Surprise!

US students are behind in science and math! I'm not kidding!

Studies like this are entertaining, sometimes informative, but often dubious. In this case, while math--I think--we can use as a good benchmark for educational assessment, science is a lot harder. The evidence is that we don't do very well with science education here, but I'm not convinced we are worse than other places. Our universities provide science education to much of the world, and we tend to educate in a different fashion than many other nations (more emphasis on understanding rather than memorization). On the other hand, politically, we have one major party that has become far more hostile to science than can be found anywhere else.

One problem with determining science education, is that it is particularly hard to assess early on (and 15 really is early on). You can't really learn physics until you learn calculus and most US students don't learn calc until they are 17-19 (and too many never do). Bio without chemistry is mostly an exercise in memorization, which doesn't mean understanding, and is not, in my opinion, a good indication of quality education, but is the only real measure that can be used for 15 year olds.

I've commented on some of this before, so that's enough for now (unless I feel like adding later). The more peculiar part of the article was when it is proposed that a possible remedy is to pay science/math teachers more. The National Education Association (NEA) disagrees saying, "Simply being a teacher of a hard-to-staff subject does not equate with effective instruction, and therefore, should not be rewarded in-and-of-itself through a salary differential."

I understand why the NEA would take that position. The idea that one teacher is worth more than another simply because of the subject they teach does seem a bit offensive. Unfortunately it is the way that the world, and particularly the US works. By and large, science majors have far more, and far more lucrative options available to them than do history, English or language majors. Ignoring the quality or significance of a subject, the simple competition would mean that science/math majors can expect more money for their degree, and if teaching refuses that, then they will get disproportionately fewer and poorer science/math teachers.

There are certainly plenty of highly capable and qualified people who go into teaching despite it's rather pathetic compensation, but they are the exception, and not sufficient to fill the ranks of teachers, especially in areas where good paying jobs are more prevalent (like science).

Now, I think that almost all teachers should be paid more, and I would love it if art teachers got the same compensation as biology, but, really, that is not fair. If we don't start paying science and math teachers more than we do now, then schools will continue to be understaffed in those departments.