The Nation - News from Sept. 11, 1989

Warning of dire consequences for the nation’s future, U.S. high school principals issued a “report card” giving American education a C-plus, compared with an A-minus for South Korea and West Germany’s B-plus. The report differs from others that have found American young people lagging behind their foreign counterparts by examining not just student performance, but the overall commitment to education in the three societies, the National Assn. of Secondary School Principals said. The study graded the countries in 15 categories and found America rated as high as both South Korea and West Germany in just one--its commitment to compulsory schooling, an area in which all three countries received an A.