American spends more per pupil than any other country in the world, why is so little education being achieved?

We're paying more per student, but we're also paying less per teacher compared to average salaries. In almost every other country, teachers make more than the average salary - not in our country. Most people don't want to teach, and most of our teachers were in the bottom half of their own classes in school. That's not a good sign for future generations. Not to mention the whole screwed-up 'no child left behind' nonsense and letting school boards write the curriculum even if they have absolutely no training in the subject at hand.

Well that stinks that you're basically forced to agree with the thesis statement rather than take an agree/disagree position...

I just read a Stats Canada report on literacy and the US was doing quite alright! Sure there are countries who achieved more, but the US did quite well..

I don't know if you'll like my opinion cause I'm from Canada so I won't have the best insight into US education policies but - the latest policy that was implemented, the "No Child Left Behind" Act - it rewards schools on performance and standardized tests. From what I understand it perpetuates the lower-income schools receiving the least amount of funding, and those are the schools where the biggest problems usually lie to begin with.. so the schools that need more are getting less.. so if this is really true, then "spending more per pupil" isn't really accurate right - because the funding is different for every school. The poorest ones don't get what they need at all including up to date textbooks and technologies..

Well, my apologies if this is wrong info, this is what we learned at uni! Maybe it will help : )

The question is biased. It assumes that "little education [is] being achieved."

What is being assessed? How?

And finally, the amount "spen[t] per pupil" is an average amount. Does it account for the disparity between school districts? How about that little nugget right there? Compare AT LEAST the state averages rather than the national averages.