Scientists’ Offer to Write Standards Rejected

Re “Spurned Nobelists Appeal Science Standards Rejection,” Nov. 17: Scientists, mathematicians, engineers, even parents are helpless to stop education experts from ruining education. From “whole language” learning to “new new math” to “integrated math” to “integrated science,” our children are being dumbed down.

Now, when prominent scientists with vast experience in education, including three Nobel prize winners, offer to write California’s science standards for free, the Commission for the Establishment of Academic Content and Performance Standards’ educrats instead want to pay $178,000 to the same education professors and experts who wrote the vacuous science standards quoted in The Times.

The education professors want to make science “less about H2O and more about water.” If the Japanese government did to our public education system what our own education experts are doing, it would be considered an act of war. Let’s hope we can foil our education experts and make science more about H2O and less about watering down.

DAVID KLEIN

Northridge

As one of the Associated Scientists who wish to write California’s K-12 science standards, I propose a solution. The commission should award the contract to both the science education group at San Bernardino and the Associated Scientists. In this way, I believe there would be widespread support for a final standards document that would include the best components of both groups’ drafts.

The state should not allow a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to obtain the services of Nobel laureates, free of charge, to pass it by.

STEVEN B. OPPENHEIMER PhD

Director, Cal State Northridge

Center for Cancer and Developmental Biology

We protest the standards commission’s decision to reject the Nobel prize winner group’s offer to help California design its standards for science education. The quality of expertise and vision that these eminent scientists have to offer our children is simply not available from other sources. The commission should have found a way to accept this generous offer and, if it seemed necessary, to supplement the scientists’ advice with the advice of others who have more recent classroom experience.

We hope the governor will tell the commission what we would tell one of our students: “Take back this bad work and do it over until you get it right!”

LINDA COHEN

Professor, Economics

UC Irvine

GEORGE JENNINGS

Associate Professor, Mathematics

Cal State Dominguez Hills