We鈥檝e got the plan. Now we鈥檝e just got to fund it and move forward. It鈥檚 time to stop studying this. It鈥檚 time to do something.鈥�
Previous generations of Americans have been labeled Generation X, the Greatest Generation, and the Lost Generation, but if the young people of today want to succeed amid the souped-up competition of the global economy, they had better become the Science Generation.
Or so said a high-profile lineup of speakers at a gathering held here last week at the American Museum of Natural History.
鈥淢y daughter and your children will ... in all likelihood inherit a lower standard of living,鈥� unless U.S. students acquire greater passion for science, said U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon of Tennessee, the Democrat who chairs the House Committee on Science and Technology. 鈥淲e have to have the kind of technical workforce that can compete, and we simply don鈥檛 have that now.鈥�
It was the latest in a long line of convocations鈥攎ost of which have been long on education policy wonks and business leaders鈥攆ocused on the need for better education in the so-called STEM fields: science, technology, engineering, and math.
Branching Out
But it was through the breadth of fields represented that its organizers aimed to set this conference apart from the swarm of other STEM-oriented gatherings over the past few years. Speakers included an investment banker, a paleontologist, and a group of local public school students, to name a few.
鈥淭he idea was to broaden the conversation to a broad range of branches and fields,鈥� said Ellen V. Futter, the president of the American Museum of Natural History, which organized and hosted the two-day event.
Science, she said, 鈥渉as ramifications for all aspects of our lives.鈥� Science and other STEM-field education has been at the forefront of national policy conversations off and on since the start of the Space Race a half-century ago, including during the time of , the landmark 1983 federal report on the shortcomings of U.S. schooling in science and other subjects that turns 25 this month.
But a series of more recent reports, including the 2005 National Academies book , which details the slippage of American international competitiveness and a need for more science education and other investments, have sharpened interest among policymakers and educators.
A follow-up conference organized by the National Academies and the National Math and Science Initiative, is scheduled for later this month in Washington.
Funding Urged
At last week鈥檚 meeting, big ideas were not in short supply. Some participants took the opportunity to advocate favorite initiatives.
鈥淚f Congress wants to make a dent in education, I highly recommend that 鈥� every child in this country have a laptop,鈥� said Nicholas Negroponte, a former head of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology鈥檚 Media Laboratory. He now leads the Cambridge, Mass.-based nonprofit One Laptop per Child Foundation, which aims to distribute low-cost laptop computers to children in poor countries and the United States.
Newt Gingrich, a former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives who participated in the event by videoconference, suggested a debate among presidential candidates solely on the subject of science.
But several participants noted that ideas alone would not suffice, and that conferences whose only outcome is a consensus that a problem exists do little to solve it.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 need more panels,鈥� said panelist William S. Schmidt, a Michigan State University researcher.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got the plan. Now we鈥檝e just got to fund it and move forward,鈥� said Rep. Gordon, referring to the federal America COMPETES Act, which incorporates proposals for more college science scholarships, new programs to train science teachers, and more research funding.
Many of the programs in the legislation, which was approved by Congress and signed into law by President Bush last year, have not been financed.
鈥淚t鈥檚 time to stop studying this,鈥� Rep. Gordon said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 time to do something.鈥�
National Curriculum?
Our annual report provides detailed state reports and state technology grades for all states, as well as news, data, and reports on states鈥� progress to improve STEM education. 鈥� Read the complete report.
One idea supported by many conference speakers was that of a national science curriculum. Former North Carolina Gov. James B. Hunt Jr., and Michael D. Casserly, the executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools鈥攁 Washington-based organization representing many of the nation鈥檚 largest urban districts鈥攂oth heartily endorsed the idea. 鈥淭he laws of math and science don鈥檛 really change when they cross state lines,鈥� Mr. Casserly noted.
鈥淚 believe national standards in science education are absolutely essential,鈥� said Mr. Hunt, now the chairman of the James B. Hunt Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. But he cautioned that such standards won鈥檛 work if they鈥檙e mandated by federal education officials, or even if federal money is used to set them up.
鈥淭he way I see this as being done is 鈥� with these state and local leaders coming together,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think it will need to be funded privately鈥攑erhaps with corporations.鈥�
None of the numerous corporate officers present at the conference immediately threw thousand-dollar bills on the stage at the mention of that notion. But all signed on to the idea that businesses need to do their part to get students more interested in science, if only out of self-interest.
鈥淭he private sector has got to be a major leader, because the private sector has to have people 鈥� for the jobs of the 21st century,鈥� said Robert D. Hormats, a vice chairman at the Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the large investment bank based here. 鈥淭his economy, this country is going to sink or swim together.鈥�
Input From Children
Panelists also weighed in with other ideas.
Mr. Gingrich called on Congress to triple the budget of the National Science Foundation, a federal agency that supports a broad range of programs in mathematics and science education, calling his own failure to do so 鈥渢he greatest mistake of my speakership.鈥�
Neil DeGrasse Tyson, the director of the museum鈥檚 Hayden Planetarium, took a different tack, suggesting that NASA鈥檚 budget be tripled instead as a way of inspiring more students to become fascinated with science.
鈥淲ith all due respect to the NSF, I don鈥檛 know anyone who says, 鈥榃hen I want to grow up, I want to be an NSF researcher,鈥� 鈥� Mr. Tyson said. 鈥淭hat has never happened鈥攅ver 鈥� in K-12.鈥�
Another idea came from Becca Robison, a 16-year-old from Layton, Utah, who has earned enough credits through an early-college program to be considered a college sophomore majoring in engineering and physics at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah.
鈥淲e should talk to the kids and see what they want to do,鈥� said Ms. Robison, who founded AstroTots, a free science camp for girls ages 4 through 10 that is based in her hometown and operates in 10 states.
But the ideas on how best to improve science education offered by children at the conference diverged just as much as did those of the adult panelists.
In an interview following a panel discussion among students from the public World Journalism Preparatory School鈥攁 small, 2-year-old school in the Queens section of New York City serving grades 6-10鈥攖he young people were emphatic that something about their science education had to change. But they did not agree about how.
Giananthony Damasco, 15, unfavorably compared New York鈥檚 science curriculum, which he said tried to cover too much, with the more selective, more in-depth science his cousin in Italy is studying.
鈥淚f we just focused more,鈥� Mr. Damasco suggested, more learning might get done.
Fellow student Raymond Arroyo, also 15, proposed an opposite remedy, complaining that the curriculum was too narrow. 鈥淩ight now, it鈥檚 all about global warming, global warming, global warming,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think what we need to do is be balanced.鈥�
But, as panelists pointed out, just that kind of intellectual sparring, coupled with open-ended inquiry, is the foundation of science.
鈥淲e are gathered here not to identify the problem, but to jump-start and accelerate action to remedy the problem,鈥� said Ms. Futter, the museum鈥檚 president. In that regard, she said, 鈥渨e do think we鈥檝e advanced the ball.鈥�
