Posted on 08/31/2005 3:56:50 PM PDT by CherylBower
The September 11 attacks might have shaken America out of its post-Cold War complacency. Our eyes only were opened half-way.
A report issued this summer by the Business Roundtable and fourteen other leading business organizations ("Tapping America's Potential: The Education for Innovation Initiative") contains a grim warning: "One of the Pillars of American economic prosperity -- our scientific and technological superiority -- is beginning to atrophy even as other nations are developing their own human capital."
Young adults in China, India, Eastern Europe and Russia are eager to tackle the technological challenges of this century. These students groove to the sound of chalk scratching equations onto a blackboard, not just to the beat of the latest music.
Many of our country's youth are not concentrating on important subjects, such as physics and chemistry. American youths could find themselves fighting an unexpected battle -- to maintain our standard of living because other countries are outpacing us in science, technology and manufacturing. If we lose this battle it could be because we fail to excel in the fields of science and technology.
The facts should shake our country from its sleep. South Korea has a much smaller population than the United States but is producing as many engineers. Our engineering schools enjoy a good reputation throughout the world because they award over half their doctoral degrees to foreign nationals.
Overall our country's fourth graders are successful when compared to students who study math and science in other countries. However, the results vary by school district and studies show that by twelfth grade American students generally fall behind their international peers in math and science proficiency.
These facts were presented in the Business Roundtable report, "Tapping America's Potential," and an earlier report by the Committee for Economic Development, "Learning for the Future: Changing the Culture of Math and Science Education to Ensure a Competitive Workforce."
The reports represent the thinking of business leaders and the scientific and technological communities. The Business Roundtable report warns:
Virtually every major respected organization representing business, research and education, as well as government science and statistics agencies and commissions, has extensively documented the critical situation in U.S. science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
The indicators range from measurable declines in U.S. innovation, such as patents and scientific articles, to soaring numbers of students in Asia majoring in these fields, to U.S. students' lagging interest and measured performance in math and science.
Money alone is not the answer. As a nation we spend much money on education and we receive a poor return on our investment. A prudent strategy would be first to identify the personnel, methods and technologies that could improve the math and science skills of our students.
Our nation must insist upon hiring qualified mathematics and science teachers and require applicable teacher certification. Our school systems must hire teachers who understand the subjects they teach and who passionately can convey the knowledge of their discipline to students.
Technology companies could help by funding academies, charter schools and private schools (although the Business Roundtable report does not address the latter) that would educate promising mathematics and science students.
The companies and their trade associations could establish scholarships and special programs for gifted mathematics and science students (middle school through graduate school). The technology companies could offer graduate students employment if they agree to tutor other students in these disciplines while they are employed.
The report "Learning for the Future" by the Committee on Economic Development mentioned the findings of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) prepared by the National Center for Educational Statistics.
The TIMMS study found that "mathematics and science curricula in U.S. high schools lack coherence, depth, and continuity; they cover too many topics in a superficial way."
Education in the United States historically was a local responsibility. It is not an enumerated power in the Constitution. Local responsibility, of course, was diluted years ago with the establishment of the United States Office of Education, later raised to the Department of Education, and more recently with the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act, which sets standards and goals for the States to meet.
Conservatives rightfully have criticized the money appropriated by Congress to fund No Child Left Behind and implementation of its one-size-fits-all regulations. Unfortunately, an opportunity was lost when the program was established: States could have formed regional consortia to develop their own reform policies and programs.
Each consortium could have experimented and strengthened the curricula without resorting to the top-down approach of No Child Left Behind.
The organizations which contributed to the Business Roundtable report made business responsible for alerting the country to our current dilemma. Parents, students and civic leaders must be convinced that math and science education is a priority for our country.
If the young people of America want to enjoy the prosperity their parents enjoy they must work very hard. Many students in Asia and Europe are willing to work hard and want their countries and their local companies to succeed.
Kevin Kearns, President, the United States Business Industrial Council, an organization that does not embrace "free trade" with the fervor of the Business Roundtable, argues that simply improving our nation's math and science education is insufficient.
Many companies, including Business Roundtable member companies, are sending manufacturing plants and jobs offshore. "The bottom line is that R&D [research and development] follows manufacturing," Kearns stresses. When manufacturing facilities move overseas positions in R&D will follow.
Kearns blames government policies regarding trade and international currency for weakening our manufacturing base and our commitment to science and technology. "The fathers and mothers with technical degrees should be [those] most likely to encourage their offspring to study math and science.
But they are on the front line and see the devastation in the technical fields," he notes. "As long as we do not care about whether we are capable of making things we will lose more R&D and technical jobs. Demonstrate to people that there is a payoff in studying science and they will do so."
America could face competition in areas essential to national security and as a leading industrialized nation. The competition could include the development of alternative fuels, fuel-efficient vehicles, methods to mine and process fossil fuels, weapons systems and even cellular phones. It is in our national interest to improve our mathematical and scientific expertise.
America has been given a wake-up call. The reports issued by the Business Roundtable, the Committee for Economic Development and the National Center for Educational Statistics appear correctly to diagnose the problem and to propose solutions.
Related debates are pending over issues, such as immigration policy, the role of the Federal Government in education policy, which governments should establish educational standards and how education should be financed. It is imperative that these debates occur and that we require math and science as part of the school curricula. The United States must continue to lead the fields of science and technology.
The Business Roundtable report warns that, unlike the 1950s, no Sputnik might shake our nation out of its complacency. President-elect John F. Kennedy touched a responsive chord in 1960 when he challenged Americans, particularly the young, to rise to the challenges of a new decade.
There was a widely held view that affluence had made many Americans complacent. Now that the wakeup call has been made, what happens next? Does our country rise to the challenge as we did in the early 1960s or retain the attitude, "Don't worry, be happy?"
The answers ultimately rest with current and future students but the current prognosis is not positive. Decisive action taken by our policymakers, educators, businesses and students could ensure that "the American way of life" continues to be prosperous and progressive.
( Stephen M. Lilienthal is a policy analyst with the Free Congress Foundation.)
Copyright 2005, Free Congress Foundation
I'm sorry if this was posted before, but I did a search.
They care about government, and they also care about social agendas, turning children into good little liberals, pacifists, environmentalists, and multi-culturals.
We're too worried about whether a failing grade will hurt their little psyches, that they are buying junk food, that they are eating peanuts...etc
FGS
One way is to hire from India and China . They will work for 1/3 to 1/2 what american engineers will work for. So engineering students here go get an MBA.
Again.
Someone, somewhere, always claims that we're doomed. At the moment. Concerning their pet rock, er, pet cause.
Don't worry the government will take care of everything.
"We're doomed" articles are just so much more interesting and easy to write than "things are better than ever" articles.
As a Mechanical Engineer "in transition" who, it seems, can't BUY a job offer, I must state great dismay at the duality of the complaint.
Companies say they can't find skilled people (horsepuckey - go to any networking group and you can't spit without hitting extremely skilled people). They also say that they want the US to succeed.
YET in the very next heartbeat they send the lifeblood of production overseas. To be followed by R&D.
I GAVE UP on pursuing a PhD in Engineering because there were no jobs available for people with PhDs in Engineering, over 10 years ago.
This is driven by cost, which is driven by short-sighted greed and no awareness that the loss will affect the nation, not just the company.
Worse, in cases such as China, I do believe this is part of a deliberate strategy to weaken the US. Read Sun Tzu, it's there.
Perhaps if schools focused on science and engineering instead of interpretive dance and liberal arts.
This is nothing new. Your lucky if you can get smart American kids to get a law degree. No truly hard thinking required. Just massive memorization and the surrender of any moral code they might have had.
We get our scientists and engineers the old fashioned way. We steal em from other countries.
Sorry, but we can't blame the government for this problem.
As an old retired engineer, I can remember the excitement that led us into this career field (Apollo, defense programs, the dawn of the computer age). But what attraction is there for a kid today to go into engineering and science? All of the companies engaged in technology today have exported the scientific taskings to cheaper off-shore divisions or to imported and cheaper H-1 visa laborers. Every day the IBMs, GMs, Boeings, are laying off engineers and scientists by the thousands while they ship the work off to $10/hr engineers in India. And much of the savings goes to $15,000,000 salaries and bonuses to the lawyers and MBAs who run the companies.
So why suffer through the hard work and discipline of a four year engineering degree to go into that world? Better to go to a party school and have a good time and get a degree in journalism or social studies and get no closer to technology than your IPod or PlayStation 2.
The check will be coming due someday soon on this loss of American ingenuity and knowhow. Your grandchildren will be some other countries' day laborers. Enjoy.
The schools provide the product needed by industry. If American industry is not demanding workers trained in math and science, there is little reason to train in math and science. The kids see this. Most of the American lead in math and science was due to the impetus provided by WW II. That momentum is about done. America needs truck drivers and restaurant workers now, and that is what the schools provide. Since the country has become totally jobs-oriented, the idea that an education in math and science is good idea is a non-starter.
There is no need for American MBAs - which in my opinion is the most worthless degree ever devised - if they have all the technical know-how. Companies like Seigels have already figured that out. If there is no manufacturing base here, there is nothing we have to offer the world.
Unless we construct a phantom economy selling each other houses..
"Unless we construct a phantom economy selling each other houses" ROTF
Mark
Everybody is blaming everyone but themselves. Parents are the children's first teacher. If you show an interest and passion for technology, science and mathematics your child will naturally pick up on that. How many parents do this? We have become lazy and fat, while the Chinese (and others) are lean and hungry. Let's see how long we will sit back while blaming others for our gradual demise.
The problem is PC baboonery in all its forms. Public schools in this country were reputed to be pretty good till 1960s.
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