That isn't a helpful comparison if what we want to know is, will spending more in the US lead to better outcomes given our diverse, high ESL immigrant, large income gap, population. So a better thing to look at is, say, do test scores go up when we throw money at a low-performing US school? And the answer there is generally yes. Which, of course. Being able to afford quality ESL instructors would mean the world in rural Eastern Washington.

Is that per capita? The US is also one of the largest OECD countries in terms of population, so if not, it's a pretty meaningless statistic.

CS industry in general is a little bit strange because jobs are so plentiful and many of those jobs don't require particularly deep understanding of the core content of the scientific field. The same is not the case for e.g., mechanical engineering or medical professions.

It looks like the US is right near the top in terms of spending. A more meaningful question might be, how is the money spent within the category of education?

A lot of countries are paying higher teacher salaries, so that could be something.

I'd argue that regardless, the US _should_ spend a lot on education. My intuition is that the problem might have more to do with how stretched parents are financially, and how their participation (or lack thereof) can affect a child's education.

Yes per capita: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cmd.asp

A cushy introduction to living by oneself. My school built a new $60 million dollar gym two years ago that blows other gyms out of the water. I've got nice library's and computers to study on, cheap world class sports that can entertain me, and more. That's where a lot of the increased costs are going.