That is not my point of view, well it may be, but more significantly it is the point of view of American policy on education
In an article in the journal, the point is made
The specter of losing our competitive edge to other nations, especially India and China, is one that has haunted US educators for the past few years.
Thomas Friedman sounds the alarm in his book The World is Flat. Friedman outlines the role technology has played in helping individuals and small groups in underdeveloped countries leap directly from the agricultural age to the information age, thus becoming “part of the global supply chain for services and products.”
Other reports and events include
1). “Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future,” a recent study conducted by a panel convened by the National Academies, a national science advisory group. The panel noted that the United States easily “could lose its privileged position” in science leadership, and that the nation’s old advantages are being rapidly overcome by other countries.
2). International assessment studies. The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study ( TIMSS ) and the Programme for International Student Assessment ( PISA ) both rank US students’ math and science abilities in the middle or near the bottom globally.
3). A visit from Chinese President Hu Jintao this past spring, which generated numerous media reports examining China’s growing influence over the world economy.
The solutions proposed by these various reports and studies all center on education. For example, Thomas Friedman calls for “an all-hands-on-deck, no-holds-barred, no-budget-too-large crash program for science and engineering education immediately.” The National Academies panel put forward 20 implementation steps within four broad recommendations. One recommendation is titled, “10,000 Teachers, 10 Million Minds,” with the intent to “increase America’s talent pool by vastly improving K-12 mathematics and science education.
As the world becomes more competitve Friedman fears, the US will be rapidly bypassed creatively and intellectually, and, as a consequence the US will lose its position as world leaders in innovation. And of course this stark problem faces the UK too. And there is a growing body of evidence that shows that the US is struggling to prepare its future generations for the tasks ahead of them.
So what's the solution? The journal says
Clearly, we need to make school more engaging for students, in order to keep them enrolled and to turn out more professional scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and technologists. Virtually all the recommended solutions have advocated constructing a national approach to education that secures the United States from losing its competitive advantage.
Engagement in education
During the year, the district’s middle school math and science teachers attend Qualcomm University, where they work collaboratively with Qualcomm professionals to create standards-based lessons involving technology and focusing on practical situations, such as how cell phones communicate through building walls. Lesson plans are highly innovative, starting with a real-world issue and working backward to the state academic-content standards. The program enables teachers to develop activities that require students to research problems, apply math concepts such as fractions, percentages and graphing, and build scientific hypotheses to answer the questions.
According to Marsha Mooradian, Cajon Valley Union’s former director of technology and assessment,
students demonstrate an increase in motivation for learning math and science, and their grades show increased knowledge in math and science standards.
The Journal writes that Mathematics scores on the California Standards Tests have increased five percentage points, and student technology use has soared. When the program began, 5 percent of students said they used technology in the large majority of their school work (81 to 100 percent of the time). A year later, the number of students who reported frequent use of technology with their assignments rose to 58 percent.
In a simplistic way, you never tell anyone you are going to educate them. You tell them they are going to have a great time and let the education become part of the experience. The richer the experience, the more powerful the dialogue, the more you will engage
Further reading
At last a chance for every child
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