MATH AND SCIENCE SUMMIT A WORTHY ENDEAVOR
Were you at the last D11 Town Meeting? I was.
Bet you weren’t.
I bet you weren’t because I counted maybe 30 people
tops. I know we’re all busy, and not
everybody lives in District 11. But an
earthquake is coming, and we need to get ready.
Town meetings like last week’s should be held in every
school district across
We must change because the world is becoming a dramatically
different place. The internet is
everywhere. National borders mean less
and less. Capital flows at the speed of
light. We are moving to friction-free capitalism and an information-based
economy. And we are not ready.
We are not ready because math and science education in
On math, the conservatives are progressive, and liberals
reactionary. Conservatives want math
reform, liberals do not. The
conservatives are right.
Fifteen years ago, the Department of Education adopted
standards from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics that de-emphasized
math facts, encouraged calculator use, and encouraged more emphasis on identity
politics. (NCTM’s president often
referred to the different ways that white males, females, and non-Asian
minorities learn). Textbook companies
sell textbooks, so they developed programs tuned to those standards and lobbied
the DOE for endorsement.
Some programs earned a “promising” or a coveted “exemplary”
rating, and the floodgates were opened.
Publishers proudly broadcast the endorsements. Who could say no to the DOE? But the results since then have been a
national tragedy.
Liberals are against math reform because, as far as I can
tell, conservatives are for it. Teachers may also like the status quo because
content-poor math programs are easier to teach and they make kids happy (along
with, sadly, many parents). But less
than a third of
The problem, I think, is that modern liberalism attracts
people who believe all answers are relative.
More accurately, perhaps, they are skeptical of truths that apply all
the time and everywhere, so they focus instead on power relationships and on
how people feel. No wonder they find
“fuzzy” math programs attractive.
When it comes to science education, however, the roles
reverse. Science is humanity’s way of
coming up with right answers about the world.
Unfortunately, they are not always answers people like. When that happens, I wind up battling
conservatives who seek to weaken science education by admitting theology into
science class. Suddenly, I’m allied with
liberals in defense of objective truth. Our
opponents believe if the answers of science conflict with their deeply held
beliefs, science must be wrong.
I teach science to some of the nation’s brightest college
students. I’ve also taught calculus, and
had the good fortune to make some mathematical discoveries. Both subjects are important to me and
exciting to teach. As someone who wants correct math and correct science in American public schools, what exactly am I
supposed to do?
Work, I suppose.
Work to make people understand that we are losing jobs to
the Indians and the Chinese because they work harder, charge less, and just
plain “get it” when it comes to math and science.
Work to convince young people that, as a Business Week cover
story proclaimed, “Math will rock your world.”
That’s where the innovations of the future will come from.
Work to convince school boards that people who are good at
science and math are under no moral obligation to teach in their classrooms,
but offering salaries a little closer to industry might help.
Most importantly, work to convince the public that education
is not built on unearned self-esteem and identity politics, but on right
answers and teaching young people how to find them. Until