The fact Australian students are sliding down the international rankings in maths and science confirms, yet again, that they are being let down by a combination of dubious teaching methods, teacher training and selection, curriculum issues and, too often, unnecessarily low expectations.
Before the give a Gonski lobby demands that billions of extra dollars be thrown at the problem it should note that students in Kazakhstan (with a per capita GDP of well under half of ours) scored on a par with Australia in 2011 but surpassed us last year.
It is unacceptable, as Australian Council for Educational Research chief executive Geoff Masters writes today, that one in three years 7 to 10 maths teachers have never studied how to teach the subject or studied it beyond first-year university.
Part of the answer must also lie in reverting to more explicit teaching methods rather than persevering with the inquiry-based method of learning, which is not working, especially in the early years of school.
After an injection of billions of dollars over the past decade, the system needs real reform, which is a greater challenge than boosting funding.
