By Julia Esber — The United States is said to be the world’s greatest superpower, but are we really?

Many people simply assume that our country is the most powerful, and at one point in time that was a true statement. After winning two world wars, engineering a victory in the Cold War and basically spreading our military rule worldwide, it makes sense to think that our country is dominating the earth.

The truth is however, that while we were once so on top of the game, it seems that we are taking a break while the rest of the world is marching forward, some simply catching up, and others surpassing us.

Narrowing this down to one example, let’s take a look at education.

As one of the largest, richest and most advanced countries, should not our education levels be equal to that status? Compared to so many other nations, they are not.

According to Organization for Economic and Co-Operation Development (OCED), Slovenia and Portugal come in first place when it comes to High School graduation rates, achieving 96%. Second place is Japan and Finland with 95%, and 21 nations later the United States comes strolling in with a whopping 70% graduation rate.
Seven in every 10 American’s graduate high school.Out of that massive group of graduates, only 30% continue on to go to college.

If we could make a drastic change that increased the advancement of high school students by a single level, our economy would benefit by producing an extra $4 trillion a year.

With such an accomplishment just a grasp away, how can we do anything short of reaching our highest?
What will happen if we sit in purgatory another couple of years while the nations around us race forward in advancement?

As the youth of our nation, we need to follow the paths of our elders. They were able to give our country the honor of being number one and it is our job to regain our spot on the pedestal.

[Updated Aug. 7, 2017: This article has been reformatted for consistency.]