Students Ditch Math & Science

[mathdad]

 

[Otis]

My take is that Trace basically makes two points:

(1) Students interested in STEM majors need to prepare while still in high school.

(2) High schools need to ensure they prepare those students for success in college-level math.

Well, DUH!

 

[harpazo]

My take is that Trace basically makes two points:

(1) Students interested in STEM majors need to prepare while still in high school.

(2) High schools need to ensure they prepare those students for success in college-level math.

Well, DUH!

I concur. However, there are many reasons why students are not prepared in high school for college-level courses (in general) not just mathematics. Read my recent reply to MarkFL in My Journey With Mathematics.

 

[Deleted member 4993]

My take is that Trace basically makes two points:

(1) Students interested in STEM majors need to prepare while still in high school.

(2) High schools need to ensure they prepare those students for success in college-level math.

Well, DUH!

Actually most of the students are lost from STEM during middle school (6 - 8 grades). That is when students decide - I like Math and/or I like sciences.

Of course those likes can be misguided (I liked Chemistry then because all those "changing colors" - later that was my least favorite subject).

 

[harpazo]

Actually most of the students are lost from STEM during middle school (6 - 8 grades). That is when students decide - I like Math and/or I like sciences.

Of course those likes can be misguided (I liked Chemistry then because all those "changing colors" - later that was my least favorite subject).

1. NYC public schools hire OUT OF SUBJECT teachers, which greatly hurts students (academically) in later years.

2. Too many students per classroom. How can teachers truly help students when there are 30 plus students per class ALL IN NEED OF reading, writing and math?

3. Math is part of science. I do not understand how it is possible to like chemistry or biology, or geology or astronomy, or physics, etc and hate math.

4. Too much focus on test preparation and not enough time on teaching to learn.

5. I was hired as a sub teacher in 2000. I wanted to see my for myself if teaching in the public schools made sense as a career. I quickly discovered that teaching in a system where parents and kids RUN THE SHOW is not for me.

 

[Otis]

... there are many reasons why students are not prepared ...

Agree! That video blog seems a bit superficial. I feel that Trace could have dug deeper, asked more critical questions. The situation is complex.

Trace says many STEM majors in college today change majors because they feel they aren't getting adequate rewards for their math efforts right away. Apparently, that sort of disappointment is a general trend with younger people today, as I've repeatedly read that instant gratification is what many young people have come to expect. (It's become an issue for employers -- that is, commerce -- which is one reason why it's been reported in the media so much.)

I'd like to hear more about how those students picked a STEM major to begin with, as I have trouble understanding how someone could finish high school without a sense of both their own math skills and the rigor required in the sciences. (Did most of them wait until after they were on campus, to think about picking a major? Was earning potential or "notoriety" the primary motivation for their initial choice?)

Trace also volunteered that he dropped out of his STEM major because he discovered that he's not very good at math. Why did you say that, Trace?

Otherwise, the reasons why secondary education in general has fallen so far behind in the USA are many and complicated. We can't blame administrators only, or teachers, or parents, or students, or corporations or society. I think we all own part of it.

The family unit has seen significant change, over the past generation. More and more children are raised by "children". One result is that too many young adults have not been taught how to handle disappointment, how to stand on their own feet and/or the personal responsibility of adulting. On the other hand, helicopter parenting is an issue, too. So is enrolling a kid in karate lessons, drum lessons, soccer lessons, art lessons and Mandarin lessons, to be attended each week.

Wages in the USA have been stagnant a long time. Many parents are stressed/overworked, and they don't have time or energy to monitor their kids' schoolwork. They defer to the school district. Drug addiction among parents is also a problem.

Education is not properly funded. Many good instructors are seriously undervalued; resultant brain drain has taken a toll on quality. Classrooms are overcrowded. Machines are replacing human instruction. Students must share textbooks; some students can't take the book home, until it's their turn.

The effects of increasing environmental toxicity (air, water, food) on the developing brain are not fully understood, but we know they're bad. For one example, studies have recently emerged that demonstrate a correlation between reduced performance in school and substances like lead, arsenic or pharmaceutical drugs in municipal water supplies..

Earlier this week, I read an article about statistical analyses of a large group of IQ studies in developed countries. The conclusion is that humans are getting dumber. (IQs have been steadily dropping for some time, now.) The trend is seen across all socio-economic demographics (and even among members of individual families), in developed countries.

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