World's businessmen say: Quality of US education only ranks 22nd among world’s nations

I’ve been looking at some more data from ‘The Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010” from the World Economic Forum.

The US rankings page, shows our country only ranked 22nd when business executives from around the world were asked, “How well does the educational system in your country meet the needs of a competitive economy?”

Some of the countries and economies that outrank us include expected nations like Singapore (ranked #1), Finland and Taiwan, China.

But, the ‘Higher Education and Training’ data tables (accessible from a link here) in the report also show Iceland, Ireland, Cyprus, Qatar, Barbados, Tunisia, The United Arab Emirates and even Malta outranked us, as well.

The Competitiveness Report lists the quality of education in the US as a “competitiveness disadvantage.” That is really disturbing.

We need to keep this in mind when we see Kentucky’s education system simplistically compared to performance elsewhere around the US. That is only shooting at a low target in the international sphere of things, at least according to the opinions of leading business executives from around the world.