I recently read a book published in 2013 with the title “The U.S. Technology Skills Gap: What Every Technology Executive Must Know to Save America’s Future.” In this book a comprehensive review of America’s math and science education in the past 104 years was conducted. A fact learnt from this review is that America’s math and science skills gap is a serious issue of concern for every business and IT executive in the U.S.
How did this happen? It is because decades of astute warnings were ignored. As an example, a survey from Public Agenda Foundation was cited in the book. According to this survey, 57 percent of Kansas and Missouri parents say that the U.S. is “far behind other countries” in math and science achievements, while only 10 percent feel that we are “well ahead.” Furthermore, 86 percent agree that “students with advanced math and science skills will have a big advantage when it comes to work and college opportunities.”
Do you share these opinions? I think most of us do. I am not saying that we should all send our kids to some gifted programs and force them to take three math tests every week. But at least we should no longer pretend that it is not a big problem. We need to acknowledge that the United States is at an urgent fork in the road. We need to take this issue seriously and voice our protest against the school district’s irrational decisions such as cancelling final exams in the high schools (re-arranging the midterm exams sounds reasonable, though) and restricting Option II, and ridiculous recommendations such as eliminating A&E for the 4th and 5th grades (what comes next?).
If you are eager to see the U.S. remain a leader and global power in innovation and invention in the foreseeable future, do something now.
Christine Zhou
West Windsor
