Monday, March 27, 2006
Our Children Are Our Future 2/18/06
Dear Editor,
Our Children Are Our Future
In the biggest international study ever conducted; U.S. high school seniors ranked near the bottom in math and science.
More worrying, is that even the American students taking advanced courses could not measure up to students from other nations. In math, they ranked 15th out of 16 nations. In physics, they ranked dead last. In general math and science, they ranked near the bottom among 21 nations.
Japan and China, who are the best, didn’t even take part in the multiyear study. Instead, U.S. seniors were beat in basic math by Sweden, Switzerland and Germany; in science by Canada; and in physics by Russia, the country that is supposed to look to us for scientific expertise!
It’s a crisis in American education. Are we loosing our position in the world community?
These are the fields where the good paying jobs are and it’s our generation's responsibility to make sure that we don’t have to bring in kids from other countries to fill these places. We certainly can’t blame the kid’s.
Bruce Alberts, the disappointed president of the National Academy of Sciences says “Only 10% of high school graduates qualify for even entry level jobs”.
About 55% of students taking physics in the U.S. are taught by people who never majored or minored in the subject! The dismal results point out the urgent need for stronger graduation standards and much improved teacher education.
Our Children Are Our Future
In the biggest international study ever conducted; U.S. high school seniors ranked near the bottom in math and science.
More worrying, is that even the American students taking advanced courses could not measure up to students from other nations. In math, they ranked 15th out of 16 nations. In physics, they ranked dead last. In general math and science, they ranked near the bottom among 21 nations.
Japan and China, who are the best, didn’t even take part in the multiyear study. Instead, U.S. seniors were beat in basic math by Sweden, Switzerland and Germany; in science by Canada; and in physics by Russia, the country that is supposed to look to us for scientific expertise!
It’s a crisis in American education. Are we loosing our position in the world community?
These are the fields where the good paying jobs are and it’s our generation's responsibility to make sure that we don’t have to bring in kids from other countries to fill these places. We certainly can’t blame the kid’s.
Bruce Alberts, the disappointed president of the National Academy of Sciences says “Only 10% of high school graduates qualify for even entry level jobs”.
About 55% of students taking physics in the U.S. are taught by people who never majored or minored in the subject! The dismal results point out the urgent need for stronger graduation standards and much improved teacher education.
# posted by Florence Vincent @ 5:43 PM 
