Become The BEST In The USA In High School Education!

[Vic Spencer]

US Students Are Falling Behind In Science And Math: Bleak Future For Our Children.
WE CAN CHANGE THAT!
10/18/08 update.

For details, facts, go to www.knoxedu.info

Things may come to those who wait...but only the things left by those who hustle.” (Abraham Lincoln)

WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?

Scholastic achievement in our high schools has been falling for close to four decades (see the statistics below). As a result, we experienced a big drop in science and engineering graduates, especially at the MS and PhD levels. These in turn are the most important degrees in maintaining our economic health. MS and PhD level scientists and engineers do all the important research and development for USA products, to make them more innovative and less expensive, and for vital scientific work for our country.

This situation resulted in a gradual reduction of many American products that we all saw and see (cars, engines, steel, electronics, PC's, heavy machinery, and so on). We used to, but we no longer create the best products in many of these important fields. That in turn increased our imports (Americans buying foreign products like Japanese cars) and reduced our exports (foreign countries buying American products). The total dollars we paid/pay for foreign products has been much more than what we get for USA products that foreign countries buy. That created/creates what we call "our negative balance of payments", increasing "our national debt", and that in turn creates the "falling value of the US dollar" to this day. That makes foreign products, commodities like imported oil, more expensive.

Just imagine if you spent a lot more money for many years, decades, than what you made. For us that is impossible. We could borrow only so much. On the other hand the government can print more money, that is devalued. That is what is happening to us as a country, and one of the biggest reasons is us not graduating enough scientists and engineers to make superior products quickly enough to meet the demend of our own American customers.

This situation is an emergency, and it must be reversed.
HOW CAN WE SOLVE THIS TERRIBLE SITUATION?
How could we motivate the students? There are two important communication paths to them.
1. Teachers need to organize 30-45 minute weekly discussion periods with all students, one topic at a time, from grade one to twelve to make sure that all children develop a solid understanding of why studying, high school graduation with additional science and math courses, and an education beyond high school is vital, and all the exciting and high paying jobs that are out there just waiting for such well educated children. The school is the only place where such messages can be delivered and discussed with ALL children so that they will get excited about what they could become if they work hard in school. Major discussion classes could be:

• The long-term decline of US secondary education and resulting national problems (for the adult presentations below)
• What education is (training of the mind, like an athlete has to train his/her muscles)
• Why education is important (future income, quality of life depends on it)
• Why HS diploma is absolutely vital (one cannot get good jobs without it)
• The exciting jobs that await the kids after a university education (this is worth many discussions)
• Free possibilities for education, any university (with very high scores. I know two boys who had a totally free ride at Harvard) and the military options.

Could Dr. McIntyre and KCS initiate this program urgently please? Our students' future literally depends on it. Will Dr. McIntyre and KCS do so? We hope that they will. There are not too many opportunities that cost so little, and yet have such far reaching impact.

2. Parents and the general public need to be informed about the above facts as well. They need to be told up front, what happened to our secondary education system, a national problem we are facing and a local problem as well. The current high school graduates insufficiently trained in math, science and English are no longer suitable to take on a job at many of our local companies who used to be able to hire high school graduates before.

There are parents who do not understand the need for education. The Knoxville Chamber of Commerce (Jennifer E.) is working on a presentation to the public covering this area. This is also very important although we will not reach as many students through the parents as the first method above. However, it is also vital to get as much parental support as we can for this effort, and this is the best method that could achieve that with the right message.


PARENTS AND TEACHERS! SOMEHOW WE ALL HAVE TO EXPLAIN TO CHILDREN THAT THEY HAVE ONLY TWO CHOICES.

• THEY CAN WORK HARD FOR 10-12 YEARS IN SCHOOL (THE PARENTS AND TEACHERS HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY TAKE ALL THE ABOVE MENTIONED MATH, SCIENCE AND ENGLISH COMP. COURSES), PLUS MAYBE 4-8 MORE YEARS IF THEY WANT TO GO TO COLLEGE (FREE IF THEY HAVE EXCELLENT GRADES IN HIGH SCHOOL), AND THEN HAVE A GREAT 50-60 YEARS IN A WELL-PAYING FABULOUS JOB, MAKING PERHAPS 2-4 TIMES MORE, THAN MANY OF THEIR PARENTS.
  
  
• OR ... THEY CAN DECIDE NOT TO WORK HARD IN SCHOOL BUT HAVE MORE FUN, BARELY GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL, AND HAVE A REALLY HARD LIFE FOR 50-60 YEARS DOING MANUAL LABOR, HAVE VERY LITTLE MONEY, OR DEPEND ON THEIR PARENTS TO SUPPORT THEM FINANCIALLY UNTIL THE PARENTS DIE, MAKING THEIR OWN AND THEIR PARENTS LIFE VERY DIFFICULT. AND THEN PERHAPS BE HOMELESS. THIS IS NOT AN UNLIKELY STORY WITH OUR SLIDING EDUCATION AND ECONOMY.
  
  Those are the two fundamental choices that all school children are facing. Make sure that they know it.

INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS EDUCATION?

(Please click on it to read it. Most people have the wrong impression.)

Click here to see our USA standing in the world:
In math achievement (34th!) or in science achievement (29th!). Source: US Dept of Education, OECD PISA results.

Click here to see Tennessee's ACT standing (38th!) in the USA:
Science and math composite (38th!)

Click here to see our ACT trend in Tennessee:
Five year ACT trend
College/university readiness trend
College/university readiness demographically

Click here to see our ACT standing in Knox County, Tennessee:
By high school
Graduation rate by high school

Let me see if I understand this "picture". USA high school results are 29th-34th in the world. Tennessee average is 38th in the USA. How much is being spent per student for these results?Internationally (USA is 4th) and within the USA (TN is 44th!!)

Picture this again...We are the 4th biggest education spenders in the world (BUT Tennessee is 44th in spending in the USA), and we deliver the 34th in high school results internationally? What are we doing?? Something is very wrong with this picture.

Our competitor countries' curricula include Algebra 2, Solid and Plane Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus 1, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, local language composition -- all of them. Algebra 1 and some Geometry is shifted to 8th grade. That is what we used to have in the USA, without using calculators. The use of calculators seriously diminishes the mental training of students. If our high school students take and finish all the above courses with an A or B, they will succeed. Although they are not part of the curriculum for a high school diploma, these courses are offered at every high school.

I am sorry, but some of us parents are a big problem.

• Most parents' and high schools' expectations of our high school students have never been lower.
• We have permitted too much under performance for too long. Who loses? Our children, and OUR COUNTRY.
• Kids having more fun has become important at home at an expense to studying time.
• Most parents take the child's side if the child has an academic or discipline problem in school.
• Most parents and school children have no respect for teachers, yet everyone's future depends on them. Very foolish.
• We do not seem to value the importance of a degree in engineering or sciences. Yet this is what leads to much more income and jobs that are more exciting.

NOTE A CONTRAST IN THE COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE COMPETE:

• Professors and teachers are the most respected professions in the top thirty countries, followed by medical doctors.
• Parents support the teachers without question because they know that their child's future depends on them.
• Disrespectful behavior toward professors or teachers is not tolerated and it results in expulsion from the school.

WE ALL HAVE SOME URGENT WORK TO DO TO CORRECT THESE PROBLEMS IN OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM.

[Vic Spencer]

Excellent question. I am investigating exactly this right now. Don't have specific data yet.

I already found that we are the third highest spenders in the world per student. Those above and around us have a higher cost of living so we may be the highest. And with that spending, we are 25th to 34th only in academic achievement.

Note that close to 70% of the $360 million county edu budget goes to manpower (primarily teachers).

That raises some important questions.

What are we spending money on that the top achievers are not doing as part of the education department budget?

If we find anything then where do the top achiever countries expense it; in what gov't department.

OR, are we doing a poor job teaching; exactly what and where?

OR, how much more are we spending on non-teacher manpower?etc., etc.

I don't have answers yet, and I may not have answers because I am a one man band, and I would like to focus on a more important topic and that is to get the parents and teachers to get their students/kids to take all CORE math and science subjects with A's or B's, even if it is not required for a diploma. If we can achieve that, it will solve the scholastic problem and it will delay any future taxes.

[granma2]

"What are we spending money on that the top achievers are not doing as part of the education department budget?"

Answer: special education

[Vic Spencer]

granma2, can you get some Internet evidence on what % of our education dollars go to special ed?

Could you and someone else investigate on the Internet the education standards and cost per student per year (high schools) in Singapore, Alberta - Canada, Hong Kong and Finland? Could anyone volunteer for doing a great job for investigating these countries?

By the way if any of you are wondering about where you should go on a vacation, Singapore and Hong Kong are fantastic, especially within 30 days of Christmas. Take a lot of money for shopping. It is especially amazing what Singapore achieved in the past 3-4 decades. It used to be a dangerous and very dirty place. But boy, has that ever changed big time.

[momto3]

sounds nice, but, with three kids to raise and money being tight even before the increase in gas prices and grocery bills, and...what?....vacation within 30 days of Christmas? I don't think we have those days off.

Vic, I'm barely getting by! I remember my travels to England, Italy, France, India, Ethiopia, and points beyond with great nostalgia.

Right now, our three kids are priority one, and there isn't enough money to go to Dollywood!

[Vic Spencer]

momto3 I am sorry. I did not want to make you feel bad with my suggestion/recommendation for a vacation. I think that most of us are tight financially now. I don't want to create another dust storm, but the tightening of our living standard is tied to us, once the most prosperous country. We have not been paying enough attention to the amount of education and quality of education our kids have been getting. AND our government not allowing foreign students who completed advanced degrees to stay here. That could remedy part of our shortfall.
But...our representatives in DC, with their high salaries and great Congressional benefits forget about us very quickly after they become politicians. But at least we get to vote every so often.

[granma2]

Cost of special ed is way too hidden in the budget to really determine. For example, transportation is one of the costs. It's just lumped into all other transportation in the budget -- not separated out to sp ed buses. But the budget claims almost 39 million. I don't believe that covers the costs of sending children to other places such as special schools and such, however. I have no idea how to find the real cost.

[momto3]

no worries, Vic. You have to take me tongue in cheek, it's the Brit in me! I'm just taking the mic out of you!

[Ginevra]

Vic, have you seen this youtube video: "Math Education: An Inconvenient Truth"? It addresses your complaint rather directly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr1qee-bTZI&feature=related

The narrator is a parent and works in atmospheric science. At the end of the clip she endorses Singapore Math to other parents for being clear, concise, and inexpensive (but not before she takes apart basic teaching methods and textbooks currently used in her children's elementary schools, which she sees as unwieldy). And I realize that you are addressing high school math classes, but her point is that many students arrive in high school (and college) unable to do even simple problems with certainty or without a calculator.

Watch the YouTube clip. It is controversial -- I noticed a college professor responding to her complaints with his own YouTube -- and some of it is even funny.

[Vic Spencer]

I will look at it. But for those of you who teach math, Singapore Math is a revolutionary technique. Although it is used in grammar school only, the very high scores continue through high school. Their books are in English if anyone wants to get it.

[Abl]

Actually, all of the Singapore Math books are in English because they teach math in English in Singapore. It is a wonderful program - I use it with my own children (ages 5 and 4). It is very affordable. The Singapore Math series has just been approved to be used in California schools and the company that publishes the books in the U.S. has recently released a new version that complies with our math standards.

The wonderful thing about Singapore Math is that is does it all - it focuses on basic skills and math facts and also emphasizes mathematical thinking, standard algorithms, and the intermediate algorithms (such as those the lady on the YouTube video was so against) that are necessary to develop a deep understanding of elementary math.

I would love to see Singapore Math in our schools. There is also a textbook for elementary math teachers that teaches Singapore math for adults. It is a fantastic book and I would recommend it for any adult who is interested in improving his or her math skills. The text for teachers was also recently recommeded (June 2008) as a preferred text for elementary math teachers by the National Council on Teacher Quality's study on the preparation of elementary math teachers in the U.S.

A summary of the study can be found at the NCTQ web site (www.nctq.org).

[granma2]

Vic,
It's really not a good comparison to equate China, Hong Kong, or other EU countries to the U.S. Although their educational system is certainly government subsidized, parents still PAY to have their children educated there. And you'll find that Hong Kong is still highly based on the UK system because until 1997...well, you know the sun never sets on the British Empire. Momto3 keeps asking what they spend, but it doesn't matter. Parents PAY in addition to what the government spends, and I don't mean pays piddly fees for workbooks and such. I mean they pay tuition and for books despite the fact that the schools are sponsored by the government. We are very spoiled in the U.S. by a government that does everything for us including attempting to educate everyone. I think every American should have an opportunity for an education, but not many take advantage of this FREE education to the extent that they should. We're so spoiled and lazy.

And as far as your comparison of other states like D.C., Momto3, you haven't considered the cost of living in the Northeast as compared to East Tennessee. Everything costs more there. Ever looked at any rents in that area?

[Vic Spencer]

The objective is to investigate why the other education system produces better results. It has nothing to do with why the education system produces better results per dollar. That is a good question for later. Educational achievement is an absolute. We may not be able to determine the "per dollar" figure, so why burden the important question with it.