More Education Wars

This AP writer exposes some of the myths and downright lies peddled by politicians and others that our students fare poorly compared with students of other countries:

While they're not in first place, U.S. students generally hold their own on international tests. They spend more time in school than the Obama administration would have you believe. And their college graduation rates stack up better than reported.

That is not to say the critics are totally wet, that the U.S. can't do better.

Only about one-third of U.S. students could read and do math at current grade levels on national tests in 2007, the most recent figures available. That means millions of kids are a long way from reaching the ambitious goal of former President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind law — that every student read and do math on grade level by 2014.

And the high school dropout rate is dismal — 1 in 4 kids.

But it's all made to look worse than it is by international comparisons, which at best tend to be misleading and at worst are deeply flawed.