PISA 2025 and the Lost Desire to Learn

The results of the 2025 PISA tests have confirmed a suspicion that many teachers had held for quite some time: there is a continuous, global decline in teenagers' ability to read and solve mathematical problems. Although science learning remained stable between 2022 and 2025, the setback in reading and mathematics is not confined to a single region, but rather constitutes a deeply unequal global trend. While developed nations, led by East Asian education systems, continue to maintain the highest performance levels, developing regions, with Latin America among the most lagging, show clear signs of stagnation or decline. The consequence is evident: the gap between the highest and lowest performing countries in reading and mathematics proficiency remains substantial.

​This is not merely a concern for experts, but a widespread anxiety shared across society. An international survey conducted by the research firm Ipsos across thirty countries revealed that nearly half of respondents believe education in their nation has deteriorated compared to when they were in school, a figure that reaches seventy six percent in Argentina.

​The severity of this crisis lies in the fact that reading, mathematics, and science are not isolated subjects, but the essential tools for interpreting reality. These disciplines form the foundation upon which the fields that sustain and transform our world are built, such as engineering, algorithmics, technology, and administrative sciences. Losing these capabilities does not simply mean a drop in academic performance; it means relinquishing the ability to understand the environment around us and, above all, condemning society to a loss of future development and well being.

​An easy explanation for this state of affairs would be to place the blame on teaching methods. However, that argument falls apart upon examining reality: many of the world's most prestigious universities continue to employ highly traditional instruction methods. What truly sets top performing educational systems apart is the cultural value placed on learning. In South Korea, Singapore, and China, education is lived as the primary priority within the household. In contrast, experienced educators across Latin America consistently report that students display a growing disinterest in learning.

​This erosion of the value of effort is directly linked to the constant and unrestricted use of social media. By acting as perpetual distractions in daily life, these platforms hijack people's attention, preventing them from engaging in the slow process of understanding and absorbing knowledge. Meanwhile, a frequent reliance on artificial intelligence tools threatens to become a real substitute for reflective thinking, neutralizing the deep mental effort that drives the genuine development of human intelligence. As a result, the figure of the teacher loses prestige, and the authority of rigorous knowledge is traded away for the mere validation of personal opinions.

​At the root of this issue lies a profound conceptual error: restricting education to a mere formality for securing employment or generating income. Learning and reducing one's own ignorance is an essential civic responsibility, an implicit commitment that every human being assumes upon birth and entry into a community where everyone must contribute to sustaining and building society. This obligation becomes alarming when we realize that modern knowledge grows broader and more complex by the day, demanding longer preparation, even as societal pressure pushes to shorten educational stages. By cutting corners on learning, we create a dangerous rift: we render ourselves incapable of understanding and maintaining the world we inhabit.

​Countries like Finland and Singapore demonstrate that reversing this trend is entirely possible through a firm, sustained commitment over twenty or thirty years. At the same time, more immediate measures, such as removing cell phones from classrooms, help recover students' focus much faster.

​Finally, it is worth recalling the oldest and most effective form of learning: the Socratic dialogue. A remarkable illustration of this approach is the famous Justice course taught by Professor Michael Sandel at Harvard University. In an amphitheater filled with over a thousand students, entirely stripped of complex technology or sophisticated pedagogical gadgets, Sandel guides his audience through direct questioning and the clash of arguments. Through this dynamic of continuous debate and ethical reflection, the students themselves dismantle their initial assumptions and reach profound conceptual insights. This experience proves that true intellectual transformation does not require digital infrastructure, but simply the rigor of dialogue, a willingness to question the obvious, and the honest confrontation of ideas.

​The decline highlighted by the 2025 PISA results points to a crisis of willpower, not of methods. Reversing this course will require a sustained, shared effort among families, schools, and governments, grounded in the firm conviction that learning is not a secondary pursuit, but the fundamental duty of every individual to sustain and improve the society in which they live.

 Audio version