Misguided Priorties Lead to Solving the Wrong Problem.

[acroyear]

Five Myths About U.S. Kids Outclassed by the Rest of the World - washingtonpost.com:

Yes, we're a nation of strivers and self-improvers; the American drive to be the biggest and the best in everything seems part of our national character. But if being No. 1 in education is our goal, shouldn't we also want to be No. 1 in all the things closely linked to academic achievement, such as quality of childhood health care and reduction of childhood poverty? National pride can be a destructive concept, especially when it views learning as a zero-sum game ("their" gains are "our" losses, and vice versa). Continuous improvement should be our goal, regardless of whether we're No.1 in the test-score Olympics.

I would suggest here that the "biggest and best" is an anachronism, a remnant of the mass marketing campaign from the early years of the cold war that really has no place in driving policy today.