Earlier this fall, one of Time magazine's covers asked a profound question, "Can you still move up in America?" Likewise, in a special Thanksgiving interview, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told CBS's Bob Schieffer that she believes the struggling U.S. public school system is the nation's biggest problem:
I worry that the way that my grandparents got out of poverty, the way that my parents became educated, is just not going to be there for a whole bunch of kids... education even in the segregated South was always the way that you got out.Both of these statements emphasize an underlying concern that has been growing throughout the country, namely, that tomorrow's generation won't have a shot at the American Dream and the opportunity to have a better quality of life because our educational system no longer provides the path.
This fundamental problem among primary and secondary schools means that there are not enough students in the pipeline who are ready for college. For instance, research from the Lumina Foundation shows that the U.S. has fallen from first in the world in the proportion of adults that hold two- or four-year college degrees to fourth; we are becoming one of the few nations worldwide in which younger adults are not better educated than older adults.
This stagnation comes at a time when the world is demanding a workforce with more brains than brawn. A recent analysis conducted by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce estimated that 60 percent of jobs in the U.S will require post secondary education by 2018.
We must do better. If the current recession has taught us anything, it is the value of education in getting and keeping a job. While overall unemployment rates were at 10 percent this year, only 4.5 percent of college graduates were unemployed.
We can do better if we recognize that success in college depends on preparation that begins in middle school or earlier, especially in the critical areas of math and science. Students who fail to learn the basics in these fields have little hope of catching up in time to succeed in college. The National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) merged this month with the teacher-training organization Laying the Foundation (LTF) precisely so that we can do more to prepare students for success from the sixth grade onward.
Merging with LTF was essential because it provides the training and classroom resources that teachers from middle school to high school need to effectively equip their students for the workforce or for advanced coursework. NMSI's Advanced Placement Training and Incentive Program takes LTF's training further by preparing high school teachers to instruct and inspire students in AP math, science and English classes. This is the kind of pipeline to college that can return our country to preeminence in education, and it is essential for our competitive future.
Why are we putting more emphasis on teacher training? Research by the Education Trust has shown that as many as two-thirds of 5th to 8th grade students were being taught math by teachers who did not have a degree or certificate in math. Even worse, more than 90 percent of the students in those grades were being taught physical sciences by teachers with no degree or certificate in any physical science. These teachers are being put in the nearly impossible position of being asked to teach a subject in which they have little education or were not trained to teach.
Many teachers want the extra expertise and curriculum supplements that LTF provides. Even teachers with preparation in the subjects they are teaching find that LFT training helps them reach their full potential in the classroom. Teachers want to be able to stand before their students with confidence in their subject matter and the know-how to coach their students and instill in them a love of learning and discovery.
If we want to ensure a chance at a better life for our kids, a good place to start is by making sure that teachers have the tools to help their students reach success, step by step.
Dr. Mary Ann Rankin is president and CEO of the National Math and Science Initiative.
Follow Mary Ann Rankin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@NMSI
There are two points I need to make (relative to NMSI & engineering):
Salary: engineers have great starting salaries ($60k) but have pathetic salary growth (e.g. retire at $85k). My college roommate flunked out of engineering, went into the business college, and retired at age 38. STAY OUT OF ENGINEERING if you think you should be paid what you're worth.
Stability: there are many, many, many very talented engineers who are UNEMPLOYED and will never be employed in engineering again. Indian and Chinese engineers are excellent (they were educated in America) and they are willing to work for $12,000 a year (back in their native country). Since the electronic portability of engineering data, computer simulations, etc., has become quite good, I expect the U.S. engineering career to go the way of the travel agent.
The bottom line is that spending tons of money to make more, highly talented unemployed people seems ludicrous. I am NOT saying I want stupid kids...I am saying America needs to rethink everything and get its priorities correct.
As for other professions, outsourcing is hitting them every bit as much, including medicine and law. Simply pointing out that outsourcing is hitting engineering without accepting that the impact is across professions is being single-minded.
I have been in engineering for ~ 40 years now. Now I have moved across fields as the economy has changed, I do computer security now, not the material science / metallurgy / mechanical engineering I got my Ph.D. in.
But I am still employed and making a good income.
Somehow, I have a bad feeling about this organization.
The elephant in the room that no-one wants to mention or deal with is student resistance to work, particularly demanding courses. We need well prepared teachers to teach the classes, but we also need students (and parents) willing to put the necessary hours into preparation and studying. It is not clear to me that enough students are willing to sign up for the necessary effort.
In my daughter's excellent suburban school in a highly educated neighborhood, the children of educated immigrants are greatly overrepresented among the students in the honors/IB classes. The 'native born" Americans are less likely to take these classes - even with relatively educated parents. Science and math isn't cool and who wants to study that hard?
Changing our views about existing and changing the way the American Dream is realized will definitely require more Brains than Brawn.
Thanks for succinctly stating the facts about adequate yearly progress for 2011 across all public schools as well as clarifying the reported number of college grads that are unemployed. Inaccurate data is often misleading and overlooked when making decisions that affect the change we need in our local and global communities.
There's an episode of All IN The Family from 1976 where Carol O'Conner's character says he could never vote for Carter, and that he voted for Ron Reagan. It was such a HUGE laugh line, very preposterous notion that someone to ill qualified could ever become president, that they reprised the joke in the show's closing seconds. Archie Bunker shouts, "Just you watch, Reagan will be president some day!" And the crowd roars with laughter!! But it was no joke. Just 4 years later and the election was jiggered to make Reagan President.
1980 was the year America led the entire world down the path into hell.