Calculating a Future That Doesn't Add Up: Failing to Reverse the Trends in Our Math and Science Education Will Have Severe Effects on Our Children's Welfare-And the Nation's, Too

If 600,000 Chinese, 300,000 Indians, and 70,000 Americans graduate annually with IT and engineering degrees, and the US population is 3/13 the size of China's and 3/11 as large as India's, which countries have a more competitive future? NOW DO THE MATH, Ay, there's the problem: We can't do the math, certainly not with the fluency the rest of the world can. Consider that the US finished 24th out of 29 leading industrialized countries on the 2003 Programme for International Assessment study, which tested 15-year-olds' math abilities. The answer to the question posed above is as troubling as our kids' inability to solve it--even accounting for population size, the US trails emerging global forces China and India in technology and engineering. A recent report from the National Academy of Sciences ("Rising Above the Gathering Storm"; fermat.nap.edu/books/0309100399/html) points out that with IT and engineering skills so dependent on math and science skills, our future as the last remaining superpower is in question. Nearly 50 years ago, we faced a similar moment. The Soviet Union's first Sputnik launch stunned and alarmed this country; sensing we had fallen behind, we were moved to improve our science education. Though the space wars being waged today are strictly cyber, we have every reason to again be stunned, alarmed, and prompted to do better, as we face the twin issues of our students' poor skills and the serious challenges we face globally, most pointedly from China and India. The return of foreign scientists to their native countries exacerbates the problems further. And for the cost of one technically trained chemist in the United States, a company can hire about five chemists in China or 11 in India. Given the state of things, although long overdue, President Bush's call for stronger federal support for math and science education in his recent State of the Union Address was right on target. In particular, the president's call to recruit thousands of new math and science teachers deserves strong bipartisan support. We need to launch a recruitment drive immediately--it takes years to attract and train competent math and science teachers. The facts are appalling and cry out for urgency: An estimated 37 percent of US high school math teachers and 31 percent of science teachers are without a degree or certification in their field. Moreover, only an estimated 68 percent of US students who enter ninth grade graduate with a diploma in 12th grade. Students drop out for a variety of reasons, but the inability to master algebra is commonly cited by many educators as a factor behind the high student dropout rate. Sadly, the schools do not have the resources, time, and properly trained personnel to compensate for the lack of able math, science, and technology-savvy teachers. Polling shows that schools find it difficult to get young people to think of science or technology careers as exciting or lucrative. Clearly, a comprehensive approach to reversing a spiraling trend is warranted. From working with students from disadvantaged circumstances, we have seen positive results using five interconnected approaches that should be integrated into President Bush's initiative to achieve a more complete solution to the crisis in math and science education. …