On science education
Today's NY Times has an editorial on science education, decrying America's loss of standing in the world of science:
First, take a look at the mix of students who actually do make it through the mill and become highly trained Ph.D.s graduating from universities in the United States. Though I don't know the exact numbers, all you have to do is walk up and down the halls of science buildings in academe or look at the names of the authors of refereed academic journals in the sciences, or walk into the emergency room of your local hospital to know that a very large percentage of them are drawn from other countries, notably including many from the sub-continent and from Asia.
I am inclined to think Americans have a difficult time in science classes because learning science requires hard work for most of us. Many foreign students are used to working hard. Their schools are more rigorous than ours, and their culture encourages hard work. By and large, America kids are not used to hard work.
Also, scientific knowledge is prized in many foreign cultures but tends to be scorned in America today -- particularly by the right wing.
In America, one of our principal idols is the self-made man who became CEO of a huge corporation without a high school education -- the Bernie Ebbers type. That's not the kind of outlook that encourages children to buckle down and master a difficult science curriculum.
Yes, enlivening the classroom experience will help, but there's no way to avoid the hard work needed to master these fields.
The United States could easily fall from its privileged perch in the global economy unless it does something about the horrendous state of science education at both the public school and university levels. That means finding ways to enliven a dry and dispiriting style of science instruction that leads as many as half of the country's aspiring scientists to quit the field before they leave college.Now, I certainly am not going to come out against enlivening the science classroom, but is that the real problem here? I think not.
First, take a look at the mix of students who actually do make it through the mill and become highly trained Ph.D.s graduating from universities in the United States. Though I don't know the exact numbers, all you have to do is walk up and down the halls of science buildings in academe or look at the names of the authors of refereed academic journals in the sciences, or walk into the emergency room of your local hospital to know that a very large percentage of them are drawn from other countries, notably including many from the sub-continent and from Asia.
I am inclined to think Americans have a difficult time in science classes because learning science requires hard work for most of us. Many foreign students are used to working hard. Their schools are more rigorous than ours, and their culture encourages hard work. By and large, America kids are not used to hard work.
Also, scientific knowledge is prized in many foreign cultures but tends to be scorned in America today -- particularly by the right wing.
In America, one of our principal idols is the self-made man who became CEO of a huge corporation without a high school education -- the Bernie Ebbers type. That's not the kind of outlook that encourages children to buckle down and master a difficult science curriculum.
Yes, enlivening the classroom experience will help, but there's no way to avoid the hard work needed to master these fields.
posted by walldon | 9:23 AM
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