As a recruiter of quantitative talent I’m always interested
to hear how math education in the United States compares to other countries. As
a mother of three high school kids, I’m personally invested in the state of
public school education and how our children can compete internationally. This is
why I found Arthur Levine’s recent article in the Wall Street Journal
particularly troubling.
Mr. Levine points out the obvious truth that most Americans
are aware of: the United States is mediocre at best in math education. Every
year recent grads are competing with the best in the world and they are unfortunately
ill-prepared. If we don’t focus on fixing this problem now, it will only get
worse. Math education has fallen to the wayside and apart from a new statistic
coming out every few months to support what we already know, it doesn’t look
like the government is making any effort to make a substantial change.
What Mr. Levine points out though is that there’s another
form of competition within the US as students in urban and inner city schools
compete with their counterparts in the suburbs. Shockingly, he specifically
points to Evanston, IL and Scarsdale, NY as exceptions to general low performance
in American schools. Mr. Levine writes that students in Evanston outperform
students in Finland and Singapore, the top school systems in the world.
My children are currently enrolled in Evanston Township High
School, and while I’d love to believe they are part of a competitive, high
performing system, I was skeptical. Based on experience this did not ring true,
and sure enough the facts prove otherwise. According to the Prairie State
Achievement Exam, only 42% of student at ETHS met federal education standards
in math. This is clearly substantially lower than the 75% proficiency rate in
Shanghai and even 50% in Canada.
My children are fortunately able to partake in ETHS’s high
level math program. As frustrating as the national statistics are, the students
in this program are outstanding, motivated, and sure to succeed. I can’t speak highly
enough of the fantastic teachers who devote so much to math education and inspire
their students.
I wish there were more programs like this available to more
students nationwide. I’m sorry to say that the overall picture, though is bleaker than Mr. Levine
paints it. If even these so-called “affluent suburbs” are not up to par with
the international community, something has to change.
2 comments:
There is a lot of evidence that poverty is a leading cause of poor test scores in the US. This article summarizes some really fascinating findings.
http://www.artofteachingscience.org/2011/01/05/pisa-test-results-uncovering-the-effects-of-poverty/
We need a new Marshall plan for the US equivalent to the one that was used to rebuild Europe after WW II.
When the Cold War was in full swing, we had to beat the Russians to the moon, to outer space, to the stars. There was tremendous emphasis on Science, Technology, Mathematics, and Engineering. Now that we have won the Cold War some 20 years ago, we have rested on our laurels and the results are evident in the test scores that are mentioned in your article.
We need to 'eat bitterness' and strive to regain our former momentum or we will come to depend on new Americans who have not learned to relax on past achievements to lead us forward. I welcome them because they contribute skills and ambition, but their successes compared to native-born Americans is an indicator that our educational infrastructure is in dire need of upgrade.
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