Is there a US science education crisis?
Sent to Science News (June 8) in response to "Confronting a third crisis in US science education," by S. James Gates - http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/58930/title/Comment__Confronting_a_third_crisis_in_U.S._science_education_
Is there a US science education crisis?
"Confronting a third crisis in US science education" (May 22) assumes that there is a real crisis. There are several reasons to doubt this:
- Our science and math test scores are unspectacular, but the problem is not science and math education. Studies show that American students from well-funded schools who come from high-income families outscore all or nearly all other countries on international tests. Only our children in high poverty schools score below the international average. (Payne and Biddle, 1999; Bracey, 2009; Martin, 2009). The US has the highest percentage of children in poverty of all industrialized countries (25%, compared to Denmark's 3%). Our educational system has been successful; the problem is poverty.
Is there a US science education crisis?
"Confronting a third crisis in US science education" (May 22) assumes that there is a real crisis. There are several reasons to doubt this:
- Our science and math test scores are unspectacular, but the problem is not science and math education. Studies show that American students from well-funded schools who come from high-income families outscore all or nearly all other countries on international tests. Only our children in high poverty schools score below the international average. (Payne and Biddle, 1999; Bracey, 2009; Martin, 2009). The US has the highest percentage of children in poverty of all industrialized countries (25%, compared to Denmark's 3%). Our educational system has been successful; the problem is poverty.