In High-Tech Age, U.S. Science and Math Education Falters : California is near the bottom in a nation that holds a humiliating ranking
Nearly 37 years after Americans were shocked by Sputnik I, science and mathematics education in public schools is again in crisis. The menace now is not a technologically mighty Soviet Union. Rather the United States is eroding from within, peopled by citizens who leave high school ignorant of rational means of evaluating reality and without the skills to hold modern jobs.
They are easy marks for purveyors of astrology, New Age quackery such as crystal healing, dubious nostrums, even magic. They are unable to evaluate technical and medical developments in an age in which relative risk and gene therapy are the stuff of daily news. And they are poorly prepared for the new enemy, international economic competition.
A 1990-1991 study by the Educational Testing Service found that American 13-year-olds ranked behind those of South Korea, Taiwan, Hungary, what was then the Soviet Union and eight other industrialized countries in science ability. The problem is nationwide, but absolutely appalling in California, arguably the most technologically dependent state.
In a 1993 comparison by the Council of Chief State School Officers, California ranked at or near the bottom on almost every indicator of science and math education. For example, the state ranked dead last in the percentage of high school graduates who had taken chemistry. Two-thirds of the California graduates managed to spend four years in high school without taking a day of chemistry; 85% took no physics. No wonder so many people are hoodwinked by sellers of healing crystals with “special vibrations.”
The stark irony is that the United States boasts the most distinguished institutions of scientific research in the world, and the most Nobel Prize winners. Although the top 10% of American high school graduates emerge with top-notch science educations, most pupils are woefully prepared. The problem is acute in many minority communities. Because science and math are gatekeepers to the professional schools of medicine, dentistry and engineering, it is little wonder that minority groups are so poorly represented in these professions.
Partly the blame lies with religious zealots who have managed to water down curricula and textbooks in some places. The larger blame goes to a public that has not realized we have entered an age when even many blue-collar jobs require enormous technical sophistication, problem-solving skills and computer literacy.
But not all the news is bad. The new president of the National Academy of Sciences, Bruce M. Alberts, has made improvement of pre-college science education a top priority. The academy’s National Research Council is preparing science education standards to guide local school districts on what pupils at various grade levels should know about biology, chemistry, physics and other subjects. The academy and the Smithsonian Institution have set up the National Science Resources Center to disseminate curricular innovations. Also, scientists at Caltech and other universities are beginning to offer their expertise to local schools, even though the scientists usually get little credit for such work when it comes to gaining tenure.
And last month, the National Science Foundation awarded the first round of $15-million grants to nine cities under its Urban Systemic Initiative, meant to help big-city schools improve science teaching. At the same time, Ramon Cortines, the New York City chancellor (who made science a top concern when he headed the Pasadena and San Francisco school districts), announced that New York high school students must take real math and science; no more fluffy “general science.” Sad to say, the Los Angeles Unified School District initially failed to qualify for the NSF grants because its proposal was so badly written.
Industry is demanding highly skilled labor particularly in California, home of Silicon Valley and a burgeoning biotech industry. The pedagogical tools are available to schools. The question now is whether parents, teachers and political leaders can muster the will, determination and money to beat back the forces of ignorance and prepare youngsters for a world in which survival will depend not so much on the strength of arms as keenness of intellect.
California on Chemistry
Percentage of high school students taking chemistry by graduation (1991-92) Source: Council of Chief State School Officers
