Reform of Math and Science Learning-Six Simple Steps

For over a century, the pace of progress in America has been driven by the discoveries of scientists and technologists, brought to the marketplace by entrepreneurs in the form of products and services. We have flourished and lead the world because we have adapted to the opportunities created by science and technology. Countries that have ignored these opportunities have fallen behind in standards of living and quality of life.

In April 1983, the Reagan administration warned America that our failure in education was becoming a major national security concern. In A Nation at Risk, we were told that America was literally at risk because of the failings of its education system. The report noted that “[o]ur once unchallenged preeminence in commerce, industry, science, and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors throughout the world.” It went on to soberly conclude that “what was unimaginable a generation ago has begun to occur – others are matching and surpassing our educational attainments.”

America’s high schools are obsolete and cannot teach kids what they need to know to succeed today. Bill Gates recently spoke of his fears for the future in an address to the National Governors Association (NGA). He noted: “In math and science, our 4th graders are among the top students in the world. By 8th grade, they’re in the middle of the pack. By 12th grade, U.S. students are scoring near the bottom of all industrialized nations.” He concluded that “In the international competition to have the biggest and best supply of knowledge workers, America is falling behind.”

Winning the challenge of China and India will require profound domestic transformations, especially in math and science education, for America to continue to be the most successful economy in the world and the best source of high paying jobs and enough economic growth to sustain the Baby Boomers and their children when they retire.

The collapse of math and science education in the United States and the relative decline of investment in basic research is an enormous strategic threat to American national security. This is a strategically disappearing advantage. There is a grave danger that the United States will find itself collapsing in scientific and technological capabilities in our lifetime. In fact, the 14 bipartisan members of the Hart-Rudman Commission on national security unanimously agreed that the failure of math and science education is a greater threat than any conceivable conventional war in the next 25 years. The Commission went on to assert that only a nuclear or biological weapon going off in an American city was a greater threat.

Improving math and science education is the single greatest challenge to our continued economic and national security leadership. Without a profound improvement in math and science learning, America will simply not be able to sustain its national security nor compete for high value jobs in the world market.

This is among the most important decisions our generation will make about our country’s future and our children’s future. For the last twenty years, we have tried to improve education while accepting the fundamental principles of a failed system, guarded by the education bureaucrats and teachers unions. We must now transform math and science education or fall behind. It really is that simple.

One Solution Idea – A Pilot Project to Pay Kids to Learn Math and Science

Keeping America competitive in the twenty-first century is dependent upon having increasing number of students studying math and science. This will be an enormous challenge. Getting students to study math and science may be done through incentives. We should experiment with paying students for taking difficult subjects in math and science. In this world of immediate gratification, many young people in poorer neighborhoods look to athletes and musicians as their future and drugs and violence become their reality when their hopes inevitably most often fail. The long and difficult road to becoming a PhD. in math or chemistry has virtually no support in these neighborhoods nor is it presented as an attractive way out. But, if as early as seventh grade there were some economic reward for learning math and science, which competes head to head with McDonalds, the signal sent would be immediate and dramatic. If the rewards went up as the classes grew more difficult we would have students pouring into math and science instead of fleeing it.

We should therefore conduct a pilot project to see if this approach can be successful. And we should begin by targeting a poor inner city district where the potential for sending a strong signal is perhaps strongest.

Other Solution Ideas

The earning by learning approach to math and science outlined here is only one idea we should pursue in dramatically transforming math and science learning. Set forth below is a set of other ideas:

One, we should set a goal of eliminating fifty percent of the education bureaucracy outside the classroom and the laboratory and dedicate the savings to financing the improvements in math and science education.

There has been a steady growth in the amount of money spent on red tape, bureaucracy, and supervision. We now have curriculum specialists who consult with curriculum consultants, who work with curriculum supervisors, who manage curriculum department heads, who occasionally meet with teachers. The more we seem to spend on education, the smaller the share we spend on inspiring and rewarding those actually doing the educating.

Two, the students must have informed, enthusiastic, and confident teachers category_iding them in difficult subjects. We therefore need to foster and encourage teacher specialists who have mastered a subject matter, such as engineers and mathematicians. They should be allowed to teach after taking only one course on the fundamentals of teaching. They should be allowed to teach part-time so that more professionals can have the opportunity to share their knowledge and experience in the classroom. Moreover, every state should pass a law establishing an absolute preference for part-time specialists with real knowledge over full-time teachers who do not know the subject. Finally, by the 2008 school year, no one should be allowed to teach math and science that is not competent in the subject matter.

Three, we should apply the free enterprise system to our education system by introducing competition among schools, administrators, and teachers. Our educators should be paid based on their performance and held accountable based on clear standards with real consequences.

Four, graduates willing to stay in math and science fields should pay zero interest on their student loans until their incomes reach four times the national average income. This would encourage students to stay in these needed fields and continue to pursue knowledge.

Five, we should reward the best and brightest high school graduates and fully fund their further education. Norman Augustine, the former Chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin and former Undersecretary of the Army, recently testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. He recommended an America’s Scholars Program to fully find the undergraduate and graduate education on the physical sciences, math, biosciences, or engineering of the top 1,000 high school seniors each year. These scholarships would be based on academic success and ability to maintain the highest degree of excellence throughout the remainder of their education.

Six, we should reward and encourage private sector participation in math and science education. We should provide a tax credit to corporations that fund basic research in science and technology at our nation’s universities.

Seven, Congressman Frank Wolf was exactly right in a letter he sent to President Bush in May that cited the urgent national security need to triple the federal budget allocation for innovation – basic science research and development — over the next decade. America must act to rebuild our core strength in basic science research and development so that America can maintain its global position long into the 21st Century.

Our past achievements in science, technology, and economic growth will disappear if we fail to transform our system of math and science education and make more investments in basic research. The ability to provide jobs and the American way of life in the 21st century depends on our competitiveness with China and India, which in turn, depends on our success in leading the world in math and science education and continuing to be the world leader in innovation.

These ideas are designed to stimulate thinking beyond the timid “let’s do more of the same” that has greeted every call for rethinking math and science education. If the future and safety of our country really are at stake in the areas of math, science, and engineering, then we can do no less than respond with an appropriate intensity and scale.