For "Interesting People"?

[WSTACKHOUSE () vlsi jpl nasa gov <WSTACKHOUSE () vlsi jpl nasa gov>]

11 Aug 93
 
 
To:  David J. Farber     FARBER () CENTRAL CIS UPENN EDU
 
Sub: For "Interesting People"?
 
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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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