“Marching Through Georgia,” which celebrates General Sherman’s Georgian campaign, has always had international appeal. During the Russo-Japanese War [1904-05], the Russians at Port Arthur heard it over and over again - because the Japanese Imperial Army sang it on their march in after destroying the Russian Pacific Fleet.
After all, we’re all Georgians, and hopefully the right side will sing this centuries-old international pop tune sooner rather than later.
The greatest moment in sports history - professional, amateur, Olympic, any - was the 1980 US Olympic Hockey team’s Miracle on Ice in Lake Placid. Coach Herb Brooks assembled a team of college kids from the hockey capitals of the East and Midwest. Then he trained them to defeat the Soviet hockey machine, itself arguably the greatest dynasty in sports history [sorry, Yankees].
But The Miracle, that singular story of David, Goliath and the American spirit, wasn’t for the gold medal. After defeating the Soviets, we weren’t even guaranteed any medal. We had to beat Finland in the next game.
At this point, all of the interviews, books, articles and clips are a big blur. I don’t know who said it - my memory tells me that it was fellow Terrier Mike Eruzione, though I might be wrong - but the Americans didn’t defeat the Soviets just to “lose to a bunch of friggin’ Finns” in the final game.
Herb Brooks, God rest his soul, and Eruzione would do well to steer clear of the medal count at The Education Olympics hosted by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. 51 medals have been awarded so far, and with some countries not participating [China, India, etc.], the United States’ neck is unburdened by bling.
Finland leads the way with 14 medals; Hong Kong follows with 7, Estonia and New Zealand with 5. Even Liechtenstein and Slovenia have earned medals.
There are worse, more sinister countries to lose to - if we’ve got to lose the Education Olympics, I’m pleased that we’re losing to Finland.
But the truth is that 28 years after taking the gold in Lake Placid, we’re losing the Education Olympics to a bunch of friggin’ Finns - and I won’t pretend otherwise. American education needs a Herb Brooks, with some Mike Eruziones, Jim Craigs and Mark Johnsons, and we need them fast.
Joanne Jacobs is hosting this week’s Carnival of Education, and it’s one of the best in a long time. I spent 2 days de-screwing my computer just in time for the AC adapter to break, so I didn’t get a submission in - or any posts written, for that matter.
Some articles worth reading:
Matthew Ladner [on Jay Greene's site] ushers in some common sense about inadequate schools being trusted with the physical health of students.
Nancy Flanagan has doubts about John McCain’s ability to lead on education because he doesn’t use computers. “… if you have never participated in live web conferencing, or read the first 100 comments on just about any Daily Kos blog, your ideas about policy-making are severely limited, and one-dimensional.” Golly gee, I’m so out of touch I should probably just quit blogging.
Darren of Right on the Left Coast is a “Predator.” Thankfully, not the Chris Hansen kind.
Robert at Casting out Nines examines readiness in math.
And a note about next week’s Carnival:
Bellringers will host the Aug. 20 Carnival of Education. Use the carnival submission form to submit your favorite post of the week or e-mail to mybellringers (at) gmail (dot) com. The deadline is Tuesday, Aug. 19 at 6 pm Central time.
I’ve been distracted and busy - I’ll get back to posting and following up on some comments in due time. I’m eager to have a few of these discussions.
For now, here’s Dolly Parton singing ‘Coat of Many Colors’ [YouTube video] on The Porter Wagoner Show [1974] - one of my favorite songs, and one of the most touching songs I’ve ever heard.
The title of this post is what it really boils down to - but there’s more to the story than apathy.
In “How Our Culture Keeps Students Out of Science,” Peter Wood argues that our dependence on foreign STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, Math] students, including Bill Gates’ 2008 call for the extension of H-1B visas to these graduates, shows how poorly the United States develops its own STEMmies. Actually, we don’t develop too many - we just cross our fingers and hope that kids have their priorities straight and the resources they need:
“Success in the sciences unquestionably takes a lot of hard work, sustained over many years. Students usually have to catch the science bug in grade school and stick with it to develop the competencies in math and the mastery of complex theories they need to progress up the ladder. Those who succeed at the level where they can eventually pursue graduate degrees must have not only abundant intellectual talent but also a powerful interest in sticking to a long course of cumulative study. [...]
“It [contemporary American education] begins by treating children as psychologically fragile beings who will fail to learn — and worse, fail to develop as “whole persons” — if not constantly praised. The self-esteem movement may have its merits, but preparing students for arduous intellectual ascents aren’t among them. What the movement most commonly yields is a surfeit of college freshmen who “feel good” about themselves for no discernible reason and who grossly overrate their meager attainments.”
That isn’t terribly conducive to the study of science, math and its brethren. If you needed one line to sum up Wood’s argument, here it is:
“The intellectual lassitude we breed in students, their unearned and inflated self-confidence, undercuts both the self-discipline and the intellectual modesty that is needed for the apprentice years in the sciences.”
At PhiBetaCons, Mr. Leef beat me to a point Wood didn’t make:
“I think that a significant part of this problem is that to do science you need to be good at math. Sadly, as this recent NCTQ study found, math is often poorly taught in elementary schools because many of the teachers are weak in math themselves and ill-prepared to teach it.”
Not only are they ill-prepared to teach it, they don’t know it in the first place.
Elementary school teachers have a tenuous grasp of the most basic mathematics - and that isn’t an understatement.
Our elementary teachers score about 521 [out of 800] on the Quantitative section of the GRE, a subset of the test that examines algebra, geometry and basic statistical reasoning skills. A score of 520 is not only well below the national mean of 584; it’s around the 31st percentile of all test-takers. In other words, 7 out of 10 test-takers with undergraduate degrees score better on a basic math skills test than elementary teachers en route to graduate school [pages 13 and 18, available for download, 4.1mb Adobe PDF].
Our high school teachers fare little better. They pull in at 576 - about the 42nd percentile of all test-takers.
And these aren’t just statistics, they’re personified in communities everywhere. When I was in high school, I chose not to take AP Calculus because the teacher was such a useless dolt - he just plain didn’t know math [he still teaches at my alma mater, so if he's reading this, Hi!]. I waited and took calculus with the engineering students in my first semester of college.
K-12 teachers don’t know much about even the most foundational mathematics. That our schools don’t cultivate students interested in STEM careers shouldn’t surprise anyone.
