DT> MS>DT> While there are public school systems in the United States
DT> MS>DT> struggling  to
DT> MS>DT> provide a quality education for all children, there are many 
DT> more
DT> MS>DT> who  are doing as good a job educating their children as the
DT> MS>DT> countries DT> to  which we like to compare ourselves. In
DT> MS>DT> "Comparing Apples to Apples:  What
DT> MS>DT> International Studies Tell Us," (1996) a key finding is sited.
DT> MS>DT> The  article states that "8th grade proficiency scores in 
DT> Iowa,
DT> MS>DT> North  Dakota,
DT> MS>DT> and Minnesota were the same as those in the top-performing
DT> MS>DT> countries  
DT> 
DT> MS>    These three states are _very_ unrepresentative of America.
DT> 
DT> There weren't meant to be representative which you would have been 
DT> aware 
DT> of if you had read more carefully.
    True.  But that only shows that public-school conditions in those states 
is unrepresentative of that faced by the average kid in America!
DT> MS>    All three are almost all-white, with very few English-
DT> MS>as-a-second-language kids.
DT> MS>    These states have disproportionately very few "hard to 
DT> educate"
DT> MS>kids  compared to the rest of America.
DT> MS>    And you call this study "research"?  
DT> 
DT> You are arguing out of context.  This is a good example of where 
DT> American Schools are succeeding.  I grew up in Minnesota and 
DT> depending 
DT> on where you live there can be a great deal of racial diversity.  
    In most counties of those three states, there's _no_ "diversity".
DT> hard to educate kids, Minnesota has it's share of urban problems and 
DT> it's minority population has seen a great deal of growth in the past 
DT> 10 
DT> years.  Have you ever visited Minneapolis or St. Paul?  
    I've seen Duluth.  But even it is a hell of a lot different from 
Pittsburgh.
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