1 December 2010
An Even More Inconvenient Truth
Posted by Dan Satterfield
It’s called CAMM Worldwide. That stands for Connect A Million Minds.
The project was started by Time Warner and it’s based around a simple fact:
The U.S. now ranks 35th in Math and 29th in Science worldwide.
That means that your child’s above average grades in math and science are C’s and D’s compared to the rest of the industrialised world. As one scientist said recently, “China has more really smart kids, than the U.S. has kids.”
Why are American kids so far behind.
What do we do about it?
Those are the questions that CAMM is trying to answer. Take 15 minutes and watch the video.
Kudo’s to Time Warner for having the courage to do this.
If you’re a parent, think about the message you are sending to your kids. Not directly, but by your actions. What you think is important, they think is important.
Do you spend the evening watching an inane sit com, or do you have a good non fiction book by your chair? Do you subscribe to PEOPLE Magazine or National Geographic? Have you taken your kids to the symphony or your local science museum lately?
Polls continue to show that large percentages of Americans doubt the foundational theories of Biology and Earth Sciences. Climate researchers get death threats because their results are politically unpopular. One scientist is being targeted by the Attorney General in Virgina for the same reason.
Is all this why we are so far behind, or is it because we are so far behind?
I wonder…
Update: Spotted these facts courtesy of Thomas Friedman on David Appell’s blog QUARK SOUP:
Where America ranks today, from a recent column by Thomas Friedmann:
- sixth in global innovation-based competitiveness, but 40th in rate of change over the last decade;
- 11th among industrialized nations in the fraction of 25- to 34-year-olds who have graduated from high school;
- 16th in college completion rate;
- 22nd in broadband Internet access;
- 24th in life expectancy at birth;
- 27th among developed nations in the proportion of college students receiving degrees in science or engineering;
- 48th in quality of K-12 math and science education;
- 29th in the number of mobile phones per 100 people.
China & India have 10 times the number of people that the USA does, of course they will have more individuals that excel and graduate and have cell phones…
Ironic that you’re complaining about education and smarts, yet you don’t know the proper usage of an apostrophe.
In spite of the “I don’t like the message so I will change the subject” nature of the comment: I considered not doing it, but in common use this is often done and does not show possession. See here: http://www.englishforums.com/English/PluralLetterGrades/jcjj/post.htm
You couldn’t be more vague with the sources cited here.
“One scientist”.
I could list other externalities concerned with these statistics, but why bother.
Pay our teachers more. Compete for the best teachers and you will get them. Great teachers create successful students. Trying to save money by relying on only the selfless to enter a teaching career is a gamble that we have lost. Al, you work in the political sphere – increase the budget for public schools. Specifically, pay for teachers the way we are used to paying for doctors and lawyers. Soon, you’ll find that there are plenty of people who will work harder to get a teaching job. In turn, schools will have their choice of qualified teachers. With time, that will turn around our international standing in education.
[…] based around a simple fact: The U.S. now ranks 35th in Math and 29th in Science worldwide.Source:https://blogs.agu.org/wildwildscience/2010/12/01/an-even-more-inconvienient-truth/ Posted by Mr Gift at 14:38 Labels: camm, inconvenient truth, math, […]
[…] based around a simple fact: The U.S. now ranks 35th in Math and 29th in Science worldwide.Source:https://blogs.agu.org/wildwildscience/2010/12/01/an-even-more-inconvienient-truth/ Posted by anacrismerino at 14:52 Labels: camm, inconvenient truth, […]
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Me have graduate degree, but me never hear of Virgina.
Please don’t correlate our countries failing primary school system to the myth of global war… err, I mean climate change. In your next article will you say its because we’re doubting our central banking system?
[…] truths of biology, chemistry and other sciences. What can you do? How can you become engaged? The AGU may have the answers. But that might be an even bigger inconvenient […]