Something caught my eye a few months ago. International standardized tests in mathematics now put U.S. students at or near the bottom, in the entire developed world.

Which is really odd, when you think about it. After all, 2+2=4 in New York, Tokyo, and everywhere else I know.

One recent exam (results here) put U.S. students 31st in the world in math -- just a few points higher than the very bottom among the OECD (i.e., developed) countries. One earlier exam, called TIMSS, had U.S. twelfth-graders at the very bottom of the OECD in math. So the government stopped giving that test to U.S. twelfth-graders.

Yes, that certainly solves that problem.