[RUME] Mobilization for Math/Science Education - Role of Higher Education

[Richard Hake]

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According to Stephanie Lee's (2009) Inside Higher Ed report 
"'Mobilization' for Math and Science Education," Vartan Gregorian, 
president of the Carnegie Corporation, said: "The quality of math and 
science learning at colleges and universities ultimately begins with 
solid instruction at the K-12 level. While higher education remains 
strong, it is clear it cannot continue without a strong foundation."

Taking issue with Gregorian, "Steve" in his comment "Higher Education 
Responsibility" at
<http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/11/study#Comments> wrote:

"From experience I know that the quality of math and science learning 
at colleges and universities ultimately DOES NOT begin with solid 
instruction at the K-12 level, it begins with the quality of math and 
science learning at colleges and universities. For far too long 
higher education has 'passed the buck' by not producing qualified 
teachers."

RIGHT ON, STEVE! The NSF's (1996) report "Shaping the Future" put it 
this way [my insert at ". . . . [insert]. . . ."]:

"Many faculty in SME&T. . . .[Science, Mathematics, Engineering, & 
Technology]. . . at the postsecondary level continue to blame the 
schools for sending underprepared students to them. But, 
increasingly. . . .[but not conspicuously]. . . .the higher education 
community has come to recognize the fact that teachers and principals 
in the K-12 system are all people who have been educated at the 
undergraduate level, mostly in situations in which SME&T programs 
have not taken seriously enough their vital part of the 
responsibility for the quality of America's teachers."

In consonance with the above, physicist Don Langenberg (2001, p. 23), 
(at the time) Chancellor of the University of Maryland System, put it 
bluntly:

"Although we in higher education are very skillful at ignoring the 
obvious, it is gradually dawning on some of us that we bear a 
substantial part of the responsibility for this sad situation [the 
state of K-12 education]."

How sad is the state of K-12 education in the U.S.? According 
Schmidt, Houang, & Shakrani (2009):

"The consequences of our scattered approach. . . .[to K-12 
education]. . . .are obvious - low standards by international 
comparisons, mediocre student performance (especially in eighth and 
twelfth grades), huge inequalities in curricular opportunities, and 
loss of future job possibilities. . . . Today the performance gap 
between the most and least proficient students in the United States 
is among the highest of all OECD countries [OECD (2007)]. Unless the 
American education system begins to prepare all of its students for 
post-secondary education and the changing workplace, disturbing 
trends in international comparisons will only worsen."


Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of  Deventer, The Netherlands.
<rrhake at earthlink.net>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi/>
<http://HakesEdStuff.blogspot.com/>

REFERENCES [Tiny URL's courtesy <http://tinyurl.com/create.php>.]
BHEF. 2001. Business - Higher Education Forum (a partnership of the 
American Council on Education and the National Alliance of Business), 
Winter, "Sharing Responsibility: How Leaders in Business and Higher 
Education Can Improve America's Schools" online as a 248 kB pdf at 
<http://tinyurl.com/lhenqd>.

Lee, S. 2009."'Mobilization' for Math and Science Education" Inside 
Higher Ed, 11 June; online at 
<http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/11/study>.

NSF. 1996. "Shaping the Future: New Expectations for Undergraduate 
Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology,"A 
Report on its Review of Undergraduate Education by the Advisory 
Committee to the NSF, chaired by Melvin George, online at 
<http://tinyurl.com/m93862>.  Also online as a Google book preview at 
<http://tinyurl.com/n72qh7>. This report is one of the few that 
emphasizes the crucial role of higher education in determining the 
quality of K-12 education.

OECD. 2007. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 
"PISA 2006: Science Competencies for Tomorrow's World," online at 
<http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/16/28/39722597.pdf> (360 kB).

Schmidt, W.H., R. Houang, & S. Shakrani. 2009. "International Lessons 
About National Standards," online as a 180 kB pdf at 
<http://tinyurl.com/lqtaj9>.