Why US Math, Science Ed is OK

Writer cites against-the-grain report ranking US in second place globally
By Lucas Laursen,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 26, 2007 11:50 AM CDT
Why US Math, Science Ed is OK
Ward Tomlinson, center, shows off his First Grand Prize and Best in Fair awards during the 2007 ExxonMobil Texas Science and Engineering Fair in San Antonio, Texas. Pictured with Tomlinson are Truman Bell, senior program officer for education and diversity, ExxonMobil Foundation, and Diane Rath, chair...   (Associated Press)

Americans aren’t as deficient at math and science as usually reported, writes entrepreneur and Harvard Law Fellow Vivek Wadhwa in a Business Week op-ed. He cites an Urban Institute report with results contradicting many long-held beliefs about American science education, which places American science students consistently second in the world.

The report also says that high school students took more math and science credits from 1982 to 1998 and that math scores on national tests went up. Wadhwa doesn’t say if sciences scores rose, nor does he address grade inflation. He claims that industrial complaints of science worker shortages are actually “short-term shortages of engineers with specific technical skills.” (More science stories.)

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