason to block the deportation arrangement. “I really hope that we can now move quickly,” he told the press after signing the new treaty.
The War In Gaza Heads South
- On Tuesday, Israeli forces stormed Khan Younis, the biggest city in southern Gaza. The IDF called the operation its most intense day of combat in over five weeks, with the assault killing dozens of Palestinians. The IDF is also staging operations in northern Gaza, including one in the Jabalia refugee camp. Over 80% of Gaza’s population is estimated to have been displaced by the conflict, with most heading to southern Gaza where the IDF’s efforts are now focused. Hamas claimed on Tuesday that Israeli attacks have killed over 16,000 people in Gaza, including over 7,000 children and almost 5,000 women.
- Earlier this week, senior Israeli military officials confirmed reports that about 5,000 Hamas militants have been killed by the IDF since the October 7 attacks. This means that the other 11,000 deaths from the conflict have been civilians, a ratio of two civilians killed per one Hamas fighter. “If you compare that ratio to any other conflict in urban terrain between a military and a terrorist organization using civilians as their human shields, and embedded in the civilian population, you will find that that ratio is tremendous, tremendously positive, and perhaps unique in the world,” one IDF spokesperson told CNN.
Additional World News
- COP28: Fossil fuel industry has nearly quadrupled registrations at climate summit since last year, watchdog report says (CNN)
- Ukraine’s US lifeline is hanging by a thinning thread (CNN)
- Nigerian president calls for investigation after army drone strike accident kills 85 (NPR)
- Freezing rain forces Munich Airport to suspend all flights on Tuesday morning (NPR)
- Germany’s Baerbock chides Orbán and Serbia in fiery remarks (Politico)
- New Zealand Maori politicians protest King Charles at parliamentary opening (NBC)
Middle East Reads
- U.S. expected to soon impose visa ban on Israeli settlers who attacked Palestinians (Axios)
- Sen. Bernie Sanders opposes giving Israel $10 billion in aid (NBC)
- Jewish American Families Confront a Generational Divide Over Israel-Hamas War (NYT, $)
- Senior EU official warns of huge security risk in Europe over Christmas (ABC)
- Putin to make rare trip abroad to discuss Israel-Hamas war with UAE and Saudi Arabia (Guardian)
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” – Aristotle
Tuberville Turns It Around
- After months of holding up hundreds of military nominations, Senator Tommy Tuberville announced on Tuesday that he would back off of his protest. Tuberville was holding the nominations hostage – around 400 of them – in protest of a Pentagon policy that reimbursed service members for travel costs related to getting an abortion.
- “I’m releasing everybody. I still got a hold on, I think, 11 four-star generals. Everybody else is completely released from me.” Tuberville told reporters. “But other than that, it’s over.” Some of the military nominations Tuberville has blocked for months include top officers who would command U.S. forces in the Middle East.
- Tuberville’s fellow Republicans had even started to get frustrated with his blockade, including former Gov. Nikki Haley. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., took to the Senate floor only a few hours after Tuberville backed down to confirm all 425 of the nominees unanimously.
The Things We Do For Money
- Late last week, the House of Representatives voted to expel Representative George Santos, and many of us thought that would be the last we heard of him – Saturday Night Live even gave him a farewell sketch. Santos, however, decided to defy the odds, and found himself back in the headlines less than a week after his “exit” from the public eye.
- Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman paid $200 for a Cameo (a personalized video message from a celebrity) from Santos to Senator Bob Menendez, the latter of whom faces federal bribery and extortion charges (and calls to resign). Fetterman shared the video on X, saying he wanted to provide Menendez with “encouragement” amid the “substantial legal problems” facing him.
- The video from Santos begins, “Hey Bobby! I don’t think I need to tell you, but these people who want to make you get in trouble and want to kick you out and make you run away, you make them put up or shut up. You stand your ground, sir, and don’t get bogged down by all the haters out there.” Santos reportedly did not know the video was for Senator Menendez.
Additional USA Reads
- Arlington, Va., house explosion: Here’s what to know (NPR)
- ‘Whatever it takes’: Liz Cheney mulls third-party run to block Trump victory (Guardian)
- 1 dead as powerful atmospheric river pummels Northwest with over 8 inches of rain (CNN)
- Rep. Patrick McHenry, who served as temporary speaker, will not seek re-election (NBC)
- Lawsuit seeks to block North Carolina congressional map, alleging it discriminates against minority voters (CNN)
- FBI Director Wray to call for renewal of key surveillance tool (NBC)
- Why We’re Publishing Never-Reported Details of the Uvalde School Shooting (ProPublica)
Gen Z Is Ready To Grind (Not The Dance Move)
- What do the kids care about besides ‘rizz’ these days? According to a survey by Instagram, mainly self-improvement. With help from a global trend forecasting company, the social media app surveyed over 5,000 Gen Z Instagram users about their goals for next year, and it appears that respondents had growth on the mind.
- The top three priorities respondents gave when asked about their lifestyle goals for 2024 were staying healthy, exploring their careers, and traveling. Meta, Instagram’s parent company, said the survey covered users ages 16 to 26 from across the globe, including the U.S., U.K., India, and Brazil. When asked what kind of “era” 2024 would be for them, the Zoomers’ top three answers were: a self-improvement era, a lucky era, or an “unapologetically myself” era.
- 1 in 3 respondents also saw self-employed entrepreneurship as one of the best ways to build wealth and a career today. Business Insider writes that this is due to a lack of trust in employers: “Like the generations before them, Gen Z was sold the idea that if you found a good job and worked hard, you’d reap the rewards. But after watching that dream die for millennials, Gen Z isn’t buying into what they view as a broken social contract.”
Additional Reads
- What we know about CosMc’s, McDonald’s nostalgic spin-off coming to some cities in 2024 (USA Today)
- 23andMe admits hackers accessed 6.9 million users’ DNA Relatives data (The Verge)
- YouTuber jailed after staging plane crash in California to make video (Guardian)
- Woman learned dad was a bank robber Ted Conrad, a 52-year fugitive, before he died (NBC)
- Runaway kangaroo punches police officer in the face while being captured in Canada (NBC)
- Metal detectorist finds “very rare” ancient gold coin in Norway — over 1,600 miles away from its origin (CBS)