Reduced ability for U.S. education to compete against other countries around the world may be the result of more than the educational system.
According to Philippe Grandjean, professor of environmental health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Dr. Philip Landrigan, dean for global health at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan, rates of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder are rapidly increasing.
Problems with cognitive function that are not severe enough for diagnosis are becoming even more common than neurobehavioral development disorders.
In 2012, David Bellinger, Ph.D., professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, published a study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where he demonstrated a reduction in the IQ of children exposed to toxins.
The children, born to mothers exposed to organophosphates, mercury or lead during pregnancy, suffered a loss of 16.9 million IQ points. Researchers calculated a collective loss of 41 million IQ points in the U.S. from the same exposures.
Later Grandjean and Landrigan announced 12 substances, easily found at home, are believed to be linked to lower IQ, ADHD and autism disorder. Both Grandjean and Landrigan recommend organic foods to reduce exposure to pesticides, especially for expectant mothers. Landrigan told The Atlantic:
Standardized Test Scores Are Falling
In standardized testing across 73 countries, the U.S. ranked 23rd in science and reading and 39th in math.8 Some believe poor test scores are the result of averaging scores, including a large number of poor and disadvantaged students in the U.S.9
However, this does not account for the fact that only 2 percent of American students reach the highest level of math performance, while the average in other tested countries was 3 percent of students.
Former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan commented on the impact poverty may have on the educational system in the U.S., saying
I advise pregnant women to try to eat organic because it reduces their exposure by 80 or 90 percent. These are the chemicals I really worry about in terms of American kids, the organophosphate pesticides like chlorpyrifos.
While our poverty rate is about 22 percent, in Vietnam [ranking significantly higher than the U.S. in science and math], the poverty rate is about 79 percent. The real educational challenge in America is not just about poor kids in poor neighborhoods.
It's about many kids, in many neighborhoods. The PISA results underscore that educational shortcomings in the U.S. are not just the problems of other people's children."
That American students are consistently outranked by other countries has a significant public health and economic impact. However, as with most social and public health challenges, there is more than one factor.
Lack of quality education, access to quality teachers, early preschools and good health are just some of the factors that play a role in educating the youth of America.