January 2006 — Policy/Advocacy
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Addressing ‘Globalization 3.0’
Friedman has done an outstanding job of identifying a problem, cleverly labeling it, and bringing it to the attention of the public at large. In addition to the impact it has had on speakers at technology and education conferences, his book has influenced a number of other reports and publications, including a study conducted by a panel convened by the National Academies (www.national-academies.org), a national science advisory group. In its report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future, (books.nap.edu/openbook/0309100399/html), the panel noted that the US easily “could lose its privileged position” in science leadership, and that the nation’s old advantages are rapidly being overcome by other countries.
The panel put forward 20 implementation steps within four broad
Friedman does not offer such a specific policy proposal in his book, but he does have a similar sense of urgency, noting that it takes a process of at least 15 years, including elementary school, to produce scientists and engineers. He writes, “We should be embarking on an all-hands-on-deck, no-holds-barred, no-budget-too-large crash program for science and engineering education immediately.”
When Sputnik went up in 1957, a similar call was sounded. And partially in response to Sputnik, the math and physics programs in my high school in the 1960s were, thankfully, very different from those of a decade earlier. Programs for gifted students proliferated as well. These were positive changes for that time.
But I wonder if federal policies toward education can generate the kind of effort demanded by Friedman, the National Academies, and others. Besides the huge elephant- in-the-room question as to whether 8 percent of the money should drive 80 percent of the effort in K-12 schools, there is the question of effectiveness. No Child Left Behind (NCLB)—a well-meaning plan to increase student achievement as measured by reading, math, and (soon) science tests—has been implemented as a program that significantly narrows what is taught and how it is taught. I wonder if the entrepreneurial and creative imagination that Friedman calls for from students departing our education system can be pulled off within our current national climate. In this age of nasty partisanship, it’s doubtful that a policy to create a crash program for science and engineering education could be executed without it being hijacked by some other political agenda. Without a national policy, however, can we produce excellence and equity for all students? Can we create programs that will enhance our students’ creativity, as well as ensure that students will have access to the necessary 21st century tools that you and I use as we learn and work?
