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For "Interesting People"?
From: WSTACKHOUSE () vlsi jpl nasa gov <WSTACKHOUSE () vlsi jpl nasa gov>
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1993 13:50:55 -0700 (PDT)
11 Aug 93 To: David J. Farber FARBER () CENTRAL CIS UPENN EDU Sub: For "Interesting People"? ***************************************************************** Msg 445 (10490 chars): From: Darrell Lynn <dlynn () mail valverde edu> Date: Mon, 9 Aug 93 22:07:30 -0700 Subject: Ed Crisis The following is probably old hat, but it is still shocking. I believe the statement at the end of this treatise sums up the problem rather well. Darrell ================================================================= "The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people....If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves. We have even squandered the gains in student achievement made in the wake of the Sputnik challenge. Moreover, we have dismantled essential support systems which helped make those gains possible. We have, in effect, been committing an act of unthinking, unilateral educational disarmament." From report issued by National Commission on Excellence in Education titled " A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform.", 1982 One writer commented on the results of the study: "One of the most shocking findings is that only one-fifth of the seventeen-year-olds in public education can write a persuasive essay; only one-third can solve a mathematical problem requiring several steps; and 13 percent, by the simplest tests of reading, writing, and comprehension, are functionally illiterate." After the report was issued, federal and state reforms were begun, the amount of funds channeled to public education was almost doubled. After ten years, however, no significant change has occurred. In January 1990, Secretary of Education Lauro Cavazos released the results of two nationwide tests in reading and writing administered by the NAEP. The Secretary remarked that the reading and writing skills of children in public school are "dreadfully inadequate," despite a decade of "education reforms." The NAEP report found 58 percent of seventeen-year-olds cannot understand a twelfth grade academic textbook or comprehend many articles in the Wall Street Journal, Time, or Newsweek. Ninety- five percent of the seventeen-year-olds do not have the reading skills to understand college-level textbooks. Forty-two percent of thirteen-year-olds and 14 percent of seventeen-year-olds cannot read at the eighth grade level, which is bout the level of People magazine. In the area of writing, the NAEP test results demonstrated that 85 percent of fourth graders cannot write a well developed story, and 72 percent of eleventh graders cannot write an adequate, persuasive article. In the 1990 Nation's Report Card the test results were so poor that Education Secretary Lamar Alexander declared a "math emergency" saying, "None of the states are cutting it. This is an alarm bell that should ring all night in this country". The math test was given to 126,000 students in grades four, eight, and twelve, and it caused one commentator to remark: "How bad are eighth graders' math skills? So bad that half are scoring just above the proficiency level expected of fifth-grade students. Even the best students did miserably; at the top-scoring schools, the average was well below grade level. Hardly any students have the background to go beyond simple computation; most of the kids can add but they have serious trouble thinking through simple problems. Only 14 percent of eighth graders scored at the seventh grade level or above, regardless of whether the students were in a wealthy suburban system or a poor school system. Seventy two percent of forth graders tested at or above the third grade level, and 11 percent scored at or above the fifth grade level. However, only 46 percent of twelfth graders could perform seventh grade work and only 5 percent could do pre-calculus work. On January 31, 1992, the U.S. Department of Education relased a report that showed that the reading skills of nine-year-olds worsened during the 1980's when schools were supposed to be getting better due to massive reforms. The study was based on a review of twenty years of NAEP tests. For example, in 1980, 68 percent of nine-year-olds could summarize the main idea of a passage. By 1990, only 59 percent of nine-year-olds could summarize it. The reading proficiency scale, which measured skills of nine-year-olds, goes from a low of 150 to a high of 350. In 1990, students, on the average, scored only 209, with the 200 level being indicative of "partially developed skill and understanding. Meanwhile, a study was released in February 1992, which found U.S. students were below the world average in math and science. The survey of 175,000 students worldwide was funded by the Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, and the Carnegie Foundation. In math, American thirteen-year-olds scored on the average 55 percent correct answers, while Taiwan and Korea students averaged 73 percent correct, and the Soviet Union averaged 70 percent. In science, American thirteen-year-olds scored 67 percent, while Korea and Tiwan scored 78 percent. Some of the other countries that scored above the United States were Slovenia, France, Spain, Hungary, Italy, Israel, Scotland, and Canada. The survey also showed that longer school years and more money spent on education and teachers did not make a measurable difference on student achievement. Hungary, for example, only requires 177 days of instruction, and yet their students scored with the top five countries in both math and science. According to the 1990 Science Report Card, fewer than half of twelfth grade students could operate at a level of being capable of analyzing scientific procedures and data, and less than 10 percent reached the highest level which is the ability to integrate scientific information. On August 27, 1991, the latest SAT scores were released by the College Board showing a continued decline. In fact, in the past five years, verbal averages dropped eight points to 422 (out of a possible 800) and math went down to 474 (out of 800) for a total of 896 out of a possible 1600. Even the elite students have not avoided the consequences of lower standards in the public schools. Since 1972 the share of students scoring above 600 on the verbal SAT ( on a scale of 200 to 800) has dropped from 11 percent to approximately 7 percent. This is quite a drop from the years 1951 to 1961, when the SAT score total average was 972 out of a possible 1600 - 76 points higher than the average total score today. A survey of state colleges in New Jersey found that 73 percent of all incoming freshman were not proficient in verbal skills and 69 percent were not proficient in the minimal standards of computation. The Southern Regional Education Board surveyed 826 campuses in fifteen states and discovered that one-third of all freshman need remedial training in reading, writing, or math and are not ready to begin regular college courses. Al Shanker, president of the American Federation of Teachers, honestly summed up the problems in colleges this way: "We have huge numbers of kids in colleges and universities who are basically getting their elementary and high school education and calling it a Bachelor of Arts degree." Even the colleges are having to "dumb down" their standards in order to admit public high school graduates. In an article in the Washington Times, 3 January 1992, A3, titled "Passing School, Flunking Life", only 33 percent of employers that had hired recently graduated high school students said that the employee could read and understand written and oral instructions. Only 25 percent found there high school graduate employees to be capable of doing math functions. Furthermore, only 20 percent of employers found their high school graduate employees to show a sense of dedication to work, and only 19 percent stated that the recent high school graduates were disciplined in their work habits. American business is spending twenty billion dollars a year in potential profits and outright cash outlay for remedial training that should have been learned in school. In the 1991-92 school year, the U.S Department of Education reported $248.6 billion would go to public elementary and secondary schools. Diane Ravitch, assistant secretary for the Office of Educational Research and Improvement stated: "Spending is up and achievement is down." In the decade 1982 to 1992, the per-pupil spending in public education has risen from $3000 to $6000 and yet the test scores continue to decline. In fact, from kindergarten through the twelfth grade, the United States spends more per student than any other country, except Switzerland yet scores are still on the slide. Obviously, more money is not the answer. Former Secretary of Labor William Brock stated.... "We have public education at the elementary and secondary level that ranks below every industrial competitor we have in the world...Education is the most backward single institution in the U.S. It is not for lack of money. Its' lack of intelligence and will and competence...." *****************************************************************
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