Getting Started in STEM
Anyone following the progress of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM, not to be confused with "stem cells") education in the U.S. has little to cheer about. Basically, we're not doing very well, as measured by global achievement or our own past accomplishments. You've read of the sheer numbers of Indian and Chinese engineering graduates, which leave little doubt that we're in trouble, and some of my columns have explored the challenges of STEM education.
The standard remedies, which boil down to pouring more money into schools, seem to have produced the problems we're now facing. Dr. Carlson, having worked both within and without the educational establishment for several decades, proposes bringing interested middle- and high-school students together with mentors in a setting dedicated to teaching science by doing science. His LABRats (the odd capitalization evidently distinguishes it from unrelated groups) organization has run a year of prototype sessions and seems well on the way toward receiving sufficient funding to clear the gantry.
LABRats has a structure based loosely on traditional Scouting, minus the uniforms and rigid hierarchy, plus an emphasis on scientific thinking and investigation. Although the program will be inclusive in all regards, the fact that participants elect to join should help maintain both interest and order.
LABRat's "Do the Experiment!" motto focuses attention on the basic premise of STEM subjects: observed facts trump received dogma. As Admiral Grace Hopper (may have) once said, "A single accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions," but it's painfully obvious that popular culture denigrates such reasoning. Dr. Carlson plans to train a nationwide student cadre to think clearly and reach logical conclusions, which strikes me as a worthwhile goal in and of itself.
However, I foresee trouble ahead that has nothing to do with LABRats itself. While it's entirely possible to encourage technically adept students to excel in STEM subjects, it may be difficult to maintain that enthusiasm as they see their parents and mentors laid off in favor of overseas outsourcing. What's the point of working hard for a technical education when the company you eventually work for decides you're just too expensive?
In somewhat related news, the College Board folks who do the SAT tests recently noted that
[f]orty-three percent of 2006 college-bound seniors reported grade averages of A+, A, or A-. Ten years ago, the figure was 36 percent, and in 1987...27 percent. This year's average grade point average was 3.33, compared with an average GPA of 3.21 in 1996 and 3.07 in 1987.
I find it difficult to believe that nearly half of all freshmen are working at A levels, given the abundance of remedial math and writing classes. Indeed, the recent drop in SAT scores shows that either grade inflation is a clear and present danger or that easy courses rule. Perhaps both.
Dr. Carlson's LABRats may be the best hope we've got for changing things at a national level. On the personal level, encouraging your children to think logically and act ethically will start them in the right direction.
