Why are American public schools so horrible but their higher education is the best in the world?

Darren Heling: The public education system in the US is bad for many reasons but the main one being that a lot of people from backgrounds where education is not valued. A lot of those kids ruin it for the ones who actually want to learn. Due to a drug culture and culture of crime the public school system goes down the drain. Kids want to brag about how many girls they have boned rather than how many A's they have made. Teachers are not that great either.In higher education kids learn the lesson and any clowning around is punished. Also, you are paying for it unlike in other countries, here in the US it is very expensive....Show more

Donte Hamme: Because public schools hire stupid teachers who don't know how to teach well and makes students not want to learn anything.

Pasty Cobbett: Because the public school system is filled with morons that are only there because they're legally required to be. Higher education requires that you actually TRY, so only the truly! exceptional get there. Were all of the scum expelled from public schools, both the public and higher education systems would be of similar quality.