Our nation’s prosperity depends on the education of our students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), yet their proficiency in such subjects is deplorable. Increasingly, our students lack access to rigorous STEM curricula and hands-on STEM activities or avoid them where such challenging courses are still available. No wonder U.S. students rank 17th internationally in science proficiency and 25th in mathematics proficiency, according to the recent CNN TV program Education in America: Don’t Fail Me. Our continued advance in technology and thereby our standard of living, even our security, are imperiled as a result.
Certainly, American students must become critical thinkers. But for more than 30 years American adults have not thought critically about their children’s education. It’s time we recognize we have ignored, misguided, and virtually discarded generations of students, starting at home, where critical thinking and support must emanate. We can no longer hold our schools entirely responsible for educating our students in STEM as we have for the past 50 years, though it is high time our communities make sure our schools have the resources to provide rigorous STEM opportunities. If we fail, our students will be unable to provide the innovation necessary to build a modern infrastructure and stop the devastating consequences of global warming.
No Child Left Behind has brutally become America Left Behind and Out in the Cold. Our gifted students who could be high achievers have been neglected, as we have tried to shove every student into a one-size-fits-all education.
The CNN program broadcast on May 15, which is based on the exciting hands-on international U.S FIRST Robotics student STEM competition, hits the target dead center, making clear we must improve STEM education, beginning in elementary school. That message is beginning to register on the Central Coast from Paso Robles to Lompoc.
An inaugural, grassroots event on May 24—the Central Coast STEM Education Forum—will bring together 100 leaders in education, business, government, and nonprofit STEM education organizations. The event, which is sold out, will address our children’s educational challenges, brainstorm improvements, and emphasize community collaboration and partnerships to improve STEM education within and beyond our schools.
Lt. General Susan Helms, a retired NASA astronaut and commander of the U.S. 14th Air Force and Vandenberg AFB, and Chris Roe, CEO of the California STEM Learning Network and former Deputy Director of the Business-Higher Education Forum in Washington, D.C., are keynote speakers. The event will congratulate the new world-champion Atascadero High School Greyhound Revolutionary Robotics team, who just won first place at a world championship for robotic development.
For more information and to become involved in supporting STEM education, explore the work of the Endeavour Institute at endeavourinstitute.org and the Discovery Institute of SLO at institutefordiscovery.org .
The Endeavour Institute is based in Santa Maria and has been working to improve STEM learning for more than 20 years. Founder and President Edmund Burke turned it into a major provider of hands-on STEM education opportunities for children outside school, including weekend science camps and summer space camps.
The organization began with flying student experiments aboard a space shuttle flight. There have subsequently been several Educator Launch Conferences, bringing teachers throughout California and the nation to participate in all-day presentations about upcoming scientific spacecraft launches. Those conferences have included viewing the launch of spacecraft live.
Walter Reil is affiliated with the Endeavour Institute and Discovery Institute of SLO. Send comments via the opinion editor at econnolly@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in May 19-26, 2011.