Why The Education System Is Failing America | CNBC Marathon

Overview

The video argues that major failures in U.S. education come from misaligned policy and incentives, not from a lack of student potential. It highlights two education case studies—Common Core and the underfunding/undervaluation of teachers—and then shifts to how inconsistent, politicized sex education policy contributes to both personal and economic harms.

1) Common Core: high ambitions, backlash, and little measurable achievement gain

What Common Core was meant to do

• A “college- and career-ready” set of standards adopted starting in 2009.
• Adopted by 41 states + DC + four territories.
• Supporters argued the U.S. was lagging internationally (especially in math) and that higher standards plus uniform benchmarks would improve outcomes and make cross-state comparisons easier.

How it was promoted

• Adoption was primarily state-led, but the federal government strongly pushed it through Race to the Top.
• States could receive $4.35B in grants if they adopted similar “college and career readiness” standards (commonly treated as Common Core).

Why it faced confusion and ridicule

• Parents struggled with homework and teaching methods that weren’t part of their own schooling.
• Early criticism included poorly designed math items.
• Implementation was described as a rapid “curve ball,” requiring teachers to change practices quickly.

What later research suggested

• Federally funded studies found no dramatic improvement in student achievement.
• Effects ranged from tiny negative to tiny positive, with many neutral outcomes.

Common explanations for the lack of impact

1. Reduced teacher control: dictating curricula “from remote control” is unrealistic given students learn at different rates and teachers know their students best.
2. Ignoring poverty and resource constraints: critics argued the standards didn’t sufficiently account for how poverty and unmet needs affect learning and completion.

Politicalization and retreat

• Common Core became a political target, especially amid conflicts over standardized testing.
• Many states repealed, revised, or withdrew parts of it.
• The video notes that replacements often retained much of the substance while avoiding the “Common Core” label (e.g., Florida’s B.E.S.T. and New York’s Next Generation Learning Standards).

Bottom-line conclusion about Common Core

Supporters and opponents agree it was effectively undermined early by politicization, not by clear evidence of academic success.

2) Teachers: low pay, high turnover, and stalled incentives to improve quality

Teacher quality as a major driver

The video emphasizes that teacher quality is the #1 school-related driver of student achievement, yet the profession is described as being in turmoil.

Wage gap / pay penalty

• The wage gap between teachers and similarly educated peers is described as nearly 20% and growing.
• Salaries are described as stagnant since the 1990s (inflation-adjusted), contributing to shortages, low retention, and strikes.
• A Connecticut teacher profile illustrates a slow pay climb over a long career (around $90k after 21 years), framed as high relative to some states but still not a “living wage” everywhere.

Gender and status history of teaching

• Teaching is portrayed as “women’s work,” historically treated as lower-status and lower-paid, despite requiring high expertise.
• The video cites research on a teacher wage penalty, including different figures for men and women compared with other professions, and an OECD comparison placing U.S. teachers far below similar professionals internationally.

Barriers to fixing pay

• Benefits can be difficult to access unless teachers remain long enough (e.g., pensions often require long tenure), so teachers can’t always rely on benefits for short-term living costs.
• Wage growth is limited unless teachers move to higher-paying roles/states, creating a “stuck” profession where raises are hard without leaving.

What “fixing” might cost and how it could work

• One estimate says closing the compensation gap would cost roughly $29B.
• The CARES Act is described as insufficient relative to total education spending.
• A proposed model (illustrated with Washington, DC examples) ties pay more to roles and tough assignments, supported by grants/outside funding and managed staffing tradeoffs.
• The broader goal is to prevent teaching from becoming a “revolving door” job where people stay briefly and exit for better pay.

3) Sex education: politicized inconsistency leads to economic and public-health costs

Sex education as an economic justice issue

Without good instruction, young people face preventable outcomes (unintended pregnancy and STIs) that create lasting financial and social burdens.

No federal mandate; state-by-state variability

• Sex education is not federally standardized.
• Content varies by state, county, and even school.
• Some states require little or no sex education; many emphasize abstinence, and fewer require medically accurate instruction.

Major curriculum models described

• Abstinence-only / sexual risk avoidance (often excludes contraception and safe-sex information).
• Comprehensive sex education (includes abstinence plus safer sex practices, and may cover topics like miscarriage, abortion, and LGBTQ+ topics).
• A middle ground: abstinence-plus.

Debate and politics

The video claims public controversy is fueled by a small vocal minority, but it stresses that the policy landscape remains inconsistent.

Economic justification (cost framing)

• Unintended pregnancy costs are cited as at least $5.5B in 2018 (up from $4.6B in 2011).
• STIs are described as costing nearly $16B in healthcare costs in 2018, with ages 15–24 accounting for a large share of new cases and costs.
• Teen pregnancy is linked to worse long-term outcomes and higher public costs (including foster care, incarceration-related impacts, and reduced future earnings).
• Example: Mississippi, where the video cites an estimate that taxpayer costs for teen births were around $155M, contributing to policy changes requiring sex-ed curricula.

Federal funding and policy direction

• Federal involvement has historically focused on funding streams, not mandates.
• Abstinence-only funding rose and fell by political administration.
• The Obama era increased emphasis on evidence-based metrics and created the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (aimed at medically accurate approaches), without fully eliminating abstinence-only programs.
• Legislative uncertainty is noted (e.g., House passage of funding that stalled in the Senate as of late 2021).

Comparative approach (U.S. vs Europe)

• The U.S. is portrayed as emphasizing activity/rates.
• Europe is portrayed as emphasizing supporting each individual’s development of a “healthy sexual life”—while the video notes “healthy” can be contested across diverse societies.

Conclusion on what works

The video argues for universal, medically accurate comprehensive sex education, plus skills such as refusal/self-regulation and planning—framing it as prevention, agency, and long-term economic benefit, not just reducing teen birth rates.

Presenters / contributors mentioned

• Anna (host/moderator; name not fully shown in subtitles)
• Kate Diaz (math and statistics teacher, Manchester High School, Connecticut)
• Sylvia Allegretto (researcher on teacher pay penalty/wage gap)
• Andrew Biggs (estimate of cost to close teacher compensation gap)
• Karen (school-district finance/distribution perspective; last name not provided)
• Betsy DeVos (former U.S. Secretary of Education; cited for describing Common Core as a disaster)
• Maryanne Mosaddeq (President & CEO of Ascend; supports sexual risk avoidance education)