In response to my post "The U.S. Education
Crisis: Manufactured or Real? #2" [Hake (2007)],
the Irascible Professor
<http://irascibleprofessor.com/> Mark Shapiro
(2007) wrote [bracketed by lines "SSSSSS. . . .
"' my insert at ". . . .[insert]. . . . ."]:
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I can only cite my own experience (36 years of
teaching introductory physics courses). But,
over that time I observed a steady decline in the
level of preparedness of my students for
college-level courses. In the early 1970s I
could count on most of the students in my
introductory, calculus-based physics course
being reasonably familiar with the basic concepts
of algebra. Generally, more than half the class
also would have a reasonable acquaintance with
the concepts of trigonometry. Since my course
also had a one-semester calculus prerequisite,
many of the students also were reasonably
comfortable with differential calculus.
As time went on I noticed that the level of
preparation declined steadily, particularly in
the areas of algebra and trigonometry.
Over the years I also taught a number of
introductory labs that required at least a few
formal lab reports. While the writing skills of
the students never were great, they only got
worse with time.
Does this constitute a crisis? Perhaps not. But
there has been steady erosion in the quality of
K-12 education in the U.S. from what I have seen.
There are individual exceptions, of course. But
folks, like Bracey . . . .[see e.g. Bracey
(2003)] . . . ., who are quick to argue that
everything is hunky-dory with the American
education system are not dealing with reality.
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Consistent with the above, on 9 May 1994, after
visiting their offices in Washington, D.C., I
wrote to my congressional representatives (at the
time) Indiana congressmen Lee Hamilton, Frank
McCloskey, and Tim Roemer:
"Having met some 2000 students entering General
Physics I, P201-2. . . .[primarily for health
professionals and premeds]. . . . over the course
of the past two decades, I am seriously concerned
about their rapidly deteriorating preparation for
any substantive introductory physics course. On
average, present day students are sadly deficient
in mathematics, science, English, drawing,
problem solving, and the ability to think
critically. Such inability of K-12 students has
been amply documented by an avalanche of recent
studies [AAAS (1989), Hurd (1989)] which
strongly suggest that the United *States has
become a nation of science-math illiterates,*
with a dwindling supply of first-rate scientists
and engineers, an uneducated work force, an
inability to compete economically in world
markets, and, by far the most critical, a
diminishing capability to overcome the
economic-political-scientific problems which
beset us [Brown (1992), CIPNC (1992), Hake
(1989, 1990), Holton (1986), NCOE (1983), NSB
(1986)].
REFERENCES
AAAS. 1989. "Project 2061, Science for all
Americans" The appendix contains 26 references on
the sorry state of education in the United
States, selected from the over 300 such reports
since 1983.
Bracey, G.W. 2003. "April Foolishness: The 20th
Anniversary of A Nation at Risk" Phi Delta
Kappan, 1 April, online at
<http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k0304bra.htm>. The
heading reads: "A Nation at Risk famously
declared a crisis in American education. Even
today, 20 years after the report's release, we
cling to its message, which Mr. Bracey shows to
be as flawed as it was compelling."
Brown, G.E. 1992. "The Objectivity Crisis,"
American Journal of Physics 60: 779.
CIPNC. 1992. Carnegie International Peace
National Commission, "Changing Our Ways,"
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,
Brookings Institute, Washington, D.C.
Hake, R.R. 1989 "The Science Illiteracy Crisis: A
Challenge For the University (An Annotated
Interweaving of Classic Themes and Original Work
Intended As A Libretto For A Wagnerian Musical
Drama In Thirteen Acts"; the Leitmotiv: "The Road
To Science/Math Literacy Begins In
University-ville With Effective Science/Math
Courses For Pre-College Teachers." See also the
more recent Hake (2000).
Hake, R.R. 1990. "What Went Unsaid at Physics
Chairs Meeting," Phys. Today 43(2): 158 (1990),
letter to the editor commenting that: "physics
chairs should address the responsibilities of
their own departments to adequately educate
prospective pre-college teachers ...(who)... are
required to raise the appallingly low level of
science literacy
among the general population and thereby increase
our chances of solving some of the monumental
political-economic-scientific problems which
beset us.
Hake, R.R. 2000. "The General Population's
Ignorance of Science Related Societal Issues: A
Challenge for the University," AAPT Announcer
30(2): 105; online at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/GuelphSocietyG.pdf>
(2.1MB). Based on an earlier libretto [Hake
(1989)]. The opera dramatizes the fact that the
failure of universities throughout the universe
to properly educate pre-college teachers is
responsible for our failure to observe any signs
of either terrestrial or extraterrestrial
intelligence.
Hake, R.R. 2007. "The U.S. Education Crisis:
Manufactured or Real? #2," online at
<http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0703&L=pod&O=D&P=18671>.
Post of 25-26 March to AP-Physics, AERA-C,
AERA-L, ARN-L, Chemed-L, EdResMeth, EvalTalk,
Math-Teach, Phys-L, PhysLrnR, Physhare, Physoc, &
TIPS.
Holton, G. 1986. "A Nation at Risk Revisited," in
"The Advancement of Science and its Burdens"
(Univ. of Cambridge Press): Holton wrote: "If the
Constitution and the Tenth Amendment are
interpreted narrowly, as is now the fashion, one
cannot be surprised by the movement to phase out
most or all of the federal responsibility for
education ...Š Thomas Jefferson, in asking
Congress for a remedy, said 'An amendment of our
Constitution must here come in aid of the public
education. The influence on government must be
shared by all the people.'........Without a
device that encourages cumulative improvement
over the long haul, without a built-in mandate to
identify and promote the national interest in
education as well as to 'help fund and support
efforts to protect and promote that interest'
...Š we shall go to sleep again between the
challenges of a Sputnik and a Honda." Holton, the
Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Professor
of the History of Science at Harvard, was a
member of the National Commission on Education
that produced "A Nation at Risk" - see
<http://www.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/members.html>.
Hurd, P.D. 1989. "Science Education and the
Nation's Economy" in "This Year in School Science
1989 - Science Literacy," ed. by A.B. Champagne,
B.E. Lovitts, and B.J. Calinger (AAAS Books,
Waldorf, Maryland. The appendix contains excerpts
from 26 reports on the state of education and the
economy.
NSB. 1986. Report of the National Science Board
Task Committee on Undergraduate Science and
Engineering Education, reported in Science 232:
153 (1986) and in Phys. Today 39(6): 65 (1986).