January 22nd, 2009
It’s Getting Better All the Time
Over a few pints at a local brewery, a friend and I began to talk about education. He’s worried. Now, it seems like there’s a lot of worry going around. These are toughening times for colleges, universities, students, and public education. The budget, though, was not his main concern. What got him all riled up was his belief that America has fallen behind the rest of the world in math and science.
The Past
This was a hotter topic in 2006 and 2007, before the economy began hogging the news. The question became: has anything actually gotten better or have we shifted focus from what’s being taught to whether or not the schools will have the money to stay open?
The Present
The results are mixed. Apparently, our youngsters are doing better on a few tests than they did in 1995, which has improved our ranking internationally. The catch seems to be that, though we’ve improved, we’re still not all that great. This new data has started up the conversation again, which is a good thing. (I don’t know about you, but I’m finding the economy rather depressing.) Opinions are flying, and that helps get things done, typically. It seems that we’re still bringing up the old monkey-debate questions. This seems telling.
Why are we still behind in science? Because we’re still fighting over what to teach.
Why are we still behind in math? That’s a bit more complex. There’s the cultural side of things (i.e., only geeks are good at math). There’s our cultural stance on the gender side of things (i.e., girls can’t be good at math). The results are in: being a math wiz is good for your career and your happiness therein. It seems like more people are paying attention to this trend, but only time will tell whether we, as a country, are shooting ourselves in the math-education foot.
The Future
Things are looking up. Obama has already taken a firm stance on math and science education. With outsourcing becoming more of an issue in the recent economic downturn, I’m going to predict that many companies will, once they’re able, make the excellent PR move of bringing jobs back to the US. A lot of the jobs we’ve sent overseas require advanced math skills. Whatever happens, picking up the slack and teaching our children that math and science are important (not just nerdy) can only lead to a brighter future.
You are defintely right about girls and science and math. In fact, I’ve read that girl’s interest in these areas significantly drops off once they reach middle school. Yet there are a lot of things going on to change that, and to spark interest in the STEM fields for all students, these days. Take for instance Sally Ride’s (the Space Shuttle astronaut) Science Festival, as one example. http://www.jobs-in-science.com/articles/sally-ride-encourages-young-girls-in-science.htm Recent studies have also indicated that children have a very limited understanding of what people do in scientific jobs, so recently those in the scientific field are becoming more involved to educate youth.
Comment by Lynn M — January 23, 2009 @ 11:26 am