[Cincinatus' Wife]

Hidden amid the hoopla of finding planets orbiting other stars, decoding the human genome and discovering miracle materials with nanotechnology, there's a seemingly improbable but perhaps even more important story — U.S. science may be in decline.

The U.S. education system is broken.

Another Mistake by Rod Paige (Sec of Ed calls teachers union "terrorist organization") And he is right!

[GeronL]

These reporters are crazy. Public schools are failing, period.

[TheLion]

"Since the visa restrictions were tightened in 2002, foreign-student applications to U.S. universities have fallen from 400,000 a year to 325,000, a 19 percent drop."

The ones walking across are borders will probably not be applying soon. Somehow we have got this all a** backwards.

[familyop]

...feminism, fatherlessness, not much manufacturing in the USA,...

[Porterville]

Damn, it's been slipping for the past 50 years now?

Good thing we got to the moon\

mars

Computer Science

Genomic Science

Biological Science

Medical Science

Pharmacuetical Science

and all the other sciences first... it will keep us alive just a little longer

I personally think these stories are made to keep our society motivated so we can yet again... kick the world's a$$.......

We educate more people then any country in the world... that is why they all come here to learn.... we are free.... we use volume to plant seeds of genius in the ripe soil of multiple minds....

The rest of the world focuses their attention on a select few inbreded class with poor genes from years of regency inbreeding.... not good soil for fertile seeds to grow.... not at all

We are the USA and we EDUCATE THE WORLD.... and do it better than anybody else

[Nick Danger]

A continual flow of foreign students into our science and engineering programs is essential. Without it, the deliberate dumbing-down of American schoolboys by the feminist-operated education establishment would be exposed. Despite the feminist fantasies, it is mostly boys who pursue these science and engineering degrees. If the education establishment mentally cripples the boys so they will not be in the girls' way, and then the girls don't enroll in the engineering schools anyway, we get this. Plus we get passed up by foreigners in science and technology, and we get a generation of boys who can't read, write, add, or subtract.

Think I'm nuts? 60% of the incoming freshman classes are now female, and you just learned that an ever-growing fraction of the men who are there are being imported from foreign countries. This is not an accident folks. This is feminist social engineering coming to fruition. Think about a world where it's the Chinese and the Indians who have all the high-tech weapons, and we have nothing comparable. It isn't 30 years away.

[The Raven]

I'm reading three books now...by Milton Friedman, Hayak, and Thomas Sowell - on how big government will destry us

They're scaring the bazoozies out of me.

This is all predictable.

[familyop]

"Another Mistake by Rod Paige (Sec of Ed calls teachers union "terrorist organization") And he is right!"

...great exposure post and thread, CW. I've seen open hostility from teachers--all divorced--during school hours regarding kids with mild autism/Asperger's. They complain about men in general and about getting those kids out of school. They know what some of those kids could do in adulthood if given the attention they need to their extreme focus on various physical things, and it makes them very angry.

[familyop]

Er...and talk about getting those kids out of school, that is.

[The Raven]

A few years ago....a couple of us Freepers slipped on over to the teacher's on-line chat forum and raized a little havoc.

We used words foreign to them ---"vouchers," "republic," "freedom," "liberty," & "Republicans"

[aruanan]

1. U.S. science may be in decline.

2. After 50 years of supremacy, both scientifically and economically, America now faces formidable challenges from foreign governments that have recognized scientific research and new technology as the fuels of a powerful economy.

It's funny, in a tragic sort of way (understandable considering what Richard Mitchell said in The Graves of Academe), that the writer of the article posted above could make the two statements and believe they are equivalent. That more emphasis is being placed on science in other places does not mean that the quality of science in the United States is declining. Of course, if fewer highly qualified students come to the U.S. for education and training in the sciences and that is not made up for by equally qualified American students, then that institution known as "U.S. science" could be said to be endangered. However, I don't think that many of these other nations have the resources to match our research institutions. For instance, not too long ago the Times of London rated the top five educational institutions in the world as Harvard, Yale, The University of Chicago, Oxford, and Cambridge. They put the American schools ahead because these schools (all three private schools) have endowments that dwarf those of the UK schools.

That said, we should realize, given what Richard Mitchell said in the above-mentioned book, freely available at www.sourcetext.com, that the future of U.S. education is in peril. Even private schools won't help as long as the teachers in those schools have been "trained" by the educational bureaucracy. But even teachers who have graduated from private colleges with schools of teacher education do not escape damage since these schools' accreditation as institutes of teacher training depends on meeting the requirements of the educational bureaucracy.

[Avenger]

Stop complaining and start encouraging your children to learn. The best way to do this is to set an example. Turn off the TV and read a book on physics or learn to program or solve some mathematical puzzles - whatever. Get your children involved in real learning - that sort of discovery almost never happens in the classroom. Learn about and talk to your children about the great men and women of science. Don't blame the U.S. educational system. Your child can learn with or without that. It is up to YOU to encourage your child and get the fire started. Don't expect the goverment to do it for you.

[Malesherbes]

Yes, but we remain far ahead in break dancing, and besides, Chinese can't jump.

[joesnuffy]

American public schools have been dumbed down that the best students are equal to the 'weakest links' ......

Once upon a time American public schools cranked out science students that could out-compete any other kids in the world...

Analyze what happened and change it....oops cant...the solution wont be PC

President Bush's short term solution is to begin certifying students...we should also certify teachers

If we can figure out how to establish an incorruptible certification program...that is

[The Toad]

Isn't it a shame that successful science doesn't work on the same principle that is currently taught in many schools....that is to say, the results don't matter, only the effort?

My daughter is starting kindergarten this week and already I've seen how disorganized the public school system is. If any of the people who run her school worked in a business environment they wouldn't have jobs very long--already, I have been shocked by the way some things have been handled.

Anyway, we need to turn the public schools around (good luck) get them back on track.

[VadeRetro]

As American students have become less interested in science and engineering, top U.S. graduate schools have turned increasingly toward Europe and Asia for the best young scientists to fill laboratories.

Outsourcing. Why assume a crushing debt to get a degree in a field in which you will probably never get a job?

I'm not saying it's smart to give up, but I don't know what I'd tell a kid to major in these days. I'm glad I'm not facing that decision. It's the toughest call that it's ever been. It used to be a slam dunk that if you were any good at science and wanted to work in it that you should at least look into it. Now it's not at all clear.

[AmericanChef]

The whole purpose of the article, of course, is about stem cell research.

Cash-and-Kerry thinks he invented science. Bush caveman. Bush no fund science. Ug. Make people pay for own science. Ug.

[oceanview]

offshoring of tech jobs is causing this. who wants to go to college for an engineering degree, to compete with $30K per year workers in India and China. You need to look no further then this, to find out why this is happening.

All of my engineer friends with children - are piling their kids into law school.

[RightWhale]

President Bush's science adviser, John Marburger, dismisses as "ridiculous" the notion that America could lose its scientific prestige

Didn't know this Pres has a science advisor. What was the context of his remark?

[Penner]

Graduate science programs at Rice and elsewhere are heavily dependent on  foreign students.  fees from foreign students.

[Fiddlstix]

The U.S. education system is broken.

I'm not sure "broken" is the right word for it.
(It'll do for now though.)