Middle America's Worldview

You certainly know by now that the world is flat. And if you haven't yet heard, you will soon that we're in danger of falling off the edge.

New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman sparked a national discussion about workforce readiness and U.S. competitiveness in a new, global economy with his 2005 best-seller, The World Is Flat. And concern over math and science achievement among U.S students has been at the forefront of much of this conversation.

The recently-released results from the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress science tests seem to support the increasingly persistent arguments that students are falling behind in math and science, to our detriment. Scores for high school seniors were down, and those for mid-dle-schoolers were flat. The rise in fourth-graders' scores suggests that the advances made by younger children are erased by the time they get to high school.

Intel Chairman Craig Barrett has joined those sounding the clarion cry for better math and science education. His approach is unapologetically uncompromising: If we don't turn it around, our economy will suffer.

"The blunt truth is: The new global economy is technology-based," Barrett told a group of education writers and reporters in New Orleans in June. "Everyone else is educating scientists. And if we don't start doing the same, we'll lose our lock on the innovations and markets of the future."

Barrett cited these statistics as examples of how our education system is broken:

• U.S. students rank 18th in science and 19th in math among developed countries.
  
• U.S. 12th-graders rank below the international average of 21 countries in general knowledge of math and science.
  
• Students in 11 out of 15 countries recently outperformed U.S. students in an advanced math assessment.
  
• 30 percent of students in the U.S. do not graduate from high school.
  Barrett's solutions were uncompromising, as well. We need to change the way we train and pay our teachers, he said. Accountability must have teeth, and schools should have competition. (He deftly sidestepped a reporter's question about whether he'd hire a qualified foreign worker over an equally qualified U.S. worker if the foreign worker would take a lower salary.)
  
  

Schools should stop comparing test results with their neighbors or with schools in other states, said Barrett. Instead, they should be comparing results internationally.

"Education is a human and a civil right," said Barrett. "To say we don't have the money, to say it costs too much, it'll take too long, it's too hard-these are excuses, and it's outrageous for us to keep making excuses."

Kathleen Vail, Managing Editor

I have been meaning to read the book called 'the world is flat' ever since I heard about it. I have it reserved at the library now.


Essentially what I am seeing is the students are being taught to take the tests rather than the how in logically to learn on their own. It has been a concern of mine for some time.


Personally, I do not think throwing money at it, is an answer. I think it takes the teacher to do it. However, yes, you need to give the teacher the means to perform her duties. However, having 30 kids in one classroom without support doesn't help. On the other side, having no accountability from the parents or teachers is not answer either.