How can it be that the U.S. spends more on education than many other nations, and achieves far worse results? What may be the underlying reason?

The reason that the U.S. education system fails to achieve results as good as those of many other countries who spend far less may be the built-in inequality in the U.S. funding of education. Education in the U.S. is mostly funded by local property tax revenues, which tend to vary widely, depending on the neighborhood where school children live. Wealthier communities are able to maintain quality education, programming and extracurricular activities, while poor communities struggle to meet basics. A recent study found that the 10% of the school districts with the most funding outspent the poorest 10% by a factor of 10 . The education received by the children attending those schools is certainly affected.

A different kind of system is used in Finland, Norway, Japan and Hong Kong. In these countries, education is federally funded and tuition-free at all levels. They spend far less on education, but their students are among the top scorers world-wide. When compared to American students, there are notably smaller differences between students of differing socioeconomic backgrounds. In short, a more egalitarian approach to education appears to have succeeded in reducing inequality.