The Bellevue Reporter published a recent cartoon that blamed public schools for the supposed failure of education in America. But Bellevue has excellent public schools, and the countries that outperform us (Finland, Canada, Korea, Singapore, and Japan) have public schools, too.

In fact, according to “What do international tests really show about U.S. student performance?” by the Economic Policy Institute, the reason American students score lower than average in comparison with students overseas is the high level of poverty in America.If you adjust for poverty, American students perform much better.

“If U.S. adolescents had a social class distribution that was similar to the distribution in countries to which the United States is frequently compared, average reading scores in the United States would be higher than average reading scores in the similar post-industrial countries we examined (France, Germany, and the United Kingdom), and average math scores in the United States would be about the same as average math scores in similar post-industrial countries.”

Conservatives love to find fault with public schools and teachers, but don’t believe that propaganda. They’re really just looking for an excuse to dismantle the last century of progress so they can increase the concentration of wealth even further.

Don Smith, Bellevue