First, the news…
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By Ledyard King, Gannett News Service
WASHINGTON  With a certificate to teach several high school science subjects, recent University of Texas graduate Steve Sinski is getting the kind of attention usually reserved for the football players on campus.
School systems scrambling to find qualified science teachers are trying to recruit him. He’s a prized commodity in Texas, where nearly a quarter of science classes in middle and high schools are taught by teachers without proper science credentials.
A report last spring by the National Academy of Sciences raised a number of warning signs:
• More than half the engineering degrees awarded by the nation’s universities are given to foreign-born students.
• The United States imports more “high-technology” products than it exports.
• High school students generally score below their international counterparts in math and science tests.
“The way we keep our jobs from going to China and India is to keep our brainpower advantage in science and technology,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who served as education secretary in the early 1990s. Alexander is a prime sponsor of a bipartisan bill, Protecting America’s Competitive Edge, that would spend billions on scholarships and training programs to boost the number of math and science teachers. (more…)
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I disagree with Sen. Alexander on this one. American companies are after one thing when it comes to potential employees: how little can they pay them while at the same time get a high -quality employee. The sad truth to this tale is that companies like Dell have already given up on the American worker by relocating their key operations to places like India. I know of many stories where highly qualified American workers were given the boot in the name of “downsizing’ only to discover later that their position was reactivated in another country. As China becomes more a part of the global marketplace, the American worker will not stand a chance. This is why we should be teaching our children entrepreneurship.
