富裕国家的学校教育正陷入体制性危机。经合组织（OECD）于9月8日发布的最新国际学生评估项目（PISA）阅读、数学与科学测试成绩，跌至该评估自2000年创立以来的历史最低点。教育界已无法再将溃败归咎于疫情封控：疫情结束后成绩依然以同等速度下滑，在35个参测的发达国家中，如今典型的15岁学生阅读能力已退化至十年前14岁学生的水平。尽管测试成绩不能衡量孩子的全部，但它是未来收入、身心健康及低犯罪率的关键预测指标；据测算，若将PISA平均分提升区区0.25个标准差，发达国家年均经济增速便可提高0.5个百分点。
一种危险的论调认为，随着人工智能日益强大，人类学生智力下滑无足轻重，未来可将认知全面外包给算法。这种推论极其荒谬：正如汽车的发明并未消除体育锻炼的必要性，AI驱动的极速变革世界对人类的心智敏捷度提出了更高要求；正因AI放大了人们逃避深度思考的诱惑，学校更有义务帮助学生锤炼大脑、筑牢读写与算术基石。自2012年起PISA成绩便开始滑坡，海量证据表明智能手机与平板电脑严重破坏了青少年的专注力，削弱了阅读习惯。目前已有半数国家在校内推行不同程度的手机禁令，更多国家应坚决跟进。
比电子设备更具破坏力的是教育理念的认知偏差。许多教育工作者陷入了将测试视为有害、将评分视为种族歧视的左翼教条，合理的心智关怀被扭曲为降低学术要求的借口，疫情期间养成的缺勤与放水评分更未纠正。增加预算并不能解决问题——日本生均教育经费比美国低30%，教育成果却遥遥领先；大学教育学院往往充斥着脱离教学实证、空谈抽象社会正义的平庸研究。相比之下，英国通过推行严格考试、严密督导与重事实的扎实课程，在十余年间将排名从前三十跃升至全球前十。由于教育成效存在一至二十年的滞后周期，政治家们往往缺乏长期改革意愿，甚至将学校沦为文化战争的秀场；面对机器加速智能化的时代，放任下一代心智退化无疑是在自掘坟墓。
Schools across affluent nations are confronting an educational crisis as the OECD's latest PISA evaluations in reading, mathematics, and science hit their lowest levels since the assessment's inception in 2000. Disruptions from pandemic lockdowns can no longer excuse this secular decline, as test scores have continued falling unabated; across 35 developed countries, an average 15-year-old now reads at the proficiency level of a 14-year-old a decade ago. Cognitive achievement remains tightly tethered to long-term prosperity: empirical estimates suggest that raising PISA scores by a modest quarter of a standard deviation could boost annual economic growth in advanced economies by 0.5 percentage points.
The rising capabilities of artificial intelligence do not render human intellectual cultivation obsolete, just as the advent of automobiles never eliminated the imperative for physical conditioning. Conversely, navigating an AI-dominated economy demands superior mental agility, and the temptation to outsource cognitive tasks makes rigorous school-level training in fundamental literacy and numeracy even more indispensable. The onset of score degradation around 2012 closely parallels the ubiquity of smartphones and mobile screens, which fracture student attention and displace immersive book reading. While roughly half of tested countries now enforce partial school mobile-phone bans, universal prohibitions are warranted.
More damaging than technology is the ideological disorientation within educational establishments. Many pedagogical faculties have embraced dogmas dismissing objective testing and grading, warping legitimate mental health concerns into justifications for lowered expectations, while tolerating chronic absenteeism and lax post-pandemic standards. Simply increasing fiscal outlays provides no remedy; Japan spends 30% less per student than America yet achieves far superior outcomes. Meaningful progress requires evidence-based instruction, exemplified by Britain’s ascent from the top 30 in 2009 into the global top ten through knowledge-rich curricula, rigorous inspections, and uncompromising examination standards. Politicians must stop weaponising education for short-term culture wars and commit to structural renewal before cognitive deficits permanently compound.
Source: Plunging test scores are a slow-moving catastrophe
Subtitle: Machines are getting brighter. Teens are getting dimmer. Schools must act now
Dateline: Sep 10th 2026