It takes a village to raise an idiot: fixing US science education Alan Dove J Clin Invest. 2002;110(8):1057-1060. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI16959. Science and Society For years, tests and surveys have highlighted a paradox in American science education: the nation that leads the world in research brings up the rear in public understanding of science. How can this be? The Third International Mathematics and Science Study, begun in 1995, yielded an important insight. Comparing the educational systems of 50 countries, the study found that US students scored near the top of the group at the fourth-grade level. Unfortunately, it’s all downhill after that. By the eighth grade, the American students drop into the average group, and they almost reach the global bottom by the time they finish high school. The US research enterprise compensates for this nosedive by focusing on undergraduate and graduate student training. This approach explains the paradox in which an ample pool of highly qualified scientists drives competitive research while the general public remains largely ignorant. Still, the kindergarten- through-12th grade (K–12) educational decline has far-reaching implications for research, none of which are positive. As Costello Brown, Director of Educational System Reform at the National Science Foundation (NSF; Arlington, Virginia, USA) puts it, “We are not even going to have the people who can vote responsibly as Americans on issues surrounding global warming, the environment, and whatever else if they don’t know the difference between a pound and a millimeter.” Education experts like […] Find the latest version: https://jci.me/16959/pdf SCIENCE AND SOCIETY It takes a village to raise an idiot: fixing US science education Alan Dove E-mail: [email protected]. J. Clin. Invest. 110:1057–1060 (2002). doi:10.1172/JCI200216959. For years, tests and surveys have high- Education experts like Brown often pseudoscientific or antiscientific lighted a paradox in American science speak in the future tense, but current beliefs. With the advancement of education: the nation that leads the policy debates on issues like stem-cell knowledge, science itself has become world in research brings up the rear in research, cloning, and the teaching of more complex. public understanding of science. How evolution (see “In the beginning, there While many of these trends are not can this be? was darkness”) show the legacy of this unique to the US, efforts at reforming The Third International Mathe- ongoing problem. Now professional science education here face the added matics and Science Study, begun in organizations and some individual obstacle of federalism. More than 1995, yielded an important insight. researchers are coming to appreciate almost any other area of public policy, Comparing the educational systems the volatility of a system in which a education in the US is controlled at of 50 countries, the study found that benighted public underwrites ground- the state level, so current reform US students scored near the top of breaking science. The problem can no strategies call for changing 50 the group at the fourth-grade level. longer be ignored, and the scientif- autonomous systems. “I would say Unfortunately, it’s all downhill after ic community needs to become part that if we were going to have a big that. By the eighth grade, the Ameri- of the solution. reform of K–12 science education in can students drop into the average this country, it would have to come group, and they almost reach the A colonial organism from the federal level,” says Beth Mon- global bottom by the time they fin- Science education in the US repre- telone, a biologist at Kansas State Uni- ish high school. sents the melding of two of the most versity (Manhattan, Kansas, USA), The US research enterprise compen- complex systems ever devised by who is involved in school reform. sates for this nosedive by focusing on humans: the body of scientific knowl- State control of education, however, is undergraduate and graduate student edge and the institution of American a sacred cow in US politics. Asked if fed- training. This approach explains the public education. There is general eral control would make curriculum paradox in which an ample pool of agreement that this Byzantine enter- changes easier, the NSF’s Brown highly qualified scientists drives com- prise is in need of major reform, but responds with a chuckle, “That’s a ques- petitive research while the general the factors that drove its deterioration tion that is hypothetical. As a federal public remains largely ignorant. are difficult to pinpoint. bureaucrat, I’m not even going to go Still, the kindergarten-through-12th Following a longstanding national down that road.” Brown explains grade (K–12) educational decline has tradition, fingers of blame have been that the NSF and other far-reaching implications for research, pointed in virtually every direction. federal agencies have to none of which are positive. As Costel- Even a cursory study reveals a help shape states’ lo Brown, Director of Educational Sys- plethora of possible causes. A agendas indirect- tem Reform at the National Science post-Sputnik wave of science ly: “We don’t Foundation (NSF; Arlington, Virginia, teachers, drawn by patriotism USA) puts it, “We are not even going and relatively high salaries, has to have the people who can vote mostly retired. Many school responsibly as Americans on issues districts are going broke. More surrounding global warming, the students now come from unsta- environment, and whatever else if they ble households, many below the don’t know the difference between a poverty line. Celebrities and politi- pound and a millimeter.” cal leaders increasingly embrace Reform from the local to the global. High-school students in the US use inexpensive pho- tometers to confirm NASA data on atmospheric aerosol levels — and help to demonstrate the effectiveness of taking science education beyond the classroom. The Journal of Clinical Investigation | October 2002 | Volume 110 | Number 8 1057 In the beginning, there was darkness . In March, the sion was subsequently reversed, it is part of a nationwide pattern. Ohio State Board of Education held a hearing to listen to argu- Alabama’s Board of Education now inserts a disclaimer under- ments about evolution. Rather than refuting the classic creation- mining evolution in its biology textbooks, and the Illinois school ist doctrine that the earth was created in six days, scientists testi- board has gradually purged the word “evolution” from its curricu- fying before the board had to answer a more subtle version of lum, replacing it with “change over time.” In Louisiana, one recent creationism called “Intelligent Design” by its proponents. Intelli- survey showed that 29% of the state’s biology teachers support gent Design advocates argue that living organisms are so complex teaching creationism. that they could not have arisen through Darwinian evolution — State school boards are loathe to offend a politically powerful instead, the complexity hints at an “intelligent designer” driving group, and the overall state of science education in the US leaves the process. average citizens ill-equipped to take a stand on the issue. The result Lawrence Krauss, a physics professor at Case Western Reserve Uni- is that creationism, a peculiar doctrine supported by a minority of versity, prefers to call Intelligent Design what it is: “an attack on sci- citizens, has permeated K–12 biology education nationwide. ence.” Krauss, author of The Physics of Star Trek and other popular Most scientists have taken a dangerously laissez-faire attitude books, adds that “we do a miserable job of conveying to people about the issue, according to Krauss. “The scientific community what science is already, and this is just going to make it worse.” has always just assumed that the correct idea will win out because Unfortunately, the situation in Ohio is not an aberration. In that’s the way it works in science,” but “that approach doesn’t 1999, for example, the Kansas school board decided to discour- work very well when there are people with a vested interest in the age the teaching of evolution. Although this highly publicized deci- opposite happening.” say to them that you must do this par- think, leave because their hands are even increases state-level control of ticular curriculum or you must do that, tied for a variety of reasons. There are a education, but requires all states to but we say whatever you’re doing has to lot of regulations that teachers need to implement a variety of measures have a logic and has to get more kids meet, and those regulations may have aimed at increasing accountability, involved in science and math.” The little to do with what their students are primarily through testing (see “Multi- agency, which currently has a budget of actually learning,” says Roseman. ple choices”). The Act became law at more than $350 million dedicated to Ironically, well-intentioned efforts to the beginning of 2002. improving science education, can also reform the system have often added to No Child Left Behind is probably the assist grass-roots reform efforts once the stresses driving teachers away. Fads most ambitious federal education they have begun at the state or local level. in educational theory have led school reform in decades, but education Whatever political difficulties con- systems to adopt and then reject every- experts understand that substantive front science education, the key to thing from “open-space” schools to change will necessarily be gradual. the solution — and part of the prob- “whole-language” reading, leading “We’re dealing with difficult and com- lem — clearly lies with science teach- many teachers to regard proponents of plex issues . that don’t really lend ers themselves.