Education in America: Getting Students Back into Math and Science

It's widely viewed that America needs to improve math and science education. According to a 2009 study of 15 year olds, done by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a group that represents some of the world's most developed countries, the U.S. ranked statistically significantly below its peers in math and was average in science. According to the study, The Nation's Report Card: Science 2009, done by the National Center for Education Statistics, over a third of eight and twelfth graders haven't demonstrated at least a basic level of proficiency of science. According to the study, 63 percent of eighth-graders and 60 percent of twelfth-graders performed at or above the basic level in science.

How can the United States fix this? A central problem is math and science education is simply not studied enough. Math and Science are seen by many as the hardest subjects. It scares many students into not engaging in the subjects and just trying to pass them. By the time students get to high school many of them are taking watered down math and science courses just to meet graduation requirements. For the students who go to college, most of them want nothing to do with these subjects. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the largest number of bachelor degrees awarded in 2007-08 were in the fields of business and social sciences.

The entire education system, from local school districts to universities to state governments and the federal government should enact better initiatives to promote the study of math and science.

Some initiatives that should be enacted include:

Extra math and science education should be substituted in place of electives for students who under perform in these subjects. This would help stop the cycle of passing students through school who don't have basic understandings of math and science.

Enact more math and science programs in high school. These kind of programs should recruit students to study more math and science than is required to graduate high school or the minimum needed to be accepted into college. These programs should include partnerships with universities, besides community colleges, which many colleges don't accept credit from. There needs to be a drive to obtain a minimum number of students to participate in these programs.

Many students who plan on going to college have no idea what they want to major in. These kind of programs would provide direction. High school is one the most influential times in a students life. Students can be behind when they reach high school and still improve their skills to a proficient status. If they don't have the skills after high school nor the initiative to want to learn math and science after high school, it's unlikely they will.

Universities should develop more programs that encourage students to major in math and science subjects. Several things can be instituted to obtain this. More scholarships and grants should be created for math and science subjects. More scholarships and grants should be diverted from subjects that have a surplus of majors, to math and science subjects. Universities can have programs that allow students to graduate earlier or avoid certain requirements if they major in the fields of math and science. Universities should advertise more on campus for students to study these subjects.

State governments and the federal government should encourage universities to expand their math and science departments by offering more financial incentives like grants. They should have a public initiative that advertises in schools, universities, malls, etc., that provide encouragement and benefits for studying these subjects.

It's a vitally pressing that all members in education, take forceful, dramatic and immediate steps in reforming our education system. If not, the U.S. risks lagging behind countries like China and India that are graduating math and science graduates in record numbers

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/04/AR2007120400730.html
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2010/section5/indicator41.asp http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/54/12/46643496.pdf