I am an extreme liberal

Experts at S.D. meeting cite other nations' advances
By Bruce Lieberman
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 12, 2006

The future of U.S. competitiveness in science and technology is in the hands of young people, but too few of them want to build careers in those fields, a high-profile panel of government, academic and aerospace experts said yesterday in San Diego.


CRISSY PASCUAL / Union-Tribune
Programmer analyst Raj Singh worked at UCSD's California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology in La Jolla, one of four scientific institutes formed by a $400 million initiative that California launched in 2000.

Central to the crisis is a popular culture that doesn't value math and science, a public education system that doesn't pay teachers enough to attract the best instructors, and a national economy that doesn't offer young people the financial incentives to pursue intellectually rigorous jobs that require years of expensive education, the panel said.

"If we as a nation have to ask ourselves why our kids aren't studying science and math and engineering and whether or not they ought to, a little bit of me is afraid that we're already lost," said Michael Griffin, NASA's chief administrator.

The United States may dominate many sectors of science and technology, but other countries are moving rapidly to take its place, said Griffin and other national leaders during the West Coast Competitiveness Summit at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.

The summit was the latest of several meetings designed to explore how the United States can recommit to building an economic future based on scientific and technological innovation.

Numerous studies since the mid-1980s have reported on threats to the nation's stature in science and technology, and many of them focused on improving education as a key challenge.

The issue has gained steam in recent years. In January, President Bush highlighted the value of science, math and engineering skills during his State of the Union address.

Around the world, especially in Asia, competitors are trying to surge ahead.

A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n


Before It's Too Late: A Report to the Nation from The National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century -- complete report
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Executive Summary
In an age now driven by the relentless necessity of scientific and technological advance, the current preparation that students in the United States receive in mathematics and science is, in a word, unacceptable.

Recent reports of the performance of our country?s students from both the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) echo a dismal message of lackluster performance, now three decades old; it?s time the nation heeded it -- before it?s too late.

Well, if you have the bod and looks just strut your stuff and make $50 million while a science or engineering degree will get you a $50,000 per annum salary after slogging thru college.

talk, It's basically supply and demand.

I am currently teaching SPED at the high school level -- and, in many ways, I am the last person who should be in this post.

One of the problems with SPED is that kids who aren't "slow," who do not have "low IQs," end in special education, which, too often means slowed down education. Consequently, they don't read on grade level and their vocabularies lag behind.

Some of these kids are second generation SPED kids. What do I think about that? Someone should have done some genetic counseling with their parents, discouraging them from getting pregnant.

There are three kids in my English class. None of them read the one tiny book that was demanded for summer reading. My high school expected something like 6 to 8 short form book reports handed in during the first week of school and one month for the academic year.

I asked them what had been read to them at home and one girl said that her mother hated books and reading. That's what the teacher is up against.

C.I. -- You're right about central to the crisis is a disrespect for science. My kids and I always watched Nova together, every Tuesday night. I bought them subscriptions to Discover when the oldest was 10. I am shocked that my 9th grade SPED students can't read Discover.

Soon you'll be voting Republican.

But, Republicans are in favor of untrammelled breeding. Go to a mall and watch whose trailing three, four or more kids. Betcha if you ask them their voting preference, it'll be Republican.

I have three, though we only planned on two. Eat me. I'm sure those horrible Republicans with three or more kids love at least twice as much as the single parent model so favored in Democratic households.

You bet that the married Republican couples with 3 children love more than the Democrat single parents.




I didn't think it possible but damn, you're getting worse.

cj stopped making sense two or three posts ago, Snood. That was even before he started contradicting himself. First it was "soon you'll be voting Republican" as a reference to some people being unsuited to have families. Then, when POM called him on it, he cheerfully admits that it's the GOP families that are larger. cj wants to have it both ways.

What single parent model favored by Democrats? Try to find the real world!
The divorce rate is highest in the Bible Belt where the Republicans have the strongest hold on the population and the mean level of adult education is the lowest.

I'm not sure what "real world" you live in POM... oh yeah... Mass.... Isn't there some wonderful senator from there that calls our troops stupid?

Real world.... right...

Massachusetts has the second lowest divorce rate of any state in the union.

There you go clouding the issue with facts again, POM.

Just an old encyclopedia fan.

Is this your idea of a sequitor?

Maybe they have the lowest divorce rate because they never marry in the first place... or because they cannot....

Clouding the issue... right...

Come to Detroit, I'll show you issues.

I'm from Detroit. Funny. People are very liberal there. More so then in Boston.

Thanks, cj, but we can see your issues just FINE right here...