There is an iconic beginning scene in The Newsroom. It is where the character Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) is on a panel at Columbia University and the panel is asked what makes America the greatest country in the world. You get the canned responses and then McAvoy tries to not really answer the question and is pressed about his nonanswers. He then goes and says that America is not the greatest country in the world. (If you haven’t seen it, the clip is on YouTube and HBO Max also has The Newsroom series streaming.)
He goes on to tell America’s rankings on certain things. The show was broadcast in 2012. So 14 years has passed since we first saw the series. I wanted to see where the United States was currently compared to back then. Let’s see if we have improved our standing in the world using those same metrics.
The first ranking given was literacy. According to the show, we werre 7th in the world. not bad when you think that there are around 200 countries on Earth. In 2026, we rank 34th in the world. Approximately 20% of Americans are illiterate according to the standards that are given. With education being cut in most areas, I fear that we will continue to fall in the rankings and hurt our children and grandchildren when it comes to opportunities in the future.
On a positive-ish note, the rankings for Math and Science have moved a tick up the rankings. Math from 27th to 26th. Science from 22nd to 16th. Education is key to having a strong country and one that is looked at with reverence throughout the world. While not bad, we need to keep improving these rankings. Think over the past few years and political leaders talking about how we bring engineers and other specialized workers from other countries to do the things that we need. Well, these rankings need to be improved so we don’t need the foreign experts for our construction.
This one goes into how our medical system is. Life Expectancy. In 2012, it was 49th. Barely in the top 25% of the world. In 2026, we have decreased to 62nd in the world. Culture, society, and medicine all affect this ranking. The average life expectancy is 79.8 years for Americans. A bit over 77 if you are a male and a bit over 82 if you are a female. In 30 years, the average American is living just about 2 more years from what it was in 1996.
One ranking that has improved tremendously is the Infant Mortality ranking. It was 178th in 2012. That stat shocked me. We have gotten better. America is currently 54th in 2026. Major improvement but there are more steps to take in order to bring us into the Top 10 of that ranking. It is a moral thing here. If our country is going to say that every life is precious, then why aren’t we looking at this and figuring out how we can improve the chance of every infant to live, no matter who they are or where they come from.
The last couple are financial. The Median Income has dropped from 3rd to 5th. The Labor Force has went from 4th to 3rd. Finally, the Exports have went from 4th to 2nd. The Median Income dropping in the ranking is something to be worried about. It might be showing the beginning of a larger income disparity that many people believe is already here.
Finally, he states that America is #1 in the rankings of three things. The number of incarcerated per capita. The number of Americans that believe in Angels, and defense spending. All three are still #1 in 2026.
The scene has him going on to remember what America was in his eyes and it was a good thing about how he remembered America as strong, helpful, caring. It did do a realistic job in how people remember the past. They remember the good things and the bad things? Noy so much.
The rankings tell us that America is slowly starting to lose the pace with the rest of the world. It is to be expected. We have been the lone Superpower in the world for a couple of decades. I believe that we have grown complacent in what we do as a country. Improving the quality of lives seems like it isn’t a driving force in this country right now. Iy is all about the money. Until those changes, I believe that our once fabulous country will continue to slide backwards and be lumped with other countries that are fine but not exceptional. No amount of pride in the country can change that. Only changing the civilization that we are living in can.
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