Editorial: What is wrong with schools?

Published 8:52 am Monday, August 25, 2008

At one time, Minnesota’s education system was hailed as among the best in the nation. A strong education system — and the funding resources to support it — was one of the key reasons why then-Gov. Wendell Anderson was pictured on the cover of Time magazine holding a walleye.

What happened?

Recently we learned that nearly half the public schools in Minnesota aren’t making the so-called Adequate Yearly Progress as mandated in the federal No Child Left Behind Act in reading and writing scores.

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Now another bombshell has fallen. In the first-ever test of Minnesota students in meeting tougher state science standards, we’re clearly in trouble. The tests of fifth- and eighth-graders showed fewer than 40 percent met or exceeded the benchmarks for their age of where they should be. About 43 percent of high school students met or exceeded the standards.

In a highly competitive global marketplace, it is clear Minnesota could well lose any edge it might have had. We are quickly taking the state of achievement to the state of mediocrity.

Perhaps anticipating this new, deep gap in science, the state Department of Education recently launched its new Math and Science Teacher Academies to focus on improving teacher effectiveness in those areas.

Also, it seems interest among students to pursue science careers is waning at a time when 21st century technology demands proficiencies in the sciences and math.

The test scores should be a wake-up for doing things differently. Key will be finding a way to invigorate a new generation to the need for science, similar to the Sputnik wake-up call we got in the late 1950s when the then-Soviet Union beat us into space and triggering a massive push for science education.

The rise of China and India as major world players in business, manufacturing and research should be this generation’s Sputnik.

— Aug. 20, Pioneer of Bemidji